McDermott wants a ‘nastier edge’ to his Defense post Frazier

[Sargent Hulka]

3 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

I agree with the wall metaphor in drafting G’s.  We also need a WR and a TE.  This is a deep TE class.  Hines needs to reduce his contract if he wants to stay.  We’ll have 10, 11, 12, and 21 personnel.

 

I sincerely hope Benford can convert successfully to S.

I'd like to see Terrel Bernard get a look at safety. His 40 time (4.59) his very close to Jordan Poyer's.

[somnus00]

4 hours ago, london_bills said:

Forget the Nastier edge defence, make the offence better!! Nastier OL

Why not both. He's just specifically addressing defense because he was asked about it here. 

[PBF81]

1 hour ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

A mentality change on the defense is probably the main thing they need. It was always a finesse defense with LF. I’m excited for next year.

 

McD's the one that has kept Frasier on for his full 6 seasons here.  It's taken him 6 seasons to figure out what he wants?  
 

On top of that he promoted Frasier to Asst. Head Coach halfway through as well.  

 

He's passing the buck to a now departed Frasier, deflecting any and all heat away from himself.  It makes one wonder if he and Frasier didn't have a discussion to force Frasier to "step away from football for a year" in a completely unprecedented move, with the intent of trying to start deflecting to keep his own job, and apparently, with the decision seemingly being his (Frasier's) to return after the year is up at his pleasure.  

 

Just sayin' ... 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by PBF81

[LABILLBACKER]

See it to believe it. We've always played the soft bend defense. Then we watch it break in the playoffs.  Without a better pass rush it won't matter what style we transition into. Hope he's sincere in this proclamation. 

[ddaryl]

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

See it to believe it. We've always played the soft bend defense. Then we watch it break in the playoffs.  Without a better pass rush it won't matter what style we transition into. Hope he's sincere in this proclamation. 

I'm sure he is as long as we spend major resources upgrading our D this offseason

I got a sinking feeling we are going to short arm the O upgrades most of us view and way past due

Edited March 2, 2023 by ddaryl

[Milanos Milano]

1 minute ago, BuffaloRebound said:

The Bengals exposed the softness of this defense in both games. Was pathetic watching an offense physically manhandle a defense like that.   Milano is really our only guy that consistently brings violence on every hit.  Hamlin too before his unfortunate situation.  Maybe they’re coached to think too much rather than seek and hit.  Maybe there’s too many vets on that side of ball who’ve been paid and wanna walk away from the game without permanent injury.  And all the injuries and the Hamlin episode certainly didn’t help in terms of getting the defense to play more physical.  

There is a reason we are sponsored by Charmin. 

[SCBills]

6 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

If ya can’t beat ‘em, Beat ‘em Up! A bigger challenge if we don’t have Poyer and Edmunds, but a change I’d really like to see. Bend but don’t beak keeps the opponent in the game and our 3 regular season loses were a result of this. Offenses have such an advantage today that kickin’ the crap out of them becomes a necessity!

 

 

 

Love this, but disagree it will be tougher to do without Poyer or Edmunds.   Edmunds isn't a nasty dude... he's a freak athlete who plays a more reactive style and Poyer, unfortunately, looks to be on the back nine of his career.   We can certainly get nastier without them. 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

11 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

McD's the one that has kept Frasier on for his full 6 seasons here.  It's taken him 6 seasons to figure out what he wants?  
 

On top of that he promoted Frasier to Asst. Head Coach halfway through as well.  

 

He's passing the buck to a now departed Frasier, deflecting any and all heat away from himself.  It makes one wonder if he and Frasier didn't have a discussion to force Frasier to "step away from football for a year" in a completely unprecedented move, with the intent of trying to start deflecting to keep his own job, and apparently, with the decision seemingly being his (Frasier's) to return after the year is up at his pleasure.  

 

Just sayin' ... 

 

 

I know what you’re saying and where you are coming from, but I don’t believe LF is the fall guy to save his own job. LF came up with the game plans, play calls, not McD. McD has taken over playcalling numerous times over the last 6 years, especially in the beginning, but he’s made it clear he wants to be involved with the offense and defense as a balanced HC while his coordinators run both squads.

