Ranking Bills Coordinators (McDermott Era)

[BillsFan130]

Now that we have a descent sample size from babich and Brady, thought it would be fun to rank them in the McDermott era. (Not including Rick Dennison lol)

 

Offensive Coordinator's:

 

(Disclaimer- I do like passing more, and an aggressive style of defence and it will reflect in my opinion)

 

1. Brian Daboll- I know a lot of you will disagree with this one . And I get he was frustrating at times. But when I think peak Bills offence, I think Brian Daboll in 2020 and at the end of 2021. To Me he was the only guy who could consistently go toe to toe with BB and Spags.

 

2. Joe Brady- Joe Brady can be very frustrating with his stubbornness to run the ball up the middle on a lot of first downs, but at the end of the day he's effective. Overall I think he's a pretty good OC, would just love for him to mix in more PA on first downs

 

3. Ken Dorsey - It's the old "trying to fit a square peg into a round hole " analogy with him and Josh. I didn't love his random play calling as well as it seemed like he never had a good feel for the game

 

Defence:

 

1. Sean McDermott- I loved the bills defence last year as it was attacking. And when they were healthy down the stretch, they played some outstanding defence as McDermott really figured it out after the eagles loss. ( Playoffs was hard to judge as the whole team was decimated )

 

2. Leslie Frazier- I never really liked Frazier too much as I don't like passive defence, but at the end of the day he produced great defences. (Unfortunately not in the playoffs though)

 

3. Bobby Babich- Admittedly I haven't been a fan of babich for most of the year, as I think he's been passive and needs to help his front 4 out more with simulated pressures. But! I think it was by FAR his best game against KC as I loved the way he attacked and mixed things up. So a lot of optimism going forward.

 

What are your rankings?

[ToGoGo]

Daboll over Brady makes less and less sense the more time goes on. 

[Mikie2times]

1. Daboll- He had Allen on point. He also benefited from being in an era where teams had less tape on Josh. It's so much harder for Allen to get to the sidelines now vs his first few years. Coordinators know that is when he is the most dangerous. Creativity in play structure we haven't really seen since. I thought he did a good job.

 

2. Brady- Seems to really understand Josh. He is doing everything possible to keep Allen in the plays structure and keep us on schedule. Lot of short passing and commitment to the run. Some hate the small ball, but I feel like focusing on points in the lane is the best way to harness what Josh can do for us. 

 

3. Dorsey- The anti Brady, tried putting a jet engine in a corvette. All three pointers. This led to some pretty crazy output at times but really brought out the variance on offense. I don't see his system as being consistent enough in results. 

 

 

It's very hard to rate McD or anybody on defense for that matter because you know McD his hands all over it. So a nod to Babich is nod to growth with McD as well IMO. 

 

1. Babich- We have done more with less, switched schemes more. If he got a handle on the run defense I was going to be happy which he largely seems to have done. As bad as some of the first half's have been, the 2nd half adjustments have been money. 

 

2. McD- He's our head coach. I don't want him as a defensive coordinator.

 

3. Frazier - We seemed to be the least aggressive, most two shelled, most bend but don't break in this stretch. Again, not sure how much of that is Frazier or McD but McD seemed to be fairly aggressive in blitz packages last year. 

 

 

[BillsFan130]

4 minutes ago, ToGoGo said:

Daboll over Brady makes less and less sense the more time goes on. 

Cool to disagree, but why do you say it makes less sense? Daboll was absolutely lights out in his last two games with the bills. (Perfect game , then 36 points against KC the next game)

[C.Biscuit97]

This is very reactionary.

 

Daboll is by far the best because he developed raw Allen into the player he is. The other guys got developed Allen. There was also plenty of love for Dorsey early on too (he’s going to be a head coach!).  
 

Also, I think you forgot Rick Dennison (I think that’s his name)!

2 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

Cool to disagree, but why do you say it makes less sense? Daboll was absolutely lights out in his last two games with the bills. (Perfect game , then 36 points against KC the next game)

I think some fans block out how raw Allen was and just think he was like this right away. Daboll deserves so much credit for that. 

[MJS]

1 minute ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

This is very reactionary.

 

Daboll is by far the best because he developed raw Allen into the player he is. The other guys got developed Allen. There was also plenty of love for Dorsey early on too (he’s going to be a head coach!).  
 

Also, I think you forgot Rick Dennison (I think that’s his name)!

