McD: Has your view changed?

[dgrochester55]

I would have been #4 if this season had gone like many predicted, but McDermott has done his best coaching job in 2024 since 2017. Despite having less on paper talent, this has become a more complete team and one that can handle close games.  His in game management outside of the Houston game has improved from other years as well, not great, but not off the charts bad like it was.

 

As far as the playoffs, that will be a lingering elephant in the room until they win the big games.

Edited December 5 by dgrochester55

[DrDawkinstein]

Has my view of McD changed? Not really.

 

All the things I liked about him (and there are plenty), are still there.

Most of my questions/issues are still there as well.

 

I will say, credit to things I've seen improvement on:

1. Having 2 Coordinators he can trust and allow to operate while he goes back into a true HC role, instead of just being an advanced DC
2. Far less occurrences of the team coming out flat and uninspired.  <--- This was a BIG one for me.
3. While he has blown some situational calls (Jets Hail Mary, some horrible reviews), they havent been as devastating to blow an entire game so far.

We'll have to wait until the playoffs to see how he does with the rest of the issues.

 

I'm not pounding the table to replace him as hard as I once was, but still have an eye out for that "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" crap he pulls.

[Orlando Buffalo]

15 hours ago, Mister Defense said:

 

Great post, nailed it succinctly.

 

I agree with all, except the implication that the haters will accept McDermott as a good coach when the Bills win the Super Bowl.  As almost none of them will do that, of course, after years of their crazy hate bashing they will just dig their heels in. ( For example:  "This should be their 3rd SB win"...)

 

But despite the loud and consistent hate from the haters, I believe that the vast vast majority of Bills' fans are on the same page as you.  Negativity just stands out more, and haters love broadcasting their hate, as undermining good will and positivity is their main goal--so it makes it seem like there are more of them than there are.  It is a tiny percentage, in my view. Thank goodness!

 

 

 

 

I have had this conversation with my brothers and have had time to hone it down to the roots. They both claim they will admit he is a great coach when he wins the SB, so I think  many will . 

[DrDawkinstein]

55 minutes ago, Einstein&#x27;s Dog said:

Except this was universally accepted as a "retool" year.  Beane was eating a lot of dead cap and the talent level of the team was taking a hit for it.  The Diggs disaster had set this team back.  Most set expectations as to whether or not the Bills could make the playoffs.

 

It looks like some with a predisposed negative opinion of McDermott have a hard time acknowledging what a great he has done.

 

 

 

Last year was KC's retool year. The never beat a good team in the regular season and had major roster issues at WR which also cost them games.

 

How'd Reid and Mahomes handle it? Oh yeah, they won a Super Bowl.

 

I'm not trying to unfarily witch hunt anyone, but I'm also not going to make excuses when other top teams are able to succeed in similar situations.

[GunnerBill]

2 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Last year was KC's retool year. The never beat a good team in the regular season and had major roster issues at WR which also cost them games.

 

How'd Reid and Mahomes handle it? Oh yeah, they won a Super Bowl.

 

I'm not trying to unfarily witch hunt anyone, but I'm also not going to make excuses when other top teams are able to succeed in similar situations.

 

They did but they got some luck along the way. The Bills will still need a bit of that IMO to go the distance. 

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, GunnerBill said:

 

They did but they got some luck along the way. The Bills will still need a bit of that IMO to go the distance. 

 

ALL good teams are lucky. It's part of what ultimately makes good teams good. That's just a standard rule in sports. But you also make your own luck by being prepared and executing.

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

ALL good teams are lucky. It's part of what ultimately makes good teams good. That's just a standard rule in sports. But you also make your own luck by being prepared and executing.

 

Yea you need luck. The Bills will need some. Going into the playoffs healthier than the past two years would be a start. 

[Gugny]

I am firmly in Group 4. 
 

Group 4 has been quiet because it’s still the regular season.

 

McDermott is still the Aaron Boone of the NFL until he coaches the team to a Super Bowl win.
 

[DapperCam]

Let’s just hope we can win by 2 scores in the playoffs, and then game management decisions won’t come into play.

