In Defense of McDermott

[section122]

In light of the Frazier news and all of the whining about McDermott this offseason I wanted to shed some light on the success of the Bills.  Reading this board it seems like the consensus is McD is on the hot seat and needs to figure it out soon.  Time to put that idiotic nonsense to rest. (Also if Florio says it, it most likely isn't true...)

 

Since 2017 when McD took over, the Bills have the 3rd best record in the NFL behind only the Chiefs and the Saints. https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/team-records-since-2017

 

Since 2017 the Bills have the 8th most playoff WINS https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-team-playoff-wins-since-2017

 

Since 2020 when Allen took off, the Bills have the 5th most playoff WINS https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-team-playoff-wins-since-2020

 

Since 2020 the Bills are tied with the 2nd most playoff games played https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-team-playoff-wins-since-2020

 

Since 2017 The Bills have given up the 3rd least points per game https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-team-defensive-ratings-since-2017

 

Since he took over the Bills have been a top 3 regular season team and a top 5 playoff team by these measures.

 

Here are some more ranking him against contemporaries:

 

Amongst all active coaches he has the 7th best win % https://www.footballdb.com/coaches/index.html?sort=pct ahead of names like John Harbaugh and Sean McVay

 

He has the 21st best winning % OF ALL TIME https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/

 

He has the 46th most playoff wins OF ALL TIME (same link as above)

 

Of those 46, he has the 6th most wins with coaches with the same or less experience OF ALL TIME

 

Did you know?

 

There are only 38 coaches who have coached in 10 or more playoff games? McD has 9

 

Of those 38 only Sean McVay has done that in 6 or fewer seasons.

 

There are only 2 active coaches in the NFL with more than 1 super bowl win (Reid and Belichick)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_National_Football_League_head_coaches#:~:text=Belichick also has the most,Andy Reid%2C and Sean McVay.

 

There are only 8 active coaches who have won a super bowl period.

 

Give the man his flowers.  He is a great coach and we are lucky to have him.

 

[Rc2catch]

Since his first couple seasons people have been saying he’s not the guy. 
I’m fine with Mcdermott. There have been plenty of growing pains but I do believe he’s gotten better and will continue to improve. He doesn’t strike me as a guy who is content with how things have gone. 
Andy Reid survived a decade in Philly even though “he couldn’t win the big one” 

The team should have performed better. But I’m not ready to give up on him yet. 
 

[Success]

He has a lot of strengths, and I agree that overall, we're lucky to have him. There are some bad coaches in the league.  I think McD is at minimum, he is in the top 10 - and a case could be made for top 5.

 

The lapses are notable, but people have to understand that all coaches have them. Reid, who is generally considered the best now, had some shaky years in Philly - and has even had moments in KC that are head-scratchers.

 

He gameplans well, and he is a great leader in times of adversity.  I'm all in on McD.

 

[Mr. WEO]

McVay and Harbaugh have won SBs.....without a Josh Allen on the roster period.

 

Once a team starts winning their division regular, the 13 in seasons aren't going to be how a HC is judged--as they shouldn't be.  Conference Championship game and SB appearances are the standard now.

[section122]

11 minutes ago, Success said:

He has a lot of strengths, and I agree that overall, we're lucky to have him. There are some bad coaches in the league.  I think McD is at minimum, he is in the top 10 - and a case could be made for top 5.

 

The lapses are notable, but people have to understand that all coaches have them. Reid, who is generally considered the best now, had some shaky years in Philly - and has even had moments in KC that are head-scratchers.

 

He gameplans well, and he is a great leader in times of adversity.  I'm all in on McD.

 

As you said all coaches have them and I think people are just more emotionally invested in the Bills which leads them to judge more harshly.

[Einstein]

Another regular season success thread.

I look forward to the playoff success thread at some point ever.

[Teddy KGB]

He shat the bed again, cool punts Vs the Bengals 

[somnus00]

I like McDermott. I don't want to let him go anytime soon. He shows the willingness to self-critique and improve/adapt. That's a great trait for a coach to have.

 

But saying we have the 5th most playoff wins while having the 2nd most playoff appearances probably isn't a winning argument on this site.

[ngbills]

Who are the top 3 QB's in the league? Which one has not made a super bowl. Lets not give McD too much credit. That is not saying he is bad, but most NFl level coaches would be in the playoffs every year with Allen.

[nucci]

and some really bad and frustrating playoff losses

[uticaclub]

You could easy use those stats as a reason why it’s time to move on. 2nd most playoff games, but only 8th in playoff wins? That’s not success, that just means the Jets, Dolphins and Patriots haven’t been very good and we have a franchise QB

[Success]

7 minutes ago, nucci said:

and some really bad and frustrating playoff losses

 

13 seconds was a botch.  And a big one.

 

This year?  That team was emotionally drained.  I don't think any "the inches we need are all around us" speech gets us out of that.

 

[msw2112]

31 minutes ago, Einstein said:

Another regular season success thread.

I look forward to the playoff success thread at some point ever.

 

In fairness to the OP, he does list serveral playoff-related statistics.

[mrags]

33 minutes ago, Einstein said:

Another regular season success thread.

I look forward to the playoff success thread at some point ever.

Right. 
 

I’ll continue to say it. McD isn’t a wartime consigliere. 

7 minutes ago, Success said:

 

13 seconds was a botch.  And a big one.

 

This year?  That team was emotionally drained.  I don't think any "the inches we need are all around us" speech gets us out of that.

 

An actual good coach and not a clapper might have though. 

[Einstein]

2 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

 

In fairness to the OP, he does list serveral playoff-related statistics.

 

5th most playoff wins with the 2nd most playoff appearances is the opposite of success if you ask me.

[Mr. WEO]

2 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

 

In fairness to the OP, he does list serveral playoff-related statistics.

he’s 4-5 with elite offenses and defenses

[mrags]

30 minutes ago, somnus00 said:

I like McDermott. I don't want to let him go anytime soon. He shows the willingness to self-critique and improve/adapt. That's a great trait for a coach to have.

 

But saying we have the 5th most playoff wins while having the 2nd most playoff appearances probably isn't a winning argument on this site.

He has literally adapted to nothing. He has improved either. 

[JerseyBills]

And they literally gutted the roster. Complete renovation 

 

This time last year we were treating McD as the next great coach and I still do. I just think we had a bad game,  point blank period. Guys were out of gas at the wrong time. We can beat any team in the league 

[mrags]

5 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

And they literally gutted the roster. Complete renovation 

 

This time last year we were treating McD as the next great coach and I still do. I just think we had a bad game,  point blank period. Guys were out of gas at the wrong time. We can beat any team in the league 

Yet we still have problems beating good teams when it matters. Chiefs twice, texans once and bengals once. We had the lead in all but one of those games at once point. A huge lead against Texans, and a lead against the chiefs with almost zero time left on the clock. Yet McDermott Continues to not learn from his mistakes. 

[Behindenemylines]

McD has built a culture which isn’t an easy thing to do -especially in a small market snowy cold western NY city.  For that he gets a ton of congrats.   
 

I believe as part of that culture he has created a player/coach friendly atmosphere.   That’s great on so many levels and it’s seen in our general performance over his tenure.  What makes it difficult is taking a guy like Frazier who is Almost the guy and giving him space to be The Guy.  That’s patience that many fans INCLUDING ME just don’t have.  It’s a balancing act and I think he’s doing about as good as anyone can in the environment he created.  
 

we are now set to move past 13 seconds  etc and finish the job. McD is the guy and he now Nowers to grow up a bit and toughen up too-it’s part of the franchise growth.  With JA he’s got the most important piece.  We will finish the job this coming year!