 

We’ve heard McD say “it starts with me” over and over again. No one outside this MB things McD is micromanaging the defense as the “real” DC or passing blame. Unless this is truly a decision made by LF (and McDs comments make me doubt that), I think McD did what a HC is supposed to do and made a very difficult call. Moving on from a top-5 defensive coordinator will bring backlash, especially given the current social landscape of the country. LF simply isn’t good enough when it matters and the defensive performance in elimination games has been bad enough that warrant a change. 
 

I believe this team respects LF a great deal and the two sides have done each other a favor. I doubt the defense will be elite in 2023, I am curious to see if they are more clutch though. 

[BillsVet]

31 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

McD's the one that has kept Frasier on for his full 6 seasons here.  It's taken him 6 seasons to figure out what he wants?  
 

On top of that he promoted Frasier to Asst. Head Coach halfway through as well.  

 

He's passing the buck to a now departed Frasier, deflecting any and all heat away from himself.  It makes one wonder if he and Frasier didn't have a discussion to force Frasier to "step away from football for a year" in a completely unprecedented move, with the intent of trying to start deflecting to keep his own job, and apparently, with the decision seemingly being his (Frasier's) to return after the year is up at his pleasure.  

 

Just sayin' ... 

 

McD and Beane are masters of spin....they know how to give the fanbase what it wants when there's criticism.  But it's commonly offering a nugget that ends up being fools gold.

 

And unless Frazier has a personal matter to attend to, soon to be 64 year old men don't take a year off from coaching for no reason.  I know people think McD is this great guy who cares (and the Hamlin moment pointed to that) but he didn't get to be a NFL HC being nice.  He's seen the downside of the league being fired in Philadelphia so Reid could hang around another couple seasons.  Because, when expectations aren't met...someone has to be sacrificed.  

[somnus00]

3 hours ago, Herb Nightly said:

Why are you so adamant about Benford moving to safety? The kid showed a bit at corner so why waste THAT development and have him adjust to safety?

Hyde will be back, Hamlin is questionable but I suppose they could bring back Marlowe and Johnson. 

Draft or sign an ACTUAL safety.

I understand what you're saying, and I agree that we should draft or sign another safety, but keep in mind that Hyde and Poyer were both corners before coming here.

 

Benford isn't very fast for a corner. Plus he has the size and ball skills to be a good safety. I'm intrigued to see what he can do back there. But like you said, we still need to draft/ sign one in case. 

[dave mcbride]

5 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

 

McD and Beane are masters of spin....they know how to give the fanbase what it wants when there's criticism.  But it's commonly offering a nugget that ends up being fools gold.

 

And unless Frazier has a personal matter to attend to, soon to be 64 year old men don't take a year off from coaching for no reason.  I know people think McD is this great guy who cares (and the Hamlin moment pointed to that) but he didn't get to be a NFL HC being nice.  He's seen the downside of the league being fired in Philadelphia so Reid could hang around another couple seasons.  Because, when expectations aren't met...someone has to be sacrificed.  

I think it's less about spin than seeing that teams with the likes of Ndamukong Suh, Chris Jones, and Frank Clark get to Super Bowls. The Bills don't have that sort of guy, and McDermott DID have guys like that in Carolina in 2013 (his best defense ever). The problem is that Greg Hardy was a violent criminal. But the Carolina defense that year was utterly awesome. I honestly think that the Carolina folks were traumatized by that event and have tried to avoid guys like that. That may be going out the window now. It brings benefits, but there are real risks too.  

Edited March 2, 2023 by dave mcbride

[MrEpsYtown]

I'm going to keep beating the dead horse, but this is why I love Germaine Pratt. I know he got some heat for calling out his teammate for pushing Mahomes out of bounds. I loved what he did. The play was incredibly stupid and I am glad Pratt called him out. Pratt is like Diggs but on defense. He wants to win. He has an edge, a toughness to him and he will be demanding of his teammates. 

 

McDermott's Carolina teams had guys like Greg Hardy, Thomas Davis, Charles Johnson, and Luke Keuchly. Josh Norman was a bit annoying with some of his antics, but the dude had an edge. We are sorely missing that edge. That super bowl team also had Jared Allen, and Cortland Finnegan. In Philly he had guys like Brian Dawkins, Trent Cole, Jason Babin, and Jeremiah Trotter, just tough nasty players who demanded of each other and other teams feared. 

