Leslie Frazier "taking a year off from coaching" per Bills PR

[Riverboat Ritchie]

He definitely was a good coach and good man but probably a good move at this point. Defense was built for regular season but not playoffs 

[JMM]

1 minute ago, Taro Nimbus said:

All you will be thrilled when the Defense will be worse this year.  But hey, you get what you ask for. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Oh no we might not win the D regular season championship again, no banner. Darn. Now let's talk about the playoffs D last 3 years...this change needed to happen

[Charles Romes]

1 minute ago, Riverboat Ritchie said:

He definitely was a good coach and good man but probably a good move at this point. Defense was built for regular season but not playoffs 

yes waiting for the QB to make a mistake works in the regular season when you face a lot of bad qbs. You need to force the qb to make a mistake when you go against a Mahomes or burrow. 

[Airseven]

3 minutes ago, Taro Nimbus said:

All you will be thrilled when the Defense will be worse this year.  But hey, you get what you ask for. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Perhaps worse overall statistically. But hopefully more aggressive and capable of coming up with a big sack or big turnover here and there.

[LABILLBACKER]

4 minutes ago, Taro Nimbus said:

All you will be thrilled when the Defense will be worse this year.  But hey, you get what you ask for. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I didn't ask for dbs playing 12 yards off the receiver?

[Brand J]

The defense with or without Frazier was going to take a step back next season regardless. At least on paper. If they perform better than they have thus far in the postseason - which is all most of us are asking/hoping for - it’ll be condemning for Frazier.

[LABILLBACKER]

Just now, Airseven said:

Perhaps worse overall statistically. But hopefully more aggressive and capable of coming up with a big sack or big turnover here and there.

Exactly....having a top 5/10 defense in the regular season translates to squat. We saw how worthless those 70 sacks were to Philly.  KC never has a top 5 D yet every year in the playoffs Jones in getting key sacks or Bolton is scooping up fumbles.  It's about getting the key play at the right moment.  And after Taron's pic6, it's been a wasteland of nothing for 4 years.

[Buffalo Bills Fan]

22 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

The man deserves privacy, but it's possible he has a medical issue either for himself or for a family member, and realizes he can't do justice to medical treatment/support AND coaching.

 

 

Hope everything is ok with Frazier. 

 

I might of been critical on his coaching (just football). But everything to him is a wonderful person. Great person to others. Wonderful guy. I'd love to get to know him in person.  Thoughts and prayers with him and everyone.

[Marcus Aurelius]

2 hours ago, RyanC883 said:

 

how about Miami’s 3rd string QB?

 

OUCH!

[Big Blitz]

The defense will be rebuilding it needs a new voice.  
 

Edmonds, Poyer, and maybe Oliver could be gone.  
 

And Von will miss some to maybe a lot of time.   

 

 

Seats are getting hotter. 

[Beck Water]

 

For those who want a bit of a thoughtful analysis of the Bills statistically excellent D rather than a knee jerk hot take, this is pretty good:

https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/bills-offseason-questions-how-can-the-defense-be-tweaked-to-get-over-playoff-hump/article_aaaa7c84-b398-11ed-b263-2742817ebae6.html

[Billz4ever]

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Exactly....having a top 5/10 defense in the regular season translates to squat. We saw how worthless those 70 sacks were to Philly.  KC never has a top 5 D yet every year in the playoffs Jones in getting key sacks or Bolton is scooping up fumbles.  It's about getting the key play at the right moment.  And after Taron's pic6, it's been a wasteland of nothing for 4 years.

Yep, you can't expect dominating defensive performances against teams like KC and Cincy.  It's about having a defense that can slow the opponent down and get some key stops.

 

Frazier's defenses were routinely lacking in that department in the postseason.

[Riverboat Ritchie]

7 minutes ago, JayBaller10 said:

The defense with or without Frazier was going to take a step back next season regardless. At least on paper. If they perform better than they have thus far in the postseason - which is all most of us are asking/hoping for - it’ll be condemning for Frazier.

Wonder if loss of personnel had Frazier leave as defense is likely to take step back. Seems like he always wanted another head coach chance and might be more marketable next year if Bills D takes step back.   Good regular season coach and changed culture but that Cincy game and 13 secs were infuriating.  Wish him nothing but best and hope he is healthy. He is up there some age wise. 

[GunnerBill]

7 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

You don’t think the defensive game plan, play-calling, lack of adjustments and playing a safer defensive style was a major issue in the Bills playoff losses? I do.

In his time as DC I feel like I can only point to a handful of games against good teams where the defensive game plan really impressed me (like the ravens game where they shut down Lamar, the KC game in the regular season following the AFC championship loss, and the KC game last year as well as a few others).

 

I do think Frazier did a good job here overall. I have a lot of respect for Leslie Frazier the person and for what he did in his time here. But I do think it was time for a change.

 

I think the defense kind of changed as time went on. I think McDermott was more hands-on with the defense in his early years here. But as time went on and Frazier took more control and really started pursuing a head coaching job I think he started to play things too safe. Honestly, sometimes I felt like he was more concerned about good statistics than winning the game, and the defense often felt more like a paper tiger than an actual top 5 defense. The Bills also poured an awful lot of money and resources into the defense to get those top 5 (on paper) results.

