ROCKPILE REVIEW - Bengals and 2022 Wrap-Up

[GreggTX]

On 2/2/2023 at 11:28 PM, HomeskillitMoorman said:

 

I don't think it is. Frazier is an extension of him, he runs the defense the way McD wants it to be run and to his vision. If McDermott had a problem with any of it, he could change it. 

 

He doesn't. He won't bring in someone that would challenge him to make changes. We've seen that already, we're still seeing it now. It's easier to keep Frazier and have most of the fanbase blame him instead as if McD doesn't have anything to do with the defense. You could literally read most of the messages on the board and most want to can Frazier and keep McDermott. It doesn't make any sense. 

 

If they think Frazier is such a big problem...whose fault is it that he's been here and is still here? It's McD's. Any way you slice it, McDermott is the problem. 

 

So McDermott's goal is to have a bad defense and keep a bad, clueless DC in place so he won't have to take the blame. Also, the loss of Hyde, Miller and other, multiple players on D had nothing to do with it. Interesting theories. So let's fire the best HC we've had since Marv and replace him with a scrub.

 

 

[Ayjent]

4 hours ago, GreggTX said:

On 2/2/2023 at 11:28 PM, HomeskillitMoorman said:

 

I don't think it is. Frazier is an extension of him, he runs the defense the way McD wants it to be run and to his vision. If McDermott had a problem with any of it, he could change it. 

 

He doesn't. He won't bring in someone that would challenge him to make changes. We've seen that already, we're still seeing it now. It's easier to keep Frazier and have most of the fanbase blame him instead as if McD doesn't have anything to do with the defense. You could literally read most of the messages on the board and most want to can Frazier and keep McDermott. It doesn't make any sense. 

 

If they think Frazier is such a big problem...whose fault is it that he's been here and is still here? It's McD's. Any way you slice it, McDermott is the problem. 

 

So McDermott's goal is to have a bad defense and keep a bad, clueless DC in place so he won't have to take the blame. Also, the loss of Hyde, Miller and other, multiple players on D had nothing to do with it. Interesting theories. So let's fire the best HC we've had since Marv and replace him with a scrub.

 

 

I think what people are asking for is that McDermott actually be the Head Coach and hire a new DC with more autonomy to run a different D than Frazier or than he might run and bring something new to the table.  But I think it’s also fair to say that maybe McD won’t fire Frazier bc he is doing what McD wants.  Either way they can’t keep doing the same thing bc it’s not the answer Defensively. The culture and expectations that McDermott and Beane have brought are to their credit and most of us don’t want to throw it all away for the unknown.  Especially given that this team mired itself in the most frustrating mediocrity for the better part of 2 decades, and the Pegulas first hire was a huge swing and miss. 
 

However, they do need to try to adapt bc this is clearly not on par with the teams that stand in the way and others are going to emerge. 

[ALF]

Bills Guard Roger Saffold Says Buffalo 'Ran Out of Gas' in NFL Playoffs

“Guys were exhausted during the week and our coaches did the best they could try to modify the week . . . but there was just uncharacteristic things that were kind of happening . . . I have to kind of put that into effect and not as an excuse just this team has been fighting for so long and fighting through all of this adversity you almost run out of gas at some point,” Saffold said, via Bridget Condon 

 

Especially since the Monday Night Football matchup, Saffold said, players "haven't been able to take a breath since the Damar situation" referencing the Week 17 game in which. Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field and had to be resuscitated.

 

That game, along with weather situations and a local shooting certainly could wear on players and that certainly can affect the play and focus on the field.

 

https://www.si.com/nfl/bills/news/buffalo-bills-cincinnati-bengals-roger-safford-nfl-playoffs-loss-offseason-damar-hamlin

 

No Von Miller or Micah Hyde

[Shaw66]

2 hours ago, Ayjent said:

I think what people are asking for is that McDermott actually be the Head Coach and hire a new DC with more autonomy to run a different D than Frazier or than he might run and bring something new to the table.  But I think it’s also fair to say that maybe McD won’t fire Frazier bc he is doing what McD wants.  Either way they can’t keep doing the same thing bc it’s not the answer Defensively.

