Personally, this Ravens matchup is my "McDermott Game."

[Mister Defense]

On 1/17/2025 at 2:31 PM, Rigotz said:

[EDIT: Removing the part where I said McDermott is “at least average” because people are getting waaaay too focused on that. I simply meant his detractors would say he’s average.]
 

To me, this is the statement playoff game McDermott needs.

 

Round 1 over Denver was a huge defensive win. Holding them to 7 points was impressive.

In the 7 games prior to our Wild Card matchup, the Broncos had scored 29, 41, 31, 34, 24, and 38.

 

Round 2, we face a Ravens offense that has been dominant.

If McDermott shuts down the Ravens or at least holds them under 20'ish points, that's it for me. I'll stop talking about his job security.

 

No coach can shut down every elite QB and elite offense every year and yes, he's had some poor defensive performances in the playoffs.

 

However, if he gets it done this time, I've seen enough. Bring him back with open arms next year and probably again the following year.

 

Anybody else feel the same?

 

 

A great win for the Bills, but a bittersweet moment for McDermott and his supporters..

 

Obviously he did not meet your criteria to hold onto his job next year, as the Bills, of course, did not 'shut down the Ravens or at least hold them under 20 points'.

 

Do you think the Bills should wait until after the AFC Championship game to fire him? Or should they do it tomorrow?

 

Or, do they wait until after next week's game? After the Super Bowl?

 

The Bills will be far behind the other teams looking for head coaches as it is, so should they do it tomorrow, to get that search going?

 

It was a good run, but you are right, as I said originally in this thread, so time to move on.

 

 

 

 

 

[HappyDays]

I'm always going to call it as I see it - this was a great win for Coach McDermott. Good clock management, timeout management, 4th down decision making. There were no goofy sequences that led to a 3 point swing or something like that. The players were ready and played sound fundamental football.

 

The defense was fine, better than I expected really. I said before the game hold them below 30 and I'll be satisfied. So, I am satisfied. Reflecting on the game there are no specific defensive play calls or sequences I can point to where I felt like coaching let the team down. We don't have the talent to totally shut down Baltimore's offense so I kept my standard reasonable and we met that standard.

 

The only thing I want McDermott to do differently this week is lock Joe Brady in a room with a TV on every wall playing nonstop Josh Allen highlights. Maybe prop his eyes open like A Clockwork Orange. Just to subtly remind the man what makes our offense tick.

 

Edited yesterday at 04:45 AM by HappyDays

[strive_for_five_guy]

11 hours ago, FireChans said:

The first half defense was the best defensive half McD has had in the divisional round since 2020.

 

I think we all saw that first LJ TD and thought "here we go again."

 

I'm not sure what you wanted with Hamlin/Bishop on the backend tbh. They forced 3 TO's.  The Ravens never had the ball with the chance to take the lead after the 1st Q.

 

It wasn't perfect or pretty, for sure. BB's HoF SB gameplan came down to a missed FG.  Doing just enough to beat a great opponent is the way it goes.

This game highlighted one of McD’s strengths, which is his preparation.  One thing you can always count on with him is the time he’s going to put into a game plan and trying to figure how to beat his opponent.  The Bills defensive game plan really threw the Ravens off in the 1st half of yesterday’s game, and gave them the breathing room to hold on in the end.

[HOUSE]

So, I visiting the Ravens board this morning, guess who the fans want fired?

You get 2  guesses 

[SinceThe70s]

2 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

So, I visiting the Ravens board this morning, guess who the fans want fired?

You get 2  guesses 

 

Guess #1: the players responsible for the turnovers

 

Guess #2: the players who dropped passes

 

Guess #3 (sorry for not playing by your rules): the head coach who led a team that lost due to turnovers and dropped passes.

[HOUSE]

2 minutes ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

Guess #1: the players responsible for the turnovers

 

Guess #2: the players who dropped passes

 

Guess #3 (sorry for not playing by your rules): the head coach who led a team that lost due to turnovers and dropped passes.

Yup, all 3 but mostly the head coach because he is wasting Lamar Jackson

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Great culture guy. Guys want to play for him.  That has never been the issue.  It's his greatest quality. 

 

He let Brady get too conservative. Somehow either by design or by accident he and Brady limited Allen's ability to control the game. That is unconceivable. 

 

As I posted elsewhere, hard to criticize the defense when they get three takeaways. But again the defense collapsed when it mattered most.  Baltimore went right through them to score a TD and they got lucky the 2 pt pass was dropped.  It's a similar defensive playoff collapse we have seen over and over.  

 

Hopefully he will learn he needs to let Allen run up the score

[I'mBuff]

On 1/17/2025 at 2:44 PM, TurfToeJam said:

 

Exactly.  Our defense may not be able to stop Henry.  But if we win the turnover battle that's huge.

Very prophetic 👍 

[hondo in seattle]

10 hours ago, Mister Defense said:

 

 

A great win for the Bills, but a bittersweet moment for McDermott and his supporters..

 

Obviously he did not meet your criteria to hold onto his job next year, as the Bills, of course, did not 'shut down the Ravens or at least hold them under 20 points'.

