McD: Has your view changed?

[SinceThe70s]

2 minutes ago, FireChans said:

GM/HC? 

Maybe Shanny/Lynch. Obviously Reid/Veach. 
 

I would go as far as say Howie/Sirianni, even though I really don’t like Sirianni, but I like Howie a lot. 

 

Thanks. I don't wanna hijack the thread, but a few quick thoughts

 

Each combo you picked have at least been to a SB (I also thought of McVay/Snead who went all-in and won it all).

 

A more interesting question might have been what's the realistic GM/HC combo you would want going forward - and would it include either McD or Beane? Topic for another thread.

 

For the record I'm a fence-sitter when it comes to McD. I'm unconvinced we're incapable of winning it all with him - but I can't dismiss the comparisons to Schottenheimer 

[BillsFan130]

For sure appreciate him more as a coach as without question he is a leader amongst men and he is great at developing young talent.

 

But... I got to see it in January/February.

 

For one, does he stay aggressive with going for the 4th and short calls, or does he go back to his old playoff ways where he goes more conservative

[FireChans]

2 minutes ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

Thanks. I don't wanna hijack the thread, but a few quick thoughts

 

Each combo you picked have at least been to a SB (I also thought of McVay/Snead who went all-in and won it all).

 

A more interesting question might have been what's the realistic GM/HC combo you would want going forward - and would it include either McD or Beane? Topic for another thread.

 

For the record I'm a fence-sitter when it comes to McD. I'm unconvinced we're incapable of winning it all with him - but I can't dismiss the comparisons to Schottenheimer 

Ben Johnson and whatever AGM you can pluck from Philly would be sick. 
 

I think Beane and McD are locked at the hip. If I had to fire one of them and keep the other, I would lean toward tossing Beane overboard. I think McD can coach his ass off at times. I think I fundamentally disagree with Beane’s strategies. 

[Mango]

1 minute ago, Buffalo716 said:

The sabers are bad.. because outside of this year.. they've had terrible goal tending for years 

 

They draft 19 year old kids bring them right up to the NHL.. and then let them leave when they're 25 and they go off and be studs for other teams like Reinhardt 

 

And we're in what would be considered the SEC of hockey 

 

The bills are good because we have a steady head coach and GM which the sabres don't have ... Josh Allen 

 

And home field advantage means a lot more in football than it does in hockey 

 

We're not perennially good without Josh Allen

 

.

 

 

This is not an accurate view of the Sabres.
 

Players leave because they hate being apart of this org under Pegula. They didn’t just trade Oreilly, he literally lost his love for the game here. Reinhardt isn’t here because the org botched it and he’ll never ever return. 
 

They’re widely considered a disaster and are on just about every player (who has ones) NMC. 
 

Pegula didn't accidentally become one of the worst owners the NHL has ever seen. 
 

He did it by proactively sitting atop the organizational food chain and putting in place a structure where nobody is in charge and he constantly plays tie breaker and internal politics are more important than being good at your job.
 

Pegulas run with the Sabres is HISTORICALLY bad. 

[BuffaloRebound]

Not really.  He’s a very good to excellent regular season coach.  Gotta get to a super bowl.  He’s probably elevated himself to Marty Schottenheimer territory.  

[HappyDays]

I can't say my opinion on McDermott has changed just yet. It does come down to the playoffs for me. But I will say his coaching since halftime of the Titans game has been the best of his career. That stretch of Baltimore to NYJ confirmed some of my worst fears about him, but everything since then has made me think he's turned a corner. I'd be lying if I said the nagging concern about his playoff coaching isn't still there though.

 

My opinion on Beane however has gone up a bit. He successfully completed the necessary tear down and youth movement, and did it in a way that has given us the best overall team of the Allen era. I know that last statement isn't necessarily a popular opinion because previous years' rosters on paper look better, but I mean best "team" in the truest sense of the word. It isn't just a collection of talent, it's an interlocking machine whose sum is better than its parts. Very impressed by his ability to complete the rebuild without the franchise missing a beat, and also manage to fix the one glaring issue on the roster before the season went off the rails.

[Buffalo716]

13 minutes ago, Mango said:

This is not an accurate view of the Sabres.
 

Players leave because they hate being apart of this org under Pegula. They didn’t just trade Oreilly, he literally lost his love for the game here. Reinhardt isn’t here because the org botched it and he’ll never ever return. 
 

They’re widely considered a disaster and are on just about every player (who has ones) NMC. 
 