[JGMcD2]

3 hours ago, FireChans said:

The elite pieces is the point.

 

At this point, who would I take to get through Mahomes\Reid? The guys who get close because they get most of everything else right except the QB. We have the QB. A few more Aiyuk’s, Hufungas, Bosas, Kittles and Fred Warners around Josh and we would crush them. 

You’re taking the guys who have been unable to lock down the most important position in football? An offensive mind that can’t get the QB right? Why is it that Ol’ Conservative Defensive McDermott did a better job identifying his QB than Wünderkid Kyle Shanahan? They’ve had 3 separate cracks at it. 
 

The amount that McBeane gets flamed here because Elam has been a bust in the back half of RD1 is hysterical considering Lynch/Shanahan gave up the house to pick Trey Lance in the Top 3 picks. If it wasn’t Lance, it was going to be Mac Jones.

[FireChans]

8 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said:

You’re taking the guys who have been unable to lock down the most important position in football? An offensive mind that can’t get the QB right? Why is it that Ol’ Conservative Defensive McDermott did a better job identifying his QB than Wünderkid Kyle Shanahan? They’ve had 3 separate cracks at it. 
 

The amount that McBeane gets flamed here because Elam has been a bust in the back half of RD1 is hysterical considering Lynch/Shanahan gave up the house to pick Trey Lance in the Top 3 picks. If it wasn’t Lance, it was going to be Mac Jones.

We have the QB right, today. Maybe the best QB.

Do you think Josh would turn into Jimmy G with Shanny as his play caller?

Edited December 5 by FireChans

[hondo in seattle]

22 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Has my view of McD changed? Not really.

 

All the things I liked about him (and there are plenty), are still there.

Most of my questions/issues are still there as well.

 

I will say, credit to things I've seen improvement on:

1. Having 2 Coordinators he can trust and allow to operate while he goes back into a true HC role, instead of just being an advanced DC
2. Far less occurrences of the team coming out flat and uninspired.  <--- This was a BIG one for me.
3. While he has blown some situational calls (Jets Hail Mary, some horrible reviews), they havent been as devastating to blow an entire game so far.

We'll have to wait until the playoffs to see how he does with the rest of the issues.

 

I'm not pounding the table to replace him as hard as I once was, but still have an eye out for that "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" crap he pulls.

 

I just wrote a long post on why I'm a big McD supporter.  But you're #1 is spot on.  McD has an iffy track record with coordinators and anyone who wanted to attack him on those grounds would have gotten weak resistance from me. 

 

If you're a defensive head coach, it's imperative you find a good OC.  Just as it was imperative for Reid, an offensive guru, to find a good DC.  Reid did.  Meanwhile, two of McD's OCs failed and were fired.  One did reasonably well but left for greener pastures.  For me, this was McD's Achilles heel.  

 

I wasn't convinced about Brady at first.  For a while I thought "Everyone eats" was just a nice way to spin "No one eats."  But what Brady's been accomplishing lately with this motley group of wideouts has been impressive. 

 

I don't think our current roster is elite though Allen by himself makes it competitive.  But this might be the HC/DC/OC combo that finally finally gets us another SB ticket.  

 

[Solomon Grundy]

Riverboat Sean??😎👀

[DrDawkinstein]

4 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I just wrote a long post on why I'm a big McD supporter.  But you're #1 is spot on.  McD has an iffy track record with coordinators and anyone who wanted to attack him on those grounds would have gotten weak resistance from me. 

 

If you're a defensive head coach, it's imperative you find a good OC.  Just as it was imperative for Reid, an offensive guru, to find a good DC.  Reid did.  Meanwhile, two of McD's OCs failed and were fired.  One did reasonably well but left for greener pastures.  For me, this was McD's Achilles heel.  

 

I wasn't convinced about Brady at first.  For a while I thought "Everyone eats" was just a nice way to spin "No one eats."  But what Brady's been accomplishing lately with this motley group of wideouts has been impressive. 

 

I don't think our current roster is elite though Allen by himself makes it competitive.  But this might be the HC/DC/OC combo that finally finally gets us another SB ticket.  

