Has Sean McDermott's Bills met your personal expectations over the last four season?

[Buffalo Barbarian]

5 minutes ago, Gregg said:

 

Every NFL player would love to have a career like Brady. Josh is going on year 6 and hasn't played in a Super Bowl yet. To match Brady is realistically not going to happen. Think Ben, Payton, Eli is what I am hoping for Josh. Win a couple of Super Bowls along with a great career that ends up in Canton. I don't know if Eli will make it. Payton is there and Ben will be there.

 

I dont  care about any of that, i only care about Superbowls

 

 

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

If you told me 4 years ago that we'd have 4 straight playoff appearances and 4 playoff wins I would've been ecstatic and say that McD far exceeded expectations.. 

 

The problem is that the 2020-2021 reset my expectations. We had a top 3 QB on a rookie contract. The expectation should really be SB and the best we've done is a blowout loss in the AFCCG. Some bad luck that we played against the Chiefs/Bengals playing at their best, but that's the NFL. 

 

The 30mm+ in free cap space that a rookie QB contract gives you is such an insane competitive advantage. If McD couldn't get it done these last 3 years it's hard to imagine he'll be able to going forward. 

[Gregg]

1 minute ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

I dont  care about any of that, i only care about Superbowls

 

 

 

Same here and Payton, Eli, Ben all won 2 of them. That is what I hope Josh can get. Obviously, I would like him to win more but as we have seen it's hard to do.

[Shaw66]

This is a great question.

 

First, I don't know that I have expectations.  It's not for me to expect anything from him.  He doesn't work for me.   It's not like he and I have some relationship that entitles me to expect anything of him.   It's one of the weird things about being a fan - we have hopes, and the HC can succeed in having our hopes realized, or the HC can fail at it.  

 

Having said that, when I heard McDermott in his first couple of press conferences when he came to Buffalo, he created some expectations in me.   I began to expect that the team would be well organized and motivated.  I expected the defense to be better than it had been, mostly because of the reputation he'd built for his defenses in Carolina.  

 

He also said things that sounded nice, but saying them didn't mean that they'd happen.  He talked about a team culture that fostered continuous improvement, a team that would be on a road to excellence and sustained success.   

 

It became obvious within the first couple of years that well organized and motivated was at the core of what was happening in Buffalo.   So, yes, he's met my expectations.   

 

Beyond that, he's shown me what he meant about continuous improvement, sustained success, etc.  He's shown me that those are more than just nice sounding words.  It actually is a culture that he's built and maintained.   That's what has me continue to be optimistic and not to worry about how things turned out the past couple of seasons. 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

If your expectations as a fan is Super Bowl or bust, you’ll be miserable. 
 

That mindset with the Steelers has 2 good years and 18 failures with a HOF coach. 
 

We are a great team, with an elite QB, and a very good coach. Enjoy this time, because you will miss it one day. 

[Don Otreply]

For the majority of the time they absolutely have done a great job fixing a team that was well in its way to tire fire status, and we should all be F ing ecstatically happy with what they did.

 

My only critique, is the lack of scheme flexibility/play design creativity, some in the regular season, but especially in the post season, they are on the verge of greatness, hopefully they have seen the forest through the trees, and are now doing what it takes to compete more fully with the best teams during the post season.

 

GO BILLS!!!

Edited March 3, 2023 by Don Otreply

[BillMafia716ix]

I’m 33. The Bills have been trash pretty much my whole entire life. Then McDermott comes in and the organization is in a much better place than they have ever been. Only thing he hasn’t done is win a Super Bowl. That’s it. The stability he’s brought to the organization is the reason why we even have discussions about potentially winning the Super Bowl. 

[PBF81]

1 hour ago, MJS said:

You are putting a lot of words into my mouth. I meant what I wrote and not anything else.

 

If a fan is angry that the team didn't win the superbowl, thay means superbowl was their expectation. There are fans angry at the Bills organization every single year, which means YES, those fans DO expect a superbowl win every single year.

 

You have to be more nuanced as a fan. Do I want a superbowl? Absolutely. Do I get disappointed when they don't make it? Of course. Do I look at specific areas of the team that need to improve? Always. Can I appreciate the succes the team has had even though they haven't gotten that superbowl yet? Yes.