Pegula didn't accidentally become one of the worst owners the NHL has ever seen. 
 

He did it by proactively sitting atop the organizational food chain and putting in place a structure where nobody is in charge and he constantly plays tie breaker and internal politics are more important than being good at your job.
 

Pegulas run with the Sabres is HISTORICALLY bad. 

Yeah but the sabres are a joke of an organization ... He's tried to make hires plenty of times

 

It's not magically a terry thing... It's like the bills when we were bad for 17th Straight years... It has a lot more to do with the GM and top down scouts and coaches than it does the owner

 

He wants the sabers to win .. you're crazy if you don't think taking guys like Owen power #1... Good player certainly not worth number one player taken in the world

 

Jack Quinn in the top 10 

 

Isak Rosen in the first round 

 

Nylander in the first round 

 

Even taking a guy like mitts top 10 ... Didn't pan out for buffalo 

 

We have not been drafting guys who come in and produce

 

We literally were last overall for years... Should have gotten the rights to draft mcdavid... But the lottery hoses us and we get stuck with eichel who never wanted to be here 

 

Another player who just didn't care ... And we gave him the keys to the franchise and made him captain and he didn't care ..  that's not Terry's fault

 

It's the players at the end of the day

 

Players love playing for Terry pagula on the bills.. he's not magically a different guy with the sabres lol

 

It's a player issue

Edited 17 hours ago by Buffalo716

[nedboy7]

McD has been great for the Bills and my enjoyment of football.  If you’re not impressed with the job he has done this year that’s too bad.  This was a rebuild year with most people not expecting much.  So the idea that he now has to win the SB this year for some fans to be happy is on them. Not the coach.  Enjoy these special years folks.  They will be gone. And you’ll remember what a special time it was.  

[dma0034]

I'm still in the: I want to see him either win the Superbowl or watch his defense perform amazing against a couple elite QBs in the postseason (like shut down Lamar and Mahomes but maybe lose in the SB type of thing). I still want him gone if he fails to make the Superbowl this year

[PRBills]

I have supported McDermott 100% and feel like we should give him the opportunity to see this through. Since Marv, what have we actually had and yall want to move on??? GTFO. Let’s look forward every Sunday to Gailey, Malarkey, Marrone, etc….good times good times 😂

Edited 17 hours ago by PRBills

[Buffalo03]

2 hours ago, Chugga said:

One thing has never changed.  I love McDermott as a human being and as a coach of men.  I will never say anything bad about him as a person or as a leader.

 

But, my opinion has changed from earlier this year.  After the Ravens and Texans loss I was admittedly pretty fired up about things.

 

I have on a number of occasions (after coaching blunders) felt as if we had potentially hit a glass ceiling with him.  That feeling remains in the back of my mind.  But I also look at the rosters of the Eagles, Chiefs, Ravens etc and we don’t have that same level of talent but he’s consistently gotten the very best out of everyone.  I want so badly for his defense to finally click one of these years in the playoffs and have him get his signature playoff win.  It just hasn’t happened yet, most of our playoff wins feel like the Josh Allen show and our losses feel like McDermott let down the Josh Allen show.

 

But seeing him make snow angels and watching this team completely rally behind him after last years hit piece.  I just want so badly for him to win.

 

This is why I have said on a number of occasions, you don't make a coaching change until he loses the lockerroom. We have a good thing going here. The last thing we need is a coach here that the players don't like, don't respect and have no desire to play for. And until they give up on McDermott, I'm keeping him here

[LABILLBACKER]

Sean has been an amazing coach in so many categories and checks alot of boxes. I'll even say he deserves Coach of the Year this season considering losing 6 veteran captains. But I'd be lying if I said his game day mistakes don't still terrify me. I'm still locked into #4 until he proves me wrong. Hopefully this is the year he learns from all these hiccups. 