 

Do you think the Bills should wait until after the AFC Championship game to fire him? Or should they do it tomorrow?

 

Or, do they wait until after next week's game? After the Super Bowl?

 

The Bills will be far behind the other teams looking for head coaches as it is, so should they do it tomorrow, to get that search going?

 

It was a good run, but you are right, as I said originally in this thread, so time to move on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the Bills should fire McD after we win the Super Bowl.   Yeah, that's starting our search a little late.  But on the flip side, (A) it sends the right message about our high standards, and (B) it makes the job super attractive as we'd have an established Super Bowl roster with the GM who built it.  

[Mikie2times]

1 minute ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Great culture guy. Guys want to play for him.  That has never been the issue.  It's his greatest quality. 

 

He let Brady get too conservative. Somehow either by design or by accident he and Brady limited Allen's ability to control the game. That is unconceivable. 

 

As I posted elsewhere, hard to criticize the defense when they get three takeaways. But again the defense collapsed when it mattered most.  Baltimore went right through them to score a TD and they got lucky the 2 pt pass was dropped.  It's a similar defensive playoff collapse we have seen over and over.  

 

Hopefully he will learn he needs to let Allen run up the score

The Good

Our first half defensive game plan was excellent

DL played very physical

ED showed up, probably his best meaningful playoff game

Offensive line protected Allen

We mounted a running game against the best run defense in football

Answering the early score and controlling the ball 

Made no mistakes and forced 3 by them

 

The Bad

Offense went ultra conservative

Baltimore did whatever they wanted in the middle of the field

Baltimore did whatever they wanted in the 2nd half, we had no answers

Prevent on the TD at the end

Started to resemble the Houston playoff collapse before the dropped 2 pointer  

 

I mean, it's sort of telling when you have a 10 point half time lead, +3 in turnovers, and you still need to a dropped 2 point conversion at the end. It should have never been that close. 

[todd]

All the McDermott haters seem to be pretty quiet today. Let's acknowledge that McDermott is a really great coach, and we are lucky to have him. AFC championship game with a team during a rebuild year? That's pretty amazing. 

[Mister Defense]

Just now, hondo in seattle said:

 

I think the Bills should fire McD after we win the Super Bowl.   Yeah, that's starting our search a little late.  But on the flip side, (A) it sends the right message about our high standards, and (B) it makes the job super attractive as we'd have an established Super Bowl roster with the GM who built it.  

 

Yes, makes perfect sense.

 

Win Win for the Bills. A Super Bowl victory and also losing this albatross the Bills have had around their necks for 7 long years now.

 

Fire him a day after the Bills win the championship.  This also fully supports the astute analysis, logic, and generous spirit of the OP as well.

 

In addition, with time left on his contract, the Bills should be able to get some extremely good draft picks after the Bills win it all this year.

 

Those teams won't know, the way a small percentage of very smart, astute, football savants in Buffalo know, such as  the OP, that he is a team killing coach, and his 'success' in Buffalo has been a mirage. 

 

Hopefully those teams won't do a deep dive, or look too closely at this board.

 

 

[McMuffin]

6 minutes ago, todd said:

All the McDermott haters seem to be pretty quiet today. Let's acknowledge that McDermott is a really great coach, and we are lucky to have him. AFC championship game with a team during a rebuild year? That's pretty amazing. 

If McDermott were to be let go, he would immediately be at the top of the hiring list of every team looking for a head coach.  

[hondo in seattle]

10 hours ago, HappyDays said:

I'm always going to call it as I see it - this was a great win for Coach McDermott. Good clock management, timeout management, 4th down decision making. There were no goofy sequences that led to a 3 point swing or something like that. The players were ready and played sound fundamental football.

 

The defense was fine, better than I expected really. I said before the game hold them below 30 and I'll be satisfied. So, I am satisfied. Reflecting on the game there are no specific defensive play calls or sequences I can point to where I felt like coaching let the team down. We don't have the talent to totally shut down Baltimore's offense so I kept my standard reasonable and we met that standard.

 

The only thing I want McDermott to do differently this week is lock Joe Brady in a room with a TV on every wall playing nonstop Josh Allen highlights. Maybe prop his eyes open like A Clockwork Orange. Just to subtly remind the man what makes our offense tick.

 

 

My starting assumption is that Joe Brady is a smart man.  He's been in football a long time and knows the X's and O's of the game  far better than I do.

But the conservatism, particularly in the 3rd quarter but really all game long, was puzzling.   It was a bad weather game, but Josh has excelled in inclement weather before.  And he's clearly our best player.  Yet he didn't throw a lot and especially didn't throw downfield much.  I think Coop and Coleman were targeted only once each.  And Josh didn't run a ton either.  It was an odd game plan, not what I was expecting at all.

 

My guess is that it was about the weather.  Close-ups on the ball showed that it was wet.  And guys had cold hands.  Brady might have wanted to win the turnover battle more than the yardage battle.  He ran safe plays to avoid fumbles and ints - and still put up 27 points and notched a victory.  

