Hot take regarding McDermott and the end of games

[Steptide]

Let me start by saying that I'm not a "fire McDermott" guy. I think firing Dorsey or McD right now would be the worst possible thing for the bills. Anyway... 

 

Lots of talk today regarding the hail Mary and the bills letting the bucs back in the game. I have somewhat of a hot take regarding the end of these games. Our last 3 games (giants, pats and bucs) the bills have somehow managed to let teams get in a position to win, and in the Pats case, they did win. We all know McDermott loves his timeouts at the worst times, but I think it's deeper than that. I'm starting to think McDermott calling defensive plays AND trying to manage the team under 2 mins is too much and/or too confusing. To his credit, that IS alot of responsibility. When the game tightens up at the end , maybe McD needs to either hand off defensive calls to someone else, or have someone else manage clock/timeouts. This trend is definitely new, and I feel like this could be part of the reason. The raiders, Washington and Miami game were all well in hand with 2 mins left. 

[SirAndrew]

This might be true, but McD had trouble managing clutch situations long before taking on the D coordinator role. 

[Steptide]

13 minutes ago, SirAndrew said:

This might be true, but McD had trouble managing clutch situations long before taking on the D coordinator role. 

True, but to this extent against bad teams? I don't think as much

[Don Otreply]

I love hot takes,

[ProcessTruster]

fans are dumb

[Bob Jones]

21 minutes ago, ProcessTruster said:

People fans are dumb

FIFY. 😂

[LABILLBACKER]

4 hours ago, Steptide said:

Let me start by saying that I'm not a "fire McDermott" guy. I think firing Dorsey or McD right now would be the worst possible thing for the bills. Anyway... 

 

Lots of talk today regarding the hail Mary and the bills letting the bucs back in the game. I have somewhat of a hot take regarding the end of these games. Our last 3 games (giants, pats and bucs) the bills have somehow managed to let teams get in a position to win, and in the Pats case, they did win. We all know McDermott loves his timeouts at the worst times, but I think it's deeper than that. I'm starting to think McDermott calling defensive plays AND trying to manage the team under 2 mins is too much and/or too confusing. To his credit, that IS alot of responsibility. When the game tightens up at the end , maybe McD needs to either hand off defensive calls to someone else, or have someone else manage clock/timeouts. This trend is definitely new, and I feel like this could be part of the reason. The raiders, Washington and Miami game were all well in hand with 2 mins left. 

McD definitely loves his last second TO's at the worst time. But this characteristic/ trend is hardly new. He's done it since year 1.  He needs to trust/teach his Defense what to do in these situations.  Not just always swoop in and call a TO so the opposing OC can simply shift out of it.  

[Mikie2times]

Really hot, like it

[Rocky Landing]

Compared to some of the other hot takes on this forum right now, this one's barely above room temp.

[Chaos]

4 hours ago, Steptide said:

Let me start by saying that I'm not a "fire McDermott" guy. I think firing Dorsey or McD right now would be the worst possible thing for the bills. Anyway... 

 

Lots of talk today regarding the hail Mary and the bills letting the bucs back in the game. I have somewhat of a hot take regarding the end of these games. Our last 3 games (giants, pats and bucs) the bills have somehow managed to let teams get in a position to win, and in the Pats case, they did win. We all know McDermott loves his timeouts at the worst times, but I think it's deeper than that. I'm starting to think McDermott calling defensive plays AND trying to manage the team under 2 mins is too much and/or too confusing. To his credit, that IS alot of responsibility. When the game tightens up at the end , maybe McD needs to either hand off defensive calls to someone else, or have someone else manage clock/timeouts. This trend is definitely new, and I feel like this could be part of the reason. The raiders, Washington and Miami game were all well in hand with 2 mins left. 

Its not clear if the reason some people are criticizing your post is because they think McDermott is doing a good job at the end of games, or if they disagree with your reason.  From my perspective, the end of games situations have been complete coaching chokes.   I agree with that part. Your theory on why we keep choking is hard to know without being there.  But I honestly wish the Bills would hire a clock coach for the final four minutes of game, and not let McDermott make those decisions.  We need the closer equivalent of baseballs' Mariano Riveria. 

Edited October 28, 2023 by Chaos

[Buffalo716]

51 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

McD definitely loves his last second TO's at the worst time. But this characteristic/ trend is hardly new. He's done it since year 1.  He needs to trust/teach his Defense what to do in these situations.  Not just always swoop in and call a TO so the opposing OC can simply shift out of it.  