[Mango]

19 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

Yeah but the sabres are a joke of an organization ... He's tried to make hires plenty of times

 

It's not magically a terry thing... It's like the bills when we were bad for 17th Straight years... It has a lot more to do with the GM and top down scouts and coaches than it does the owner

 

He wants the sabers to win .. you're crazy if you don't think taking guys like Owen power #1... Good player certainly not worth number one player taken in the world

 

Jack Quinn in the top 10 

 

Isak Rosen in the first round 

 

Nylander in the first round 

 

Even taking a guy like mitts top 10 ... Didn't pan out for buffalo 

 

We have not been drafting guys who come in and produce

 

We literally were last overall for years... Should have gotten the rights to draft mcdavid... But the lottery hoses us and we get stuck with eichel who never wanted to be here 

 

Another player who just didn't care ... And we gave him the keys to the franchise and made him captain and he didn't care ..  that's not Terry's fault

 

It's the players at the end of the day

 

Players love playing for Terry pagula on the bills.. he's not magically a different guy with the sabres lol

 

It's a player issue

It is 100% an organizational thing because the owner made it one. And when the Bills missed for 17 years straights it’s because they had an owner in his 80’s and 90’s. A big pet of the draught was Ralph’s inability to lead. That’s almost unanimously agreed upon. 
 

Let’s not forget Terry’s secret meetings with  Darcy Regier when he first took over and when questioned his response was “nobody has a monopoly on hockey knowledge”

 

Nobody answers to anybody but Terry. He’s super open about that. He has preached flag management since day one. We saw it with the Bills when he hired a HC against his GM’s wishes. Then fired him without consulting him. There’s loads of examples like this at KBC.

 

Terry Pegula is so much more culpable than just accidentally hirng the wrong HC/GM 100% off the time.

 

Think about that. At very best Terry Pegula has made the wrong GM/HC hire 100% of the time for 13 straight years. And dozens and dozens and dozens of NHL players refuse to come here.

 

Here is a set of insane Pegula lead Sabres stats. The day Pegula purchased that Sabres they had the 4th highest P% in the history of the league. From 1971 to the date of purchase only 3 other franchises had been better via P%. They’re now 13th. If you took Scotty Bowmmans best 10 years ever. Not best 10 year span, but best 10 seasons and linked them together starting next year, the Sabres still would not get back to 4th over all in P%.
 

Think about that. The 10 best years from the best coach to ever coach the game still wouldn’t be enough to right the wrongs of Terry Pegula.

 

The Sabres also used to average 99%+ attendance, near the top of the league, and were 82% last year, 4th from

the bottom.
 

What Terry Pegula has done to hockey in Buffalo is possibly irreparable.  

 

Hes maybe the worst owner the NHL has ever seen and we’re incredibly lucky that McBeane have been able to play him like a fiddle. For that I’ll be forever free grateful. 

[Buffalo716]

8 minutes ago, Mango said:

It is 100% an organizational thing because the owner made it one. And when the Bills missed for 17 years straights it’s because they had an owner in his 80’s and 90’s. A big pet of the draught was Ralph’s inability to lead. That’s almost unanimously agreed upon. 
 

Let’s not forget Terry’s secret meetings with  Darcy Regier when he first took over and when questioned his response was “nobody has a monopoly on hockey knowledge”

 

Nobody answers to anybody but Terry. He’s super open about that. He has preached flag management since day one. We saw it with the Bills when he hired a HC against his GM’s wishes. Then fired him without consulting him. There’s loads of examples like this at KBC.

 

Terry Pegula is so much more culpable than just accidentally hirng the wrong HC/GM 100% off the time.

 

Think about that. At very best Terry Pegula has made the wrong GM/HC hire 100% of the time for 13 straight years. And dozens and dozens and dozens of NHL players refuse to come here.

 

Here is a set of insane Pegula lead Sabres stats. The day Pegula purchased that Sabres they had the 4th highest P% in the history of the league. From 1971 to the date of purchase only 3 other franchises had been better via P%. They’re now 13th. If you took Scotty Bowmmans best 10 years ever. Not best 10 year span, but best 10 seasons and linked them together starting next year, the Sabres still would not get back to 4th over all in P%.
 

Think about that. The 10 best years from the best coach to ever coach the game still wouldn’t be enough to right the wrongs of Terry Pegula.

 

The Sabres also used to average 99%+ attendance, near the top of the league, and were 82% last year, 4th from

the bottom.
 

What Terry Pegula has done to hockey in Buffalo is possibly irreparable.  

 

Hes maybe the worst owner the NHL has ever seen and we’re incredibly lucky that McBeane have been able to play him like a fiddle. For that I’ll be forever free grateful. 

Russ Brandon had Ralph by the strings 

 

He was defacto running the bills by the end...