 

As much as I was never really a huge Jerry Hughes guy, his attitude brought something to the defense that felt missing this year. 

[Royale with Cheese]

100% percent agree with McDermott.  I think we need to bring in a mid level vet or two who has attitude.  Someone like a 2014 Jerry Hughes.  

Von Miller is a great leader but you also need a leader who will speak up and get in peoples faces.  

 

We have a bunch of Smokey's on defense.  We need a Deebo.

[PBF81]

25 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

I know what you’re saying and where you are coming from, but I don’t believe LF is the fall guy to save his own job. LF came up with the game plans, play calls, not McD. McD has taken over playcalling numerous times over the last 6 years, especially in the beginning, but he’s made it clear he wants to be involved with the offense and defense as a balanced HC while his coordinators run both squads.

 

We’ve heard McD say “it starts with me” over and over again. No one outside this MB things McD is micromanaging the defense as the “real” DC or passing blame. Unless this is truly a decision made by LF (and McDs comments make me doubt that), I think McD did what a HC is supposed to do and made a very difficult call. Moving on from a top-5 defensive coordinator will bring backlash, especially given the current social landscape of the country. LF simply isn’t good enough when it matters and the defensive performance in elimination games has been bad enough that warrant a change. 
 

I believe this team respects LF a great deal and the two sides have done each other a favor. I doubt the defense will be elite in 2023, I am curious to see if they are more clutch though. 

 

Quite possibly, but has it ever been made clear, other than in passing remarks during pressers, that LF was really the "brains" behind the D?  I'm not sure it has, everything about how this team runs appears to be shrouded in at least some level of secrecy.  

 

Either way, 6 years in ... 

 

 

[Chandler#81]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

What happened to the last guy who said they were "going to build a bully"?

 

Jeez, he might as well have opened with ""Is this thing on? Because it's getting ready to be on".

 

There's nothing nasty about this Defense.

You answered your own question. We need to be nasty on Defense.

[PBF81]

16 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

 

McD and Beane are masters of spin....they know how to give the fanbase what it wants when there's criticism.  But it's commonly offering a nugget that ends up being fools gold.

 

And unless Frazier has a personal matter to attend to, soon to be 64 year old men don't take a year off from coaching for no reason.  I know people think McD is this great guy who cares (and the Hamlin moment pointed to that) but he didn't get to be a NFL HC being nice.  He's seen the downside of the league being fired in Philadelphia so Reid could hang around another couple seasons.  Because, when expectations aren't met...someone has to be sacrificed.  

 

Agreed, but people should see beyond this as McD's endorsed this for 6 seasons now, despite it having been problematic in three post seasons now, at least.  That's all I'm saying.  As you said, they're masters of spin, but this spin only plays so far, even if believed.  I simply don't think that McD's the right person for the job going forward.  Certainly he knows this D inside and out, and if he cannot affect a change this coming season, then that should be it for him.  He shouldn't "need three more seasons" to "install his D.  

 

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by PBF81

[Nephilim17]

Thanks, OP. I find the general sports media to just write filler and not ask good questions but this had a lot in it for under three and a half minutes.

Catalana managed to make some suggestions that might rankle a coach (what do you need to change on D, did your offense have an identity?) but did it in a respectful way — plus his demeanor is respectful and just plain nice. John Wawrow, Sully, take note.

[TheBeaneBandit]

4 hours ago, MrEpsYtown said:

Replace Tremaine with Germaine Pratt and that is already a massive step in terms of bringing that edge and nastiness to the D

Add to that bringing a younger safety who is strong at the line of scrimmage and can blitz would be nice. Of course you would have to have at least decent cover skills, but that's where Hyde can compliment him.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

12 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Yea. I think the choir boy/faith based players only stuff has to stop. Time to bring in some mean dudes… even if they do have a history. 

 

Agree, especially through the middle.  

[BillsFan4]

I am hoping/expecting to see a more aggressive defense with Frazier gone. A little more edge would be nice too.