McD, Accountability, and Culture

[Jammer8732]

Yeah, these days of winning the division every year is getting old. Let’s go back to the 19 years of playoff droughts as soon as something goes sideways… 

[Big C]

McDermott has earned the benefit of the doubt from a culture standpoint. We have found ourselves in mid season ruts -including questionable personnel moves that backfired badly - and yet we found a way to overcome. If we spiral out of control moving forward maybe we can start to question this. 
 

McDermott definitely needs to hold himself accountable for some of these end of game gaffes but we chided Andy Reid early in his career for his game management and look at him now (not exactly the same but I mean to say the team generally performed well but they never went all the way).

 

Allen is a shell of himself and it’s a lot to do with confidence I think. I wanna see a shift here and so far I think coach has shown he can rally the troops. 

[boyst]

Remember when he let Pat DiMarco run a deep route pass play in a playoff game?

[Alphadawg7]

8 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

In fairness, we don't know how much accountability he takes with the team.   There are countless times he's said "it starts with me" when addressing failures.   I go back to the Nathan Peterman debacle when he apologized to the team for making the change at QB.   The team then bounced out of maybe the worst 3 game stretch of football in franchise history and upset KC on the road on their way to a 9-7 finish.   I don't think self accountability is among the bigger concerns with McD.    

 

I agree with this.  This is where I feel like people just ignore what is flat out known, said, communicated, etc and just make up their own narratives.  McD has been the first to hold himself accountable his entire time here.  But people just ignore these things and create new narratives that are not reflective of the facts of the matter just to fill a bias opinion they have.  

 

Like you said, self accountability is not one of the concerns or issues with McD.  

[LABILLBACKER]

4 hours ago, SectionC3 said:

The issue I have with this is that the discipline and structure for which McD is known is totally lacking this year.  And, that facility does not strike me as a particularly happy place, not only this year but for maybe the second half of last year, too.  If we’re rolling into the playoffs every year at 11-5 with structure and discipline and happy warriors I can live with the idea that it might take us 10 or even 15 years to have the chips fall such that we win the whole thing.  What I can’t live with is a coach with no answers and the malaise at OBD.  

 

Part of me wonders if everyone simply became too comfortable with each other and lost the drive that a young Josh Allen had, that is, the burning desire to prove everyone wrong.  In the life cycle of a franchise QB there’s typically a couple of “generations” of teams—he gets a shot at it with a few different groups.  This group, and I think the point is obvious, is done.  So now it’s time to retool around Josh and the o-line (probably save for Morse) and a few other players (Diggs, should he stay, Kincaid, Cook, Oliver, Bernard, Milano, Rousseau, and Benford) and see what happens when we get some young, hungry, fresh blood in the mix.  

I agree with all this but at my age if you think I'm waiting around another 15 years for things to change you're crazy.

[Dr.Sack]

Basically if McD got a 13 seconds do over it would be bracket Kelce & Hill, rush 3, and use the other 3 to cover the other 3 KC WRs, with 1 safety deep aka Hyde. 

[Niagara Dude]

9 hours ago, Dubie54 said:

I was a real fan of McD and what the Bills had built in the years leading up to the 13 sec. game, then it all changed. I actually felt the response by the Bills to that game was the start of the downhill slide. There was no accountability for those last two plays on defense and I think the reason for that it is that McD was responsible for calling those defensive alignments. Beane was usual self in his measured comments and refused to go there. So we get to hypothesize and many of us pointed the finger at Frazier which took some of the heat off McD. Then Frazier get's slow walked out of the building the dark of night after another year which adds to the drama and speculation of how that play calling sequence actually went down. 

 

So here we are 21 months later and Dorsey gets canned after a loss in which our special teams played miserably and in effect lost the game with the 12 on the field debacle. What gets lost in the firing of Dorsey is the two all out blitzes that lead to TJ to be out on an island against a much taller receiver - and this is the same TJ who basically commits pass interference 50% of the times he's targeted. Peyton and Wilson had to be licking their chops, just like Andy Reid was on the defensive scheme we called in KC. But Dorsey takes the fall, which is well-deserved IMO, but I think is nothing more than a smoke screen for the bone head defense at the end of the game.

 

And then you have James Cook, who fumbles on his first carry and then goes right to the dog house. But Davis can drop passes, Allen can throw INTs, players can miss tackles like the one Bernard missed that led to a late Denver 1st down, and yet Cook goes right to the bench. McD can call misguided defensive alignments and someone else gets fired. 

 

McD has ridden the generational talent of Allen as far as he can. When it comes to coaching in tight spots, when the pressure is at it's max, he folds, becomes predictable and then when his decisions fail, is he stepping up to the mike to take accountability?

 

There's a cancer in clubhouse and I think it starts with McD and the culture he has created. I get the feeling players are incredibly tight, afraid of making mistakes, and are just not comfortable. Sure it's all hypothesis, but at least it's based on what is seen on and off the field. If you were a player, would you want to be playing in the McD environment? 

