Bobby Babich to call Bills' Defense

[dickleyjones]

4 hours ago, RobbRiddick said:

How long into game 1 or 2 before posters in the game thread start calling for McD to take over the play calls?

 

I'm guessing first half of the Dolphins game

pop into the chatbox, "game over" usually shows up before the end of the 1st quarter.

[Shaw66]

32 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Do you think this is the reason he made this move?  Or do you think he did it because it is in the best interests of the teams success?

Best interests, to be sure, although I'm sure that part of his decision was driven by the fact that if Babich is calling plays, McDermott knows he's can off the bench and assume that role later.   He would view that, properly, as being in the best interests of the team.  

 

I don't think he thought for a minute about preserving the opportunity to have Babich as a scapegoat.  I don't think for a minute that when Terry talks to him about why the team is underperforming, McD blames it on anyone else.  When it's underperforming, McDermott spends his time thinking about what he can do to make it perform better, not looking for someone to blame.  

[NewEra]

5 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Best interests, to be sure, although I'm sure that part of his decision was driven by the fact that if Babich is calling plays, McDermott knows he's can off the bench and assume that role later.   He would view that, properly, as being in the best interests of the team.  

 

I don't think he thought for a minute about preserving the opportunity to have Babich as a scapegoat.  I don't think for a minute that when Terry talks to him about why the team is underperforming, McD blames it on anyone else.  When it's underperforming, McDermott spends his time thinking about what he can do to make it perform better, not looking for someone to blame.  

Agree 💯 

[Malazan]

6 hours ago, RobbRiddick said:

How long into game 1 or 2 before posters in the game thread start calling for McD to take over the play calls?

 

I'm guessing first half of the Dolphins game

 

Go look through the pre-season game threads. Pretty sure it already happened.

[BufBills83]

2 hours ago, NewEra said:

Agree 💯 

 

2 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Best interests, to be sure, although I'm sure that part of his decision was driven by the fact that if Babich is calling plays, McDermott knows he's can off the bench and assume that role later.   He would view that, properly, as being in the best interests of the team.  

 

I don't think he thought for a minute about preserving the opportunity to have Babich as a scapegoat.  I don't think for a minute that when Terry talks to him about why the team is underperforming, McD blames it on anyone else.  When it's underperforming, McDermott spends his time thinking about what he can do to make it perform better, not looking for someone to blame.  

 

I agree with this, too.  I don't know why so many people on here think that McDermott makes decisions based on, at least partly, to save his job or look for a scapegoat if things go wrong.  To me, he doesn't seem like that type of person at all.  I don't think he's sitting around like "I'm gonna have Babich call the plays but I think he may not be great at it and I can take over and blame him for the failures."  I think he trusts everyone he puts in each position and if something doesn't work out, he makes decisions that are best for the team, not himself.

[oldmanfan]

I hope Babich is an aggressive play caller and that McD allows him to do so.

[eball]

5 hours ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

All this means is that when the defense looks good the usual voices here will say "Babich is amazing", while when he struggles the narrative will be "See, McD still has his fingerprints all over the D". 

 

@Bill from NYC is already typing that as we speak!

 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Scapegoat # 5 ...

He's fired two OC, a ST coordinator, and a DC. 

 

I don't think McDermott really understands what accountability means

[BillsFan130]

8 hours ago, Logic said:

This thread will be filled with lots of jokes and snark, I'm sure, but I like this move.

The offensive coordinator should call the offense, the defensive coordinator should call the defense, and let the head coach be free to be a head coach.

Last year was the first year Sean McDermott had to concentrate more on the defense, and the offense wound up being an undisciplined mess (relatively speaking) until Dorsey got fired.

I don't think McDermott wants to "take his eye off the ball" like that again.

That is for sure fair what you are saying.

 

My counter argument to that though is, the 3 best coaches (at least in my opinion) in the NFL call plays. (Reid, Shanahan, Mcvay)

 

The last 4 SBs have been won by Reid (3), Mcvay (1) and of course Kyle Shanahan going to two SBs.

