Bills interviewing Raiders WR coach Edgar Bennett for OC

[Chicken Boo]

13 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

I remember him as a RB for the Packers and Florida State

 

I was just thinking like, "Edgar Bennett the former Packer RB?"  He's a WR coach?  Never knew.

[Shaw66]

12 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I do think both Frazier and McDermott are philosophically way way too slow to make adjustments, and I'm not sure overall we can win big games like that.  But hopefully I'm wrong, and McDermott is growth-minded and will be willing and able to change.

I just caught up with several things you said in this thread, and I wanted to comment.  Bottom line for me is that I think you're correct in what's quoted above.   Both sentences.   I have great confidence that McDermott will grow and develop.  I hoped Frazier would leave, so that a somewhat less passive guy would take over the defense.  

 

Your comment about open space, quoting me about the Titans game and citing other games, is interesting.   I think in some cases it's game-day coaching failures, and in some cases it's scheme related.   

 

I suggested the overreaction to the run in the Titans game was a game-day coaching failure.   I was interested in Sean Payton's comments about the end of regulation against the Chiefs.   He said something that others probably had said but I hadn't seen it, which is that the Bills were defending the sidelines in the final 13 seconds, which was completely stupid.   The Chiefs had timeouts, enough of them to call timeout every play.   So, they didn't feel the need to throw to the sideline.  They had the whole field to work with, and the Bills conceded the the middle of the field to them.   That's a huge mistake to make.  McDermott won't make the same mistake in the future, because he's always learning.  

 

I say it's part scheme because it's becoming clearer to me all the the time that McDermott's defenses is designed very much to play the averages.   They want their averages at the end of the season to be good, not because they care about the rating, but because they care about consistency.   They want to be good all the time instead of great some of the time.  They defend deep to prevent explosive plays.   They rush four, to contain the QB more than to sack him.  So, for example, they have a league leading passing defense, but they're only 12th in sacks.   That's why they haven't signed the Vonn MIllers the world - they don't particularly care about the extra sacks.  They guys who have been in the system for years, guys who understand how the defenders all work together to be good all the time instead of great some of the time.    I'm not not defending it; I'm just saying that's why we haven't seen the Bills go after stud free agents on defense.  

 

I think what you say is right - this scheme works great, but it has a tendency to let you down in big games.   That's because it's not a big-play defense, it's a consistency defense.   I think by now that point cannot be lost on McDermott.   He's studying all of the time, and 2021 showed the problem pretty clearly - in big games, at crunch time, a defense that has good averages isn't enough.  He needs a defense that is going to make some plays.   One-score game, one final possession for the 49ers, who hit Garoppolo and forced the wild throw that ended the game with an interception?   Aaron Donald.   The 8- or 9-man rotation on the Dline is great to get you good defensive pressure throughout the season, but when they had three plays left to win the game, the Bills didn't have Aaron Donald.  When the Rams had three plays left, they did, plus Von MIller.  

 

I have confidence in McDermott.  I hope it isn't misplaced. 

 

Separate point - thanks for the speculation about Palmer.   I'd guess that you're underestimating the costs he has associated with his activities, but even if I'm correct about that, your revenue numbers suggest he's doing really well.   And if he's going to be good at his job, he has to be putting in a lot of prep time, studying film, going to clinics himself, etc.   So, he earns his money, but I think you've demonstrated that it's pretty good money.   Also, I poked around a bit, and the best guesses are that the salary for assistant coach, like a position coach, is now averaging around $400,000.   A good QB coach is probably above the average.   Whatever, Palmer is probably doing better and has a better life that the NFL assistants, who are grinding away.  

[dave mcbride]

27 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I just caught up with several things you said in this thread, and I wanted to comment.  Bottom line for me is that I think you're correct in what's quoted above.   Both sentences.   I have great confidence that McDermott will grow and develop.  I hoped Frazier would leave, so that a somewhat less passive guy would take over the defense.  