Yeah, Dennison got handed a poor deck of cards and he didn't even get fired mid-season like Dorsey, so maybe he should rank ahead of Dorsey!

[BillsFan130]

1 minute ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

This is very reactionary.

 

Daboll is by far the best because he developed raw Allen into the player he is. The other guys got developed Allen. There was also plenty of love for Dorsey early on too (he’s going to be a head coach!).  
 

Also, I think you forgot Rick Dennison (I think that’s his name)!

I think some fans block out how raw Allen was and just think he was like this right away. Daboll deserves so much credit for that. 

Hahah I did say not including Rick Dennison at the top! As objectively he was the worst haha.

And that's a very good point you bring up with Daboll/allen when he was raw

[C.Biscuit97]

1 minute ago, MJS said:

Yeah, Dennison got handed a poor deck of cards and he didn't even get fired mid-season like Dorsey, so maybe he should rank ahead of Dorsey!

I think Dorsey wasn’t as bad as we remember. He got sacrificed because the team was struggling. But Brady is for sure an upgrade and does what Sean M wants. 

[FireChans]

39 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

Now that we have a descent sample size from babich and Brady, thought it would be fun to rank them in the McDermott era. (Not including Rick Dennison lol)

 

Offensive Coordinator's:

 

(Disclaimer- I do like passing more, and an aggressive style of defence and it will reflect in my opinion)

 

1. Brian Daboll- I know a lot of you will disagree with this one . And I get he was frustrating at times. But when I think peak Bills offence, I think Brian Daboll in 2020 and at the end of 2021. To Me he was the only guy who could consistently go toe to toe with BB and Spags.

 

2. Joe Brady- Joe Brady can be very frustrating with his stubbornness to run the ball up the middle on a lot of first downs, but at the end of the day he's effective. Overall I think he's a pretty good OC, would just love for him to mix in more PA on first downs

 

3. Ken Dorsey - It's the old "trying to fit a square peg into a round hole " analogy with him and Josh. I didn't love his random play calling as well as it seemed like he never had a good feel for the game

 

Defence:

 

1. Sean McDermott- I loved the bills defence last year as it was attacking. And when they were healthy down the stretch, they played some outstanding defence as McDermott really figured it out after the eagles loss. ( Playoffs was hard to judge as the whole team was decimated )

 

2. Leslie Frazier- I never really liked Frazier too much as I don't like passive defence, but at the end of the day he produced great defences. (Unfortunately not in the playoffs though)

 

3. Bobby Babich- Admittedly I haven't been a fan of babich for most of the year, as I think he's been passive and needs to help his front 4 out more with simulated pressures. But! I think it was by FAR his best game against KC as I loved the way he attacked and mixed things up. So a lot of optimism going forward.

 

What are your rankings?

I’m a notorious Dabs guy, but he had the best talent of the 3 so imo it’s unfair to compare them.

 

Babich has the least talent of the rest of them so ditto as wellZ

[Don Otreply]

The current crew is in my humble opinion, the best iteration so far…, 

 

I was very happy when they offed Leslie Frazier, it was late in coming, his never change from a soft zone no matter what defense was a guaranteed failure every postseason. 

 

Dabol, really had no idea how to incorporate a functioning run game, and was basically running the “Mad bomber offense”  one dimensional offenses don’t succeed in the postseason, as we all know, 

 

Hoping for continued growth and success going forward, now is not the time for coaching to regress/grow stale, innovate or die…, 

 

GO BILLS!!!

[BillsFan130]

1 minute ago, FireChans said:

I’m a notorious Dabs guy, but he had the best talent of the 3 so imo it’s unfair to compare them.

 

Babich has the least talent of the rest of them so ditto as wellZ

Fair point about Daboll.

 

Probably agree about  Babich with the least amount of talent - But i do think he sits back too much at times . He finally went more aggressive and played more man/ cover 1 while mixing in zones against KC and it worked great

[Big Turk]

The running on first down criticism of Brady hasn't been valid since like week 4. Since then the Bills realized their tendencies and are far more balanced in terms of pass and run.

 

Daboll was frustrating at times because we literally COULDN'T run the ball under him for much of the time until the Bills scrapped zone blocking and went to man blocking.

 

We also had some really poor offensive performances under him against poor teams such as Jacksonville.

 

To me, Brady has been better and more consistent than Daboll, IMO.

[LABILLBACKER]

In my book Dorsey & Frazier don't even make honorable mention. 