 

The question to ask then- Why can't Mcdermott have control of his full team if he calling plays? As a lot of NFL coaches do call plays, and the elite coaches have done so with extreme success

Edited August 29 by BillsFan130

[Logic]

Just now, BillsFan130 said:

That is for sure fair what you are saying.

 

My counter argument to that though is, the 3 best coaches (at least in my opinion) in the NFL call plays. (Reid, Shanahan, Mcvay)

 

The last 4 SBs have been won by Reid (3), Mcvay (1) and of course Kyle Shanahan going to two SBs.

 

The question to ask then- Why can't Mcdermott have control of his full team if he calling plays? As a lot of NFL coaches do call plays, and the elite coaches have done so with extreme success

Absolutely fair point and a good question!

[Sierra Foothills]

3 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

I don't think McDermott thought for a minute about preserving the opportunity to have Babich as a scapegoat.  I don't think for a minute that when Terry talks to him about why the team is underperforming, McD blames it on anyone else.  When it's underperforming, McDermott spends his time thinking about what he can do to make it perform better, not looking for someone to blame.  

 

He does like giving credit to others. Even terrorists!

 

37 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

I hope Babich is an aggressive play caller and that McD allows him to do so.

 

Dude is 41 years old and goes by "Bobby."

 

I hope he calls a good game and that he puts his toys away before bedtime.

 

[Mikie2times]

5 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

Babich will be calling plays from under the idling bus...

[Mr. WEO]

4 hours ago, NewEra said:

Do you think this is the reason he made this move?  Or do you think he did it because it is in the best interests of the teams success?

 

It's in the best interest of the team to have a career position coach to be calling the plays?

 

lol, come on.  McD smells something sour brewing and he's heading from the kitchen to the living room...

[NewEra]

55 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

It's in the best interest of the team to have a career position coach to be calling the plays?

 

lol, come on.  McD smells something sour brewing and he's heading from the kitchen to the living room...

Just so I don’t put words in your mouth, please tell us why you think he hired Babich and has him calling plays

[billieve420]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

It's in the best interest of the team to have a career position coach to be calling the plays?

 

lol, come on.  McD smells something sour brewing and he's heading from the kitchen to the living room...

Babich was being looked at for defensive coordinator positions elsewhere so he was on his way up in the league. Plus not too many defensive coordinators who don’t call plays so this was always the likely outcome unless he showed he wasn’t ready for responsibility.

[Bill from NYC]

Smart move by McDermott. He needs more time to  prepare to trade up for a corner of linebacker in the 2025 draft.

 

I mean, there are only 24 ours in a day.  

[ganesh]

Congratulations Bobby Babich.  The Bills Mafia is behind you.   Go Bills !!!

[hondo in seattle]

4 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Scapegoat # 5 ...

He's fired two OC, a ST coordinator, and a DC. 

 

I don't think McDermott really understands what accountability means

 

 

Do you want a HC who doesn't fire people who underperform?  

 

It's his job to build a coaching staff that gets the players to perform their very best.  He's made some mistakes there, no doubt.  Availability is part of the problems too.  When Rick Dennison was hired as OC, I didn't think for a second that this was the guy McD really wanted.  I figured this was the guy McD could get because most of the talented coordinator candidates were happily under contract somewhere else.  Head Coaches usually take a few years to get the coaching staff they want.  And even then, they'll lose guys (like Daboll) who find bigger opportunities elsewhere.   

 

McD has NOT been good with the OC position.  So far, only 1 of the 4 has been good though I still have hope for Brady.

 

But I want a HC who's unafraid of firing coordinators who don't excel at their jobs.  

[Mikie2times]

Internal promotions give me a Babich

[Big Turk]

19 hours ago, Dr. Who said:

I think it's the right call. Now McD can really concentrate on when best to call the patented defensive time out so as to most accurately permit the opposition to gain a crushing first down.

 

I just think in the first half of last year there were too many little things that were not being done properly and attention to detail things being missed and I attribute a lot of that to McDermott spreading himself too thin being the DC as well as HC.

 

The last half of the year it got cleaned up some, but I think it is better for him to focus on overall management so he can see everything going on.

 

Just hope Babich is aggressive like McD and not passive like Frazier.