 

Do I lash out in anger and demand one of the most successful head coaches in franchise history be fired and declare that the the team is horrible and probably won't even make the playoffs next year? No, because that is unreasonable and unrealistic. Fans like that are blinded by their unrealistic expectations.

 

Well, let's take what you did say then ... 

 

Quote

If a fan is angry that the team didn't win the superbowl, thay means superbowl was their expectation. There are fans angry at the Bills organization every single year, which means YES, those fans DO expect a superbowl win every single year.

 

They go into every season expecting to win the Super Bowl.  I'd say that almost every fan posting here had that expectation going into this past season.  We can look up your expectations, I suspect you were among them.  

 

But here's the thing, we have to ask ourselves several things.  First, are we doing the most and best with what we have?  It's a Yes or No question.  I don't think that there's a fan or NFL media type out there that would answer "Yes" to that.  Would you?  
 

I see some negative notations to my posts in which I've asked some key related questions.  What I don't see is anyone answering those questions, to their thoughts.  The question are objective questions although any answers would be subjective.  

 

I'm not angry.  Frustrated perhaps, speaking for myself.  There's more in life to football for me.  My life doesn't revolve around how the Bills do.  I have family and things going on.  But I'm a fan like everyone else here.  I bother to take the time to ask myself the tough questions rather than simply make excuses.  It is a business, plain and simple.  The owners treat it like one, the coaches and GMs treat it like one, the front office people treat it like one, the players certainly do.  So I do as well.  

 

As such, I ask myself whether as a paying customer of one variety or another, even if only TV game subscription from afar, or merch, whether I'm getting the most from what I've invested, money perhaps, but more importantly for me, time, precious time.  

 

I'll never root for another team and if the Bills were to move I'd be done with the NFL altogether.  But in the meantime, I ask myself that tough question.  If the answer is no, I begin to consider why not.  

 

Here's what I see here in the forums in terms of discussing what's wrong with our team and why it's not making the most of the roster that it has.  

 

McD's at fault.  But he's excused because Beane hasn't "given him the necessary tools."  

 

OK, so Beane's at fault.  No, he drafted Allen, and despite lackluster drafts otherwise, that carries him.  McD's not doing him a solid.  

 

It's Frasier's fault.  No, can't be, McD's running the D in reality at the most crucial times, which have cost us our seasons.  

 

It's McD's fault then.  No, it's Frasier's D.  

 

Offensively it's Dorsey's fault for poor play-calling.  But McD's in charge, not Dorsey.  McD put Dorsey in place.  

 

OK, so it's McD's fault.  Nope.  Dorsey's only working with what he has and Beane hasn't done him a solid.  

 

OK, so it's Beane's fault then for not providing good OL-men, WRs, and RBs.  Nope, Dorsey's not using them correctly.  

 

It's Allen's fault, way too many risky throws into coverage, not taking the short high-percentage stuff.  Nope, he's doing the best with what he can.  Now Doctor says he can't throw short accurately anyway.  So not him.  Gotta be Dorsey then.  Nope, revert to circular logic above.  

 

It never ends.  it's no one's fault.  Everyone's exonerated. 

 

Beane's done a fantastic job with the Drafts despite producing no impact players.  

McD's a fantastic coach that just needs another decade, or what, the rest of Allen's career, to come around and finally learn well enough so that he too can win a Super Bowl with a much greater QB than many other Super Bowl winning coaches have done.  

Frasier's been great.  Nothing defensively is his fault.  

The players, well, not an issue since Beane's done such a fantastic job.  

 

I mean LMAO, ...  

 

But we shouldn't expect that we win the Super Bowl with Allen as our QB.  ... if we cannot reasonably have that expectation annually until we do, then what's the point of being a fan.  And if it's not happening, again, then why not?  I've asked this a number of times and all I get are negative image responses, no one has answered the questions posed as such.  

 

I think that once people start asking themselves that question, and start answering themselves honestly, than it'll be clear.  People have difficulty doing that however.  

 

I'll ask again ... 

 

Who was responsible for "13 Seconds"?   BTW, something that absolutely no one on the team came clean on.  No one.  