[MJS]

12 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

I think Dorsey wasn’t as bad as we remember. He got sacrificed because the team was struggling. But Brady is for sure an upgrade and does what Sean M wants. 

I was joking. I agree that Dorsey was not a bad coordinator, but I think he was not the best fit with Allen.

[BillsFan130]

2 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

The running on first down criticism of Brady hasn't been valid since like week 4. Since then the Bills realized their tendencies and are far more balanced in terms of pass and run.

 

Daboll was frustrating at times because we literally COULDN'T run the ball under him for much of the time until the Bills scrapped zone blocking and went to man blocking.

 

We also had some really poor offensive performances under him against poor teams such as Jacksonville.

 

To me, Brady has been better and more consistent than Daboll, IMO.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but do you have any stats to back up that bills are pretty balanced between run and pass on first down since week 4?

 

I think the chiefs game was 58/42 run vs pass on first down. Which yes it's definitely more balanced, but for me is a bit too much run heavy when Josh Allen is your QB

[dpberr]

I'd put Ken Dorsey last.  He had many advantages Rick Dennison did not.  

 

Dorsey had the advantage of being in the Bills organization for years before he became OC.  He also had Josh Allen as a developed quarterback, an offense that had some playoff and big game seasoning, and Bills peak spend (so far) on offense. Dorsey's game plan was boom or bust, and it didn't change based on weather conditions or what the defense was giving him.  Adjustments are what make OCs and DCs successful.  

 

Rick Dennison was tasked with working with the menagerie of the Rex Ryan holdovers, the first draft class of Beane/McDermott, and Tyrod Taylor as QB.  

 

I think the game evolved and passed Leslie Frazier by.  He was the right guy for that 2017-2018 period but that Texans WC loss should have shown McDermott that his defense is a loser in today's NFL.  

[C.Biscuit97]

18 minutes ago, MJS said:

I was joking. I agree that Dorsey was not a bad coordinator, but I think he was not the best fit with Allen.

He and Allen also were forced to feed Diggs the ball so he won’t cry as well. It was both a great and tough spot for Dorsey. 

[Big Turk]

13 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

I'm not saying you're wrong, but do you have any stats to back up that bills are pretty balanced between run and pass on first down since week 4?

 

I think the chiefs game was 58/42 run vs pass on first down. Which yes it's definitely more balanced, but for me is a bit too much run heavy when Josh Allen is your QB

 

Thru the first 3 games, the Bills ran on 55.56% of 1st downs.

 

For the season right now they have run on 48.91% of first downs, which means they have upped their passing quite a bit to move the average that much over the other 8 games.

 

Over the last 3 games they have run on 43.48% of first downs and against KC specifically they ran on 45.83% of first downs.

 

So yes, they have become increasingly pass heavy as the year has gone on on first down.

 

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/passing-first-down-pct?date=2024-11-21

[BillsFan130]

Just now, Big Turk said:

 

Thru the first 3 games, the Bills ran on 55.56% of 1st downs.

 

For the season right now they have run on 48.91% of first downs, which means they have upped their passing quite a bit to move the average that much over the other 8 games.

 

Over the last 3 games they have run on 43.48% of first downs and against KC specifically they ran on 45.83% of first downs.

 

So yes, they have become increasingly pass heavy as the year has gone on on first down.

 

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/passing-first-down-pct?date=2024-11-21

Oh sorry thought I heard Joe Marino say 58/42, I must have heard wrong.

 

Thank you for sharing

[Einstein]

I know the metrics look good, and I certainly won’t say he is doing a bad job because he isn’t…. but I just personally can’t stand the way Brady calls a game.

 

The number of times that we have all (or nearly all) of our receivers in the same area, or in front of the sticks, is mind-boggling. He just doesn’t seem to believe in spacing. Daboll is a master at spacing. We had so many guys running open when he was here.

 

And Brady is the worst culprit of poor spacing on 4th down in my opinion. He constantly calls plays where the pass catchers are right at the dang sticks.

 

For example: The red-line is the first down and we have all of our pass catchers playing right to the line. Hate it. It gives zero margin for error. He’s done it for the past 4 games or so and it drives me nuts.

 

 

This was last week when he did it too. 3 of our 4 receiving options were right at the sticks. Just bugs me.

 

 

When you’re looking for a life partner, personality matters, right? That doesn’t mean they’re not a good person. In the same sort of way, I know and acknowledge that Brady is a good OC. But his “personality” (style) just doesn’t mesh with me.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Einstein