Now, I'm just down to repeating myself.   Of course, what you say here is correct.   If you have the wrong QB, a good HC and GM will get a different one.  If you have the wrong DE, they'll get a different one.  If people around him the organization, or smart football people around the league, are saying you can't win with that defense, and the coach doesn't change defenses, well, then the owner has to get a different HC.   That's true.  But it's not like the Bills are the only team in the league playing 4-3, or the only team in the league that tries to get pressure on the QB rushing only four, or that avoids cover zero.   A lot of teams do what the Bills do, so I don't think the Bills have a failed, outdated defense that McD stubbornly sticks to because, well, he likes it.  Have you noticed that all last season and all off-season people here were pounding the table to get rid of Edmunds because he wasn't a run stuffer and he wasn't tough enough, and all of that has gone away because he made a few more tackles this season?  I think we have to recognize that these complaints about McDermott and Frazier, although present a bit in earlier seasons, have become the flavor of the month.   The Bills had one of the best defenses in the league, but this season, for reasons I don't completely disagree with, McDermott and Frazier are taking the blame. 

 

Well, that's all well and good.   If McDermott is so stubborn that he won't change things that have been demonstrated not to work, fine, he will have to go.  However, McDermott is a self-defined lifelong learner who is into continuous improvement.  Staying in the same place, let alone going backward, is not acceptable in his personal world.   When he came to the Bills he instituted a management system, from the top of the organization to the bottom, of regular and continuous evaluation, correction, and improvement.   Everyone in the organization, including Beane and McDermott and Frazier, is evaluated regularly, is given feedback, and is expected to learn and improve.  Everyone has a plan of improvement that is established cooperatively between that person and his supervisors.  McDermott has said repeatedly that he is subject to that system and that in any case, he does it as a matter of personal habit.   The whole point of the system is that people, players, coaches, sales people, cafeteria people, will continue to improve in their jobs, from day to day, week to week, year to year.   In that environment, both organizationally and personally, McDermott will not continue to do things that are not working.

 

He has, for example, studied the 4-3 and the 3-4 for 20 years, and I'm sure he understands more about both systems than any person posting here.   He knows the strengths and weaknesses of both, and he prefers the 4-3.  He can explain his reasons for preferring it, and he can agree with us that he might be wrong about his preference, but he doesn't think so.  When it becomes obvious that the 3-4 is better, McDermott will switch, because he learns and because winning is what matters to him.  So, too, his 8-man DL rotation, and his preference for zone pass defense, and every other strategic choice there is to be made on a football field.  McDermott will not continue to do what doesn't work, and he won't permit Frazier to continue to do what doesn't work.

 

So, yes, we all can sit and say Frazier isn't getting the job done, and that means either Frazier or McDermott or both need to change or be replaced, but that is not something McDermott and Beane and the Pegulas don't already know.  And the Bills have in a place a management system the whole point of which is to identify and address issues exactly like that in order to improve.  

 

So, yes, you've set forth the problem nicely and as usual, I agree with just about all you say and admire how you say it, but I'm not stressing over it.  McBeane will deal with it. 

 

If I want to play DC for a minute, McD's DC, I know I'll be running 4-2-5.  I'll have Hyde and Taron Johnson at safety, White and Elam at the corners, Benford or Jackson in the slot.  I'll probably get help from some rookie DB.   I'll have Edmunds and Milano and an 8-man rotation on the Dline.  I'll be figuring out how to get more pressure on the QB in my system, and I'll be working with Beane about tweaking the personnel, again, in that area.  I'll be studying film and understanding how the Bengals and other teams have been getting receivers open for medium-range completions, and I'll be tweaking the scheme to make that tougher.   I'll be figuring out how to change the mix of zone and man how to get more stops on third and seven and third and eight.  

 

If people want to come on here and say they would prefer a different defense, well, fine, but as I said, people's preferences are just that.  If they want to proclaim, as many do, that they're right and McDermott is wrong, well, I'm sticking with McDermott.