 

   

McDermott chokes in crunch time,  last week at Cincy was another classic example ,  like why is he challenging a call late in that game that would only gain you 9 yards and on first down. We ended up losing a timeout that was needed later to stop the clock.  

[SectionC3]

1 hour ago, Dr.Sack said:

Basically if McD got a 13 seconds do over it would be bracket Kelce & Hill, rush 3, and use the other 3 to cover the other 3 KC WRs, with 1 safety deep aka Hyde. 

Or to immediately tackle every eligible receiver on first down.  

[Dr.Sack]

37 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

Or to immediately tackle every eligible receiver on first down.  

Take a 5 yard penalty and time goes off the clock. Smart. 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Yeah he’s toast…. He’s retreated from the head coach job and is pointing a finger at the offense, defending the defense… to the press.  There’s no more team stuff… it’s us and them. 
 

He looks like a cornered animal…. 
 

this isn’t getting recovered 

[SectionC3]

7 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Yeah he’s toast…. He’s retreated from the head coach job and is pointing a finger at the offense, defending the defense… to the press.  There’s no more team stuff… it’s us and them. 
 

He looks like a cornered animal…. 
 

this isn’t getting recovered 

That was my impression during the presser.  Way too polarized.  McD tends to find a way out of sticky spots, but this time it's going to be tougher because he's a DC and a HC and this mess is probably the biggest one he's faced during his tenure here.  

[hondo in seattle]

22 hours ago, Dubie54 said:

I was a real fan of McD and what the Bills had built in the years leading up to the 13 sec. game, then it all changed. I actually felt the response by the Bills to that game was the start of the downhill slide. There was no accountability for those last two plays on defense and I think the reason for that it is that McD was responsible for calling those defensive alignments. Beane was usual self in his measured comments and refused to go there. So we get to hypothesize and many of us pointed the finger at Frazier which took some of the heat off McD. Then Frazier get's slow walked out of the building the dark of night after another year which adds to the drama and speculation of how that play calling sequence actually went down. 

 

So here we are 21 months later and Dorsey gets canned after a loss in which our special teams played miserably and in effect lost the game with the 12 on the field debacle. What gets lost in the firing of Dorsey is the two all out blitzes that lead to TJ to be out on an island against a much taller receiver - and this is the same TJ who basically commits pass interference 50% of the times he's targeted. Peyton and Wilson had to be licking their chops, just like Andy Reid was on the defensive scheme we called in KC. But Dorsey takes the fall, which is well-deserved IMO, but I think is nothing more than a smoke screen for the bone head defense at the end of the game.

 

And then you have James Cook, who fumbles on his first carry and then goes right to the dog house. But Davis can drop passes, Allen can throw INTs, players can miss tackles like the one Bernard missed that led to a late Denver 1st down, and yet Cook goes right to the bench. McD can call misguided defensive alignments and someone else gets fired. 

 

McD has ridden the generational talent of Allen as far as he can. When it comes to coaching in tight spots, when the pressure is at it's max, he folds, becomes predictable and then when his decisions fail, is he stepping up to the mike to take accountability?

 

There's a cancer in clubhouse and I think it starts with McD and the culture he has created. I get the feeling players are incredibly tight, afraid of making mistakes, and are just not comfortable. Sure it's all hypothesis, but at least it's based on what is seen on and off the field. If you were a player, would you want to be playing in the McD environment? 

 

   

 

I have no freaking idea.  And neither does any other casual fan.

 

There's some drama around Diggs.  And Josh certainly didn't seem happy after Dorsey's firings.  But we hear all the time about players loving it here and free agents hearing good things about the organization from their friends on the Bills.  

 

Cancer in the clubhouse?  I don't know about that.  It is certain that, at 5-5, McD is underperforming this year.  But without a lot more information, I wouldn't blame the culture.  

[billieve420]

McDermott isn't going to fire himself. So it will all depend on what Terry is seeing or hearing behind the scenes. I do think McDermott is on the hotseat. If he survives this season the pressure will be on next year to produce.

[Gregg]

6 minutes ago, billieve420 said:

McDermott isn't going to fire himself. So it will all depend on what Terry is seeing or hearing behind the scenes. I do think McDermott is on the hotseat. If he survives this season the pressure will be on next year to produce.

 

This is probably the most realistic scenario. 

[Dubie54]

51 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I have no freaking idea.  And neither does any other casual fan.

 

There's some drama around Diggs.  And Josh certainly didn't seem happy after Dorsey's firings.  But we hear all the time about players loving it here and free agents hearing good things about the organization from their friends on the Bills.  

 

Cancer in the clubhouse?  I don't know about that.  It is certain that, at 5-5, McD is underperforming this year.  But without a lot more information, I wouldn't blame the culture.  

Fair enough.