 

Your comment about open space, quoting me about the Titans game and citing other games, is interesting.   I think in some cases it's game-day coaching failures, and in some cases it's scheme related.   

 

I suggested the overreaction to the run in the Titans game was a game-day coaching failure.   I was interested in Sean Payton's comments about the end of regulation against the Chiefs.   He said something that others probably had said but I hadn't seen it, which is that the Bills were defending the sidelines in the final 13 seconds, which was completely stupid.   The Chiefs had timeouts, enough of them to call timeout every play.   So, they didn't feel the need to throw to the sideline.  They had the whole field to work with, and the Bills conceded the the middle of the field to them.   That's a huge mistake to make.  McDermott won't make the same mistake in the future, because he's always learning.  

 

I say it's part scheme because it's becoming clearer to me all the the time that McDermott's defenses is designed very much to play the averages.   They want their averages at the end of the season to be good, not because they care about the rating, but because they care about consistency.   They want to be good all the time instead of great some of the time.  They defend deep to prevent explosive plays.   They rush four, to contain the QB more than to sack him.  So, for example, they have a league leading passing defense, but they're only 12th in sacks.   That's why they haven't signed the Vonn MIllers the world - they don't particularly care about the extra sacks.  They guys who have been in the system for years, guys who understand how the defenders all work together to be good all the time instead of great some of the time.    I'm not not defending it; I'm just saying that's why we haven't seen the Bills go after stud free agents on defense.  

 

I think what you say is right - this scheme works great, but it has a tendency to let you down in big games.   That's because it's not a big-play defense, it's a consistency defense.   I think by now that point cannot be lost on McDermott.   He's studying all of the time, and 2021 showed the problem pretty clearly - in big games, at crunch time, a defense that has good averages isn't enough.  He needs a defense that is going to make some plays.   One-score game, one final possession for the 49ers, who hit Garoppolo and forced the wild throw that ended the game with an interception?   Aaron Donald.   The 8- or 9-man rotation on the Dline is great to get you good defensive pressure throughout the season, but when they had three plays left to win the game, the Bills didn't have Aaron Donald.  When the Rams had three plays left, they did, plus Von MIller.  

 

I have confidence in McDermott.  I hope it isn't misplaced. 

 

Separate point - thanks for the speculation about Palmer.   I'd guess that you're underestimating the costs he has associated with his activities, but even if I'm correct about that, your revenue numbers suggest he's doing really well.   And if he's going to be good at his job, he has to be putting in a lot of prep time, studying film, going to clinics himself, etc.   So, he earns his money, but I think you've demonstrated that it's pretty good money.   Also, I poked around a bit, and the best guesses are that the salary for assistant coach, like a position coach, is now averaging around $400,000.   A good QB coach is probably above the average.   Whatever, Palmer is probably doing better and has a better life that the NFL assistants, who are grinding away.  

In 2013, the Panthers defense had a ridiculous 60 sacks, which led the league, and their D was second in both yards and points allowed. McDermott is plenty happy with lots of sacks.

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, dave mcbride said:

In 2013, the Panthers defense had a ridiculous 60 sacks, which led the league, and their D was second in both yards and points allowed. McDermott is plenty happy with lots of sacks.

Well, I think he has evolved since then.   He learned the trade working under Jim Johnson, who loved sacks and who blitzed from every position on the field.   But it recent years, McDermott has been very clear that he wants to get pressure from four rushers, leaving seven to play pass defense.  And he's been very clear that pressures are more important than sacks.  

 

They drafted two defensive linemen last year, but neither of them projected to be a sack star.   They are disciplined guys who play their position, not guys who rip past blockers and get to the QB.   I'm guessing that McDermott is starting to rethink his approach to defensive line play.   

[QCity]

On 1/31/2022 at 3:46 PM, QCity said:

 

I know he satisfies the Rooney Rule.

 

Wayyy too much hand-wringing over what was obvious.