 

Russ Brandon was the problem... Terry got rid of him and look at all the ***** that came out about Russ

 

He was the sleaze ball that was making one Bills drive not good

 

Ralph was owner in name only by the mid-2000s..  he was not pulling the strings

 

Russ also went to the sabres organization as president what do you know! Terry certainly doesn't want to lose 

 

He put the wrong people in charge... He made the right choices eventually with the bills

 

That's the difference

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Buffalo716

[Ralonzo]

It has. I was adamant that his game management caused the inexplicable rash of close heartbreaking losses leading to that 6-6 last year. He's very much improved in that regard this year, except that one challenge.

[schoolhouserock]

I have always been a McD fan. He’s got just one more achievement before he’s an all-timer. I think it’s realistic to have doubts at this point.

[Mister Defense]

What a pointless and silly OP, one that will be for the haters, to give them another forum to spout their irrational nonsense.

 

Like I have said again and again, when the Bills win the  Super Bowl, anyone who has been on this site for long enough knows perfectly well that the haters, while they may lie low for a short while, confused and furious, very soon they will begin the attacks again.

 

It is inevitable. 

 

We should have a secret contest to see who can best predict some of their post Super Bowl win bizarre attacks.

 

And at the risk of making them foam at the mouth, I say we may find out very shortly how they react to the Bills' ultimate success.

 

 

[FireChans]

15 minutes ago, Mister Defense said:

What a pointless and silly OP, one that will be for the haters, to give them another forum to spout their irrational nonsense.

 

Like I have said again and again, when the Bills win the  Super Bowl, anyone who has been on this site for long enough knows perfectly well that the haters, while they may lie low for a short while, confused and furious, very soon they will begin the attacks again.

 

It is inevitable. 

 

We should have a secret contest to see who can best predict some of their post Super Bowl win bizarre attacks.

 

And at the risk of making them foam at the mouth, I say we may find out very shortly how they react to the Bills' ultimate success.

 

 

Nothing better than attacking posters for hypothetical future posts that are “inevitable” after winning a Super Bowl despite never winning a Super Bowl. Lol

[FireChans]

38 minutes ago, Mango said:

It is 100% an organizational thing because the owner made it one. And when the Bills missed for 17 years straights it’s because they had an owner in his 80’s and 90’s. A big pet of the draught was Ralph’s inability to lead. That’s almost unanimously agreed upon. 
 

Let’s not forget Terry’s secret meetings with  Darcy Regier when he first took over and when questioned his response was “nobody has a monopoly on hockey knowledge”

 

Nobody answers to anybody but Terry. He’s super open about that. He has preached flag management since day one. We saw it with the Bills when he hired a HC against his GM’s wishes. Then fired him without consulting him. There’s loads of examples like this at KBC.

 

Terry Pegula is so much more culpable than just accidentally hirng the wrong HC/GM 100% off the time.

 

Think about that. At very best Terry Pegula has made the wrong GM/HC hire 100% of the time for 13 straight years. And dozens and dozens and dozens of NHL players refuse to come here.

 

Here is a set of insane Pegula lead Sabres stats. The day Pegula purchased that Sabres they had the 4th highest P% in the history of the league. From 1971 to the date of purchase only 3 other franchises had been better via P%. They’re now 13th. If you took Scotty Bowmmans best 10 years ever. Not best 10 year span, but best 10 seasons and linked them together starting next year, the Sabres still would not get back to 4th over all in P%.
 

Think about that. The 10 best years from the best coach to ever coach the game still wouldn’t be enough to right the wrongs of Terry Pegula.

 

The Sabres also used to average 99%+ attendance, near the top of the league, and were 82% last year, 4th from

the bottom.
 

What Terry Pegula has done to hockey in Buffalo is possibly irreparable.  

 

Hes maybe the worst owner the NHL has ever seen and we’re incredibly lucky that McBeane have been able to play him like a fiddle. For that I’ll be forever free grateful. 

Yes yes yes.

[RunTheBall]

McD is on the same level as Saint Marv. Yeah, Marv made Super Bowls but he had how many HALL OF FAMERS on both O and D?? McD has done more with less, and 13 seconds was an absolute disaster but that’s the only playoff loss I put solely on him. He’s done some self evaluation and growth while on the same team and that’s ridiculously unusual in the NFL. Usually you need to get fired and figure it out with the next team. There’s no way I would even think of changing this team/culture/vision for an unknown. After the Denver game I was off the McD train but I watched the guy self evaluate and continue to improve his game management. Sure, until we make a Super Bowl there’s going to be the debate but I can’t imagine another coach coming in here and bringing us to the promised land before Josh is out of this prime.