 

 

Word.

 

For me, my issue was with him being DC last year and letting his HC duties decline. He was too busy being DC, and our gameday preparation and his situational decisions took a major hit.

 

Now that he is back to being a full time HC, I've seen improvement in those areas.

[dpberr]

Some, to the positive.  He's already the best Bills coach in the free agency era.  I think he needs to get the Bills to a SB to be in a conversation about being the best Bills coach of all time.   

 

One thing that has changed positively IMO is this 2024 team is showing up to nearly every game.   I thought the team took the Ravens game off, but otherwise, it has shown up.    That *home* Cincy divisional game where the entire team appeared to rather be somewhere else has never sat well with me as a fan.  

 

[DrDawkinstein]

5 minutes ago, dpberr said:

Some, to the positive.  He's already the best Bills coach in the free agency era.  I think he needs to get the Bills to a SB to be in a conversation about being the best Bills coach of all time.   

 

One thing that has changed positively IMO is this 2024 team is showing up to nearly every game.   I thought the team took the Ravens game off, but otherwise, it has shown up.    That *home* Cincy divisional game where the entire team appeared to rather be somewhere else has never sat well with me as a fan.  

 

 

I excused the Cincy game as being emotionally drained and physically exhausted after a long, hard season capped off by the Hamlin incident.

 

What I didn't like was how often that same lethargy showed up in games in 2023.

 

It felt like every week for 2 seasons we were saying "THIS is the game the team needed to light a fire under their butts", and McD was never able to get that fire lit.

 

It's definitely lit this year.

[JGMcD2]

21 minutes ago, FireChans said:

We have the QB right, today. Maybe the best QB.

Do you think Josh would turn into Jimmy G with Shanny as his play caller?

And why do we have the right QB? Who is responsible for molding the guy you consider “the best QB” ? 
 

I don’t think Josh would turn into Jimmy G with Shanny as his play caller, but I can make a serious argument that Josh never would’ve turned into Josh with Shanny as his HC. 
 

Exhibit A: Trey Lance 

Exhibit B: Robert Griffin III

Edited December 5 by JGMcD2

[Gregg]

10 minutes ago, dpberr said:

Some, to the positive.  He's already the best Bills coach in the free agency era.  I think he needs to get the Bills to a SB to be in a conversation about being the best Bills coach of all time.   

 

One thing that has changed positively IMO is this 2024 team is showing up to nearly every game.   I thought the team took the Ravens game off, but otherwise, it has shown up.    That *home* Cincy divisional game where the entire team appeared to rather be somewhere else has never sat well with me as a fan.  

 

 

If I had to rank the Bills coaches right now it would be 

 

1. Saban - before my time but the only coach to bring a championship to Buffalo with the B2B 64,65 AFL championships.

2. Levy - four straight Super Bowl appearances is very impressive. Would be #1 if they had won one of them.

3. McDermott - great regular season coach. Has to have better success in the playoffs to move up on the list.

4. Knox - team was crap in the late 70's. Got them turned around and the Bills had some good teams in the early 80's

 

After these 4-nobody else worth mentioning.

[Warriorspikes51]

It's starting to.  Please let it keep going 

[FireChans]

17 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said:

And why do we have the right QB? Who is responsible for molding the guy you consider “the best QB” ? 
 

I don’t think Josh would turn into Jimmy G with Shanny as his play caller, but I can make a serious argument that Josh never would’ve turned into Josh with Shanny as his HC. 
 

Exhibit A: Trey Lance 

Exhibit B: Robert Griffin III

Beane and McD.

 

I don’t know what your point is. They found Josh, so they deserve to get as many chances as they want to fail with him? Unlike the other coaches who have done more with far lesser QB talent, and have built extremely star-heavy talented rosters?

 

This isn’t a discussion about if we were starting a fictional franchise. If it were, you would be right, the Lynch/Shanny combo has completely bungled the QB room. That’s their biggest red mark. Luckily, here in Buffalo, we have a wonderful, incredible, proven QB, so that’s red mark doesn’t really matter.