 

I still love the Clockwork Orange idea though.  I think we'll need more Josh going forward.  

[Mister Defense]

11 minutes ago, todd said:

All the McDermott haters seem to be pretty quiet today. Let's acknowledge that McDermott is a really great coach, and we are lucky to have him. AFC championship game with a team during a rebuild year? That's pretty amazing. 

 

Yes, overall they are quiet, but, like last week, we can fully expect the top dozen haters to get going soon--give them time, they just need more time to figure out how to approach this huge win. 

 

But you can see the seeds of their discontent emerging already at the end of the previous hate threads from the last few weeks, like this one, sharpening their blades: 'Oh yeah, you think the Bills had a great win yesterday? I will show you just how lucky they actually were.  It is wildly irrational to think this Bills team can ever win it all...'

 

But we as Bills fans should give them space today, as yesterday had to be an extremely tough day for them as the Bills are now heading to the AFC championship game again.

 

 

[BRH]

47 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Yup, all 3 but mostly the head coach because he is wasting Lamar Jackson

Ain’t nobody wasting Lamar but Lamar himself. 
 

NINE Pro Bowlers, a solid OL, a great defense, two stud TEs, a generational RB and a HC who won a SB with Joe Flacco. 
 

Lamar’s two giveaways sealed their fate.  All the rest is just complaining that his supporting cast and coaches couldn’t overcome HIS mistakes. 

[section122]

1 hour ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Great culture guy. Guys want to play for him.  That has never been the issue.  It's his greatest quality. 

 

He let Brady get too conservative. Somehow either by design or by accident he and Brady limited Allen's ability to control the game. That is unconceivable. 

 

As I posted elsewhere, hard to criticize the defense when they get three takeaways. But again the defense collapsed when it mattered most.  Baltimore went right through them to score a TD and they got lucky the 2 pt pass was dropped.  It's a similar defensive playoff collapse we have seen over and over.  

 

Hopefully he will learn he needs to let Allen run up the score

 

2 points:

 

1. The offense didn't get conservative, they were conservative all game long.  What changed was the Ravens defense was effective stopping the run in the 2nd half. 

1st td drive was 11 plays 9 of which were runs,  2nd td drive was 4 plays 3 of which were runs, 3rd td drive was 9 plays 7 of which were runs.  So 3 td drives, 24 plays 19 runs.  They didn't have to unleash Josh, narrative buster but the Bills won a huge game without Josh having to be super man.  The game script allowed the Bills to control the clock and keep the defense rested.  

 

2. To say the defense collapsed is also kind of silly.  They let up 10 points in the first half and 15 in the 2nd.  The Ravens before this game were talked about as an unstoppable juggernaut.  Henry and Lamar were an unstoppable rushing combination and yet Henry had 84 yards rushing while Lamar added 39. 

 

To take it even further 25 points is the lowest the Ravens have scored in the last 6 weeks since they scored 19 against the Eagles.  In fact the 25 points they scored was their 5th lowest output of the season and 2 of those games were week 1 and 2.  So long story short in the last 16 games this was their 3rd lowest output.  Yes it took 3 turnovers but that is football.  

[FireChans]

5 hours ago, HOUSE said:

So, I visiting the Ravens board this morning, guess who the fans want fired?

You get 2  guesses 

Harbaugh because outside of winning a SB when Mitt Romney was running for President, he hasn’t done much?

[Big Turk]

15 hours ago, HappyDays said:

I'm always going to call it as I see it - this was a great win for Coach McDermott. Good clock management, timeout management, 4th down decision making. There were no goofy sequences that led to a 3 point swing or something like that. The players were ready and played sound fundamental football.

 

The defense was fine, better than I expected really. I said before the game hold them below 30 and I'll be satisfied. So, I am satisfied. Reflecting on the game there are no specific defensive play calls or sequences I can point to where I felt like coaching let the team down. We don't have the talent to totally shut down Baltimore's offense so I kept my standard reasonable and we met that standard.

 

The only thing I want McDermott to do differently this week is lock Joe Brady in a room with a TV on every wall playing nonstop Josh Allen highlights. Maybe prop his eyes open like A Clockwork Orange. Just to subtly remind the man what makes our offense tick.

 

 

Not many teams have the talent to completely shut down Baltimore's offense.

[DrDawkinstein]

4 hours ago, McMuffin said:

If McDermott were to be let go, he would immediately be at the top of the hiring list of every team looking for a head coach.  

 

Of course. Because every team looking for a head coach sucks, and he would be a huge improvement and exactly what any of them need to right the ship and fix the culture.

 

The real question is: If there was an open HC spot on any of the TOP teams, would any of them hire McDermott?

 

If Reid has a massive coronary, do you think the Chiefs would want to replace him with McD?

If the Ravens fired Harbaugh, do you think McD would be what they are looking for to take the next step?

If the Lions lost Campbell, do they hire McD?

The Bengals?

Maybe the Eagles?

 

IMO, McD's sweet spot outside of Buffalo would be going back to Carolina and fixing that franchise in a very winnable division. Assuming Tepper could stay out of his way.

Or teams like the Bears, or even the Raiders.