 

 

 

Also, for as good of defensive statistics as Frazier had, I think it’s somewhat telling he never really got head coaching interviews. Now maybe that’s just because of his age or because offensive head coaches are a hotter commodity. I think we will learn a lot next season by whether Frazier is in high demand by good contending teams to be their DC. If he’s a top 5 DC in the NFL I would think a number of good teams would come calling, not just mediocre/poor teams.

 

I do feel somewhat sad that his time here is over, and they always say be careful what you wish for. But I think we also needed to make a change. You can’t keep doing the same thing every year expecting different results, and I think the defensive game plan and play calling was suspect enough to make that change.

We also need to find out if Frazier was part of what was holding them back in the playoffs or if it’s actually McDermott. My hope is obviously the former.

 

I mean I disagree with almost all of this. The lack of adjustments thing in particular is maddening because it is something the Bills have been extremely good at in Frazier's period here. Consistently strong in second half defense. And it is there to people who watch the tape and understand what they are watching too. Look the Cincy game was a mess, start to finish, all units... but if you think there were no defensive adjustments in that game I honestly don't know what to say to you. The Miami game was the same, they played basically a completely different coverage scheme in the second half. It is just irritating when people repeat, ad nauseum things that are not true because they either haven't taken the time to watch the all22 or if they have watched it they just don't understand what they are watching. As for is playing a safe style a problem? No. Not for me. It is the way to play defense in the NFL in 2023. You have to make teams string drives together, that's the modern way to play. But you have to get pressure with your front 4 to make it work and the Bills too often haven't. That is less scheme and more personnel. 

 

Do I think McDermott's influence changed over the years? No. 

 

Did Leslie get Head Coaching interviews during his time here? Yes in 3 of the 6 post-seasons. 

 

Do I think Leslie could come back to a DC job in the NFL if he wants one? Yes. 

 

Did we "need" to make a change? No. 

 

[CincyBillsFan]

2 hours ago, appoo said:

The defense performed poorly in 2 games across 3 years of playoffs where the Bills have played in 7 games 

Three games if we're being honest here:  Twice against KC and against the Bengals.  And the D wasn't exactly stellar against Indy in that playoff game either.  Came close to blowing a 24 - 10 4th quarter lead.

 

 

[Billz4ever]

1 minute ago, Riverboat Ritchie said:

Wonder if loss of personnel had Frazier leave as defense is likely to take step back. Seems like he always wanted another head coach chance and might be more marketable next year if Bills D takes step back.   Good regular season coach and changed culture but that Cincy game and 13 secs were infuriating.  Wish him nothing but best and hope he is healthy. He is up there some age wise. 

 

Given the mountain of injuries on the D this year, he was really already playing with that anyway.  The Bills are trying to sell it as a Frazier decision, but it has a mutual agreement written all over it.

[billsfan89]

A needed change hopefully this isn’t related to health.

[CincyBillsFan]

1 minute ago, Riverboat Ritchie said:

Wonder if loss of personnel had Frazier leave as defense is likely to take step back. Seems like he always wanted another head coach chance and might be more marketable next year if Bills D takes step back.   Good regular season coach and changed culture but that Cincy game and 13 secs were infuriating.  Wish him nothing but best and hope he is healthy. He is up there some age wise. 

I think you nailed it here.  To me this is a clear indication that they're going all in on the offense this off season.  They sat down with Frazier and explained that not only were a lot of the defensive FA's not coming back but it would be slim pickings in FA and the draft for the D.

 

The Bills are going to need a radically different style of D going forward.  One that Frazier isn't comfortable running. 

 

 

[GunnerBill]

14 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Exactly....having a top 5/10 defense in the regular season translates to squat. We saw how worthless those 70 sacks were to Philly.  KC never has a top 5 D yet every year in the playoffs Jones in getting key sacks or Bolton is scooping up fumbles.  It's about getting the key play at the right moment.  And after Taron's pic6, it's been a wasteland of nothing for 4 years.

 

EXACTLY. In key moments in the playoffs it is about talent over scheme. Ex-*****-actly. Coaches coach. Players have to play. 

[Billz4ever]

7 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

I think you nailed it here.  To me this is a clear indication that they're going all in on the offense this off season.  They sat down with Frazier and explained that not only were a lot of the defensive FA's not coming back but it would be slim pickings in FA and the draft for the D.

 

The Bills are going to need a radically different style of D going forward.  One that Frazier isn't comfortable running. 

 

 

What makes you think the Bills are going to be playing radically different style of D going forward? This is still McD's defense and I haven't heard anything suggested they will be changing the core defensive philosophy.  IMO, you're going to get the same defense, with just a different play caller, and a few different players on the field.

 

Obviously just changing who's calling the plays can have a pretty big impact on the defense since whoever takes over may be more aggressive than Frazier was.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Edited February 28, 2023 by Billz4ever