It has worked and not worked over the years

 

And the main reason he does it... Is because you say the offensive coordinator will shift to something else

 

But that's the point... In a crucial point you want your best play call... Not your second or third.. the best play call

 

Sean gets to see your best look... And now you're forced to either run the look and he probably knows the play because he does a lot of studying.. or you're forced to run a lesser play

[BuffaloMatt]

Just rewatched the end of the game on NFL Network reply. Fourth down right before Evans TD the play clock is down to four secs and TB scrambling and trying to get to line and TO Bills. Gave TB WRs a chance to catch their breath and OC a chance to dial up play. THEN with 16 seconds left in game Bills call TO erasing a would be sack. TB gets a rest and another chance to call a play. Not sure why either had to be called as it gave TB two more TOs, rest and their first year OC time to think. TB final two drives five TOs (2 gifted to them) and 2minute warning. That's a fail for McD!

[Buffarukus]

I think if your a head coach coming from a discipline. That segment should be the the pride of the team as extra attention and knowledge at the top position is integrated.

 

13 sec. Arizona. Minnesota, New england this year going length of the field in short time. Now tampa going the length. Add a 2 point. Then being in a position to win it with a hail mary where the ball isnt defended? Alot of hearts being ripped out mult times a year.

 

Come on man. Can never be comfortable to pull out a win without multiple score leads. 

 

Plain and simple our prevent end of game senarios are really bad. D plays good unless they absolutely HAVE to stop a drive. Its got to change.

 

 

[Chaos]

24 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

Sean gets to see your best look.

Actually, Sean gets to the see the look the other coach wants him to see before McDermott calls the inevitable time out.  Then he resets to his best call, which is why the Bills defense fails sometimes after the defensive time outs.  McDermott is pretty predictable to the casual fan. It is like professional NFL coaching staffs have a pretty good idea what he is going to do in a game.

[Buffalo716]

2 minutes ago, Chaos said:

Actually, Sean gets to the see the look the other coach wants him to see before McDermott calls the inevitable time out.  Then he resets to his best call, which is why the Bills defense fails sometimes after the defensive time outs.  McDermott is pretty predictable to the casual fan. It is like professional NFL coaching staffs have a pretty good idea what he is going to do in a game.

See the keyword is fail sometimes

 

I don't like all the time out on defense.. but it has worked before

 

And the other coaching staff has no idea when he's going to call a time out so.. they just can't bluff a play call hoping he's going to call it

 

He calls it a few times a game on third down.. 4th down .. let's say 3 of 15 

 

That's not good enough odds to just give bluff play calls and expect the time out... Sean is absolutely getting them out of their first look or they have to show him the same look

 

They're not giving a bluff play call expecting Sean to call a time out because sometimes he doesn't

 

[BuffaloMatt]

15 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

See the keyword is fail sometimes

 

I don't like all the time out on defense.. but it has worked before

 

And the other coaching staff has no idea when he's going to call a time out so.. they just can't bluff a play call hoping he's going to call it

 

He calls it a few times a game on third down.. 4th down .. let's say 3 of 15 

 

That's not good enough odds to just give bluff play calls and expect the time out... Sean is absolutely getting them out of their first look or they have to show him the same look

 

They're not giving a bluff play call expecting Sean to call a time out because sometimes he doesn't

 

As I said above his timeouts killed us and gave them two more. Situationally here he failed. Why make a team use their TOs just to assist them by calling two TOs with time ticking away? 

Edited October 28, 2023 by BuffaloMatt

[stinky finger]

He was guilty of the same when he wasn’t calling the D. 

[Buffalo716]

9 minutes ago, BuffaloMatt said:

As I said above his timeouts killed us and gave them two more. Situationally here he failed. Why make a team use their TOs just to assist them by calling two TOs with time ticking away? 

He's been doing it for 6 years it's clearly something he likes to do

 

I would like to see the statistics over 6 years on positive versus negative outcome

 

And it has certainly bit Us in the butt in the past

Edited October 28, 2023 by Buffalo716

[fasteddie]

6 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

I love hot takes,

Me too!

 

Oh, I thought you said hot cakes. 

[BuffaloMatt]

1 minute ago, Buffalo716 said:

He's been doing it for 6 years it's clearly something he likes to do

 

I would like to see the statistics over 6 years on positive versus negative outcome

 

And it has certainly bit Us in the butt in the past

Agreed. My money is on it hurts us more than it helps. It is a tough stat to figure out as it is hard to say what would have happened if the play was allowed to run. In this game I believe the game ends and TB doesn't score.