 

Who was responsible for massive underachievement in our two playoff games this season, again, one of which against a 7th round rookie QB that had never started regularly much less in a playoff game, and who won't ever start regularly in his entire NFL career?  

 

Who was responsible for our 2020 playoff loss to the Chiefs in which we allowed 439 Yards, 29 1st-Downs, and 7 Yards-per-Play to the Chiefs in the game where we allowed the second most points all year?   It was their best playoff game by a country mile.  

 

There are answers.  Not everyone wants to admit that.  Since it's playoff performances we're discussing here, and as I see it, what most fans are dissatisfied with, it's relevant an has become a hump that we've been unable to overcome.  Why?  Who's responsible.  

 

I don't think anyone's upset, generally speaking, with our regular season performances and records despite issues existing there, and despite off odd games like the Jags game last year for example.  What I'm seeing is that most fans are upset by us seeing a different team come the playoffs.   The excuses posed there are circular logic too.  

 

So back to what you did say, I don't see that the fans were "angry at the Bills organization every year."   After 2020 we were understanding and realized that KC was very good.  Now it's evident that perhaps they weren't that good but that we helped make them look better.  

 

If any fans are "angry" as you put it, I would strongly suggest that it's not because of any single season, but rather at the established PATTERN that has developed of our very much inadequate and underachieving performance in the playoffs, again, now three seasons straight with entirely befuddling and inexplicable reasons why, with a coaching staff and GM that refuse to come clean on any of it.  So they can look in the mirror for at least part of the current perceptions as such.  They're far from innocent.  It's a pattern with no reason to think that it will change. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by PBF81

[GoBills808]

56 minutes ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

I dont  care about any of that, i only care about Superbowls

 

 

The Bills aren't going to Super Bowls at the moment unfortunately 

[nedboy7]

1 hour ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

I dont  care about any of that, i only care about Superbowls

 

 

 

Just wondering then, do you watch regular season games?  I assume you wait till the playoffs to start watching.  And if you do watch, did you actually put yourself thru those 17 years of mediocrity when all you care is about the SB? 

[Toyo321]

We give way to much credit to McD and Beane.   They both came from the Panthers & Eagles organizations that never won a Super Bowl while either of them were on these teams staff as a DC or assistant GM.

So, until you get a GM and Coach with a actual Super Bowl winning pedigree,  how can you expect them to win a super bowl for Buffalo ???  Pegula is truly being taken advantage of IMO.  He so badly wants to believe in Beane and McD as his 2 main guys,  to win a SB for him,  he is blinded to what realistic expectations these two can deliver on, to a fault.  There are much better GM and coaching tandems in the league that have turned around franchises in less than 5 years.  Cincinnati is one of those teams.

 

Neither one of these guys IMO will get us to a Super bowl, Beane especially,  in the past five years he has put this team in worse financial CAP status then they have been in since Doug Whaley was running the show at GM.  McD & Beane's FA talent assessment capability's are atrocious.  Since 2019 with a $77.3 million in cap space, his only real talent contributions signed to this team,  that have helped us for more than a single season can be counted on one hand.  These are players that were not acquired via the draft. Poyer, Hyde, Diggs and Beasley.   No one on the defensive line that Beane has signed has done squat for this team.  They have all been average or below average at best, or a bust. 

 

Even the elusive unicorn "Von Miller" has been a bust.  Why a bust you say???  He was was brought in to make a difference, get us over the KC hurdle, get us to a title game, get us a more dominate D-Line, get us to a SB, get us a SB win.   Now the reality folks, he's injured and out until maybe Dec of 2023.  God only knows when he suits up again as a starter for the Bills in 2023.  He failed to do any of the above for this team last year and do you  really believe a 34 year old player will accomplish these objectives for us this year coming off a ACL injury.   We can't even beat Cincinnati much less KC.  This move has been the biggest bust signing in this teams history and contract wise ever.   Even eclipsing the Mario Williams contract and then some.  Ughhh......

 

Yeah signing a 33 year old soon to be 34 year old guy to a unheard of 6 year $120 M &  $69,960,000 guaranteed is just ridiculously stupid for one player when you already have JA 17's salary to contend with.  Beane is Whaley 2.0, if not worse,  like I said in another post.

 

Since 2017 we have been elevated to just a post season playoff caliber team only with McD and Beane, 9 playoff appearances and we are 4-5 in those 9 games with no AFCCG wins.

 

We are wasting JA's window to get this team a SB win.   The clock is ticking, tic tock, tic tock...........................

 

Yeah to all you Beane and McD lovers, you want how many more years of Beane and McD in charge at the helm for Buffalo? 

 

This all equates to a epic failure.  NO SUPER BOWLS !!!!

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Toyo321

[krf139]

No. He preaches ‘Super Bowl Caliber’ but he has yet to achieve his own expectation. He also takes shockingly little to no accountability for the failure to reach this standard.

[BillsFanSD]

Absolutely, yes.  McDermott has exceeded my expectations by far.  It's not close.

 

Now, of course, my expectations were very low when we hired him.  After Rex, Marrone, Jauron, etc. I just assumed this McDermott guy would be the next in line and we'd be conducting the usual postmortem in 3-4 seasons.  Obviously I was totally wrong about that.  He took a sad-sack, frankly irrelevant franchise and turned it into a team that is expected to win playoff games.  That's a night and day change.  We seem to be a destination of choice for free agents, which is also a night and day change.  

 

McDermott didn't accomplish all of this on his own, and he would never say so.  His staff helps, Beane helps, the Pegulas help, and of course drafting Josh Allen helped just a little smidge.  But McDermott is probably the best coach this franchise has ever had.  

 

I'm not happy with the way the second half of this season went, and I have some criticisms of how we used our rookies and how this team has been built.  But that's constructive criticism directed toward a person who I think is doing a very good job.  

Edited March 3, 2023 by BillsFanSD

[Gregg]

31 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

Absolutely, yes.  McDermott has exceeded my expectations by far.  It's not close.

 

Now, of course, my expectations were very low when we hired him.  After Rex, Marrone, Jauron, etc. I just assumed this McDermott guy would be the next in line and we'd be conducting the usual postmortem in 3-4 seasons.  Obviously I was totally wrong about that.  He took a sad-sack, frankly irrelevant franchise and turned it into a team that is expected to win playoff games.  That's a night and day change.  We seem to be a destination of choice for free agents, which is also a night and day change.  

 

McDermott didn't accomplish all of this on his own, and he would never say so.  His staff helps, Beane helps, the Pegulas help, and of course drafting Josh Allen helped just a little smidge.  But McDermott is probably the best coach this franchise has ever had.  

 

I'm not happy with the way the second half of this season went, and I have some criticisms of how we used our rookies and how this team has been built.  But that's constructive criticism directed toward a person who I think is doing a very good job.  

 

Lou Saban coached the Bills to B2B AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. The only championships in Bills history. Until a Bills coach can actually win a Super Bowl then Lou remains #1. IMHO. 

[goldenboy81]

I wonder how many of these posters were even around for pre mcd Era. It's seems not many lately.

[LABILLBACKER]

I voted short. Sure you can take the glass half full approach and celebrate great regular seasons. But call me fickle, I'm kinda holding out for a bigger accomplishment. Our first Josh Allen window (20, 21, 22) may be ending.  Just waiting for our second window to begin with new, exciting players on rookie deals.  Whether Sean's coaching evolves remains to be seen.

[Gregg]

3 minutes ago, goldenboy81 said:

I wonder how many of these posters were even around for pre mcd Era. It's seems not many lately.

 

Most of the 70's and 1984-85 were horrible. Add to that the 17 straight seasons of no playoffs. If there was ever a fanbase that deserves a championship (Super Bowl or Cup) it's this one.

[Brian Higgins hair]

Yes.

[BarleyNY]

This thread reminds me of this (NSFW) classic:

 

 

 

[TheBrownBear]

I said met, as my baseline for a "good" season with a franchise QB (assuming it isn't upended by unforeseen catastrophic injuries to your franchise QB) is winning your division.  After that it can often come down to matchups and a little bit of luck in order to make a run to a championship.  This past year was the only year that ended in true disappointment for me, and that's only because we were completely non-competitive against the Bengals, and I didn't see that coming.  But on the whole, McDermott has instituted a winning program here in Buffalo and I have no desire to see him and his winning ways depart any time soon.