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

[Billsatlastin2018]

7 hours ago, Sojourner said:

The only way McD or the staff can be lambasted is if we are on the wrong end of a blowout or an absolutely crucial error that leads to a loss; a la 13 seconds. 

This… totally !

[HomeskillitMoorman]

4 hours ago, Governor said:

Would Andy Reid still be the Chief’s coach if their offense was the reason why they lost every year?

This…so much this. Reid is a positive force for his side of the ball, especially in the playoffs while McD has been totally detrimental with his. 

[CaseyatBat]

29 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Allen has beaten Phillip Rivers in the playoffs.  Rivers is generally considered to be a very good QB

Allen has beaten Lamar Jackson in the playoffs.  We've been hearing all month and more what a Super Amazing Fantastic Marvelous QB he is
 

As for the rest you play who you play, and the rest of the team has something to say about the wins.

Very spotty knowledge for a guy who wants us to believe he's lived in WNY all his life and is a Bills fan

 

 

 

right but it clearly wasn't vintage Rivers, he was fading and half-retired. And Lamar Jackson left that game you mention in the 3rd quarter

 

just some knowledge from a local on those games  

 

If he beats Jackson handily Sunday, and I believe he will, then we can certainly credit him with a win over a good QB! I believe it will be a big victory, 2-3 touchdowns easy

 

 

Edited Saturday at 04:21 AM by CaseyatBat

[BillsVet]

50 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

Allen has beaten Phillip Rivers in the playoffs.  Rivers is generally considered to be a very good QB

Allen has beaten Lamar Jackson in the playoffs.  We've been hearing all month and more what a Super Amazing Fantastic Marvelous QB he is
 

As for the rest you play who you play, and the rest of the team has something to say about the wins.

Very spotty knowledge for a guy who wants us to believe he's lived in WNY all his life and is a Bills fan

 

Rivers was 39 years old and in his final NFL season 4 years ago in the 2020 WC game.  

 

Lamar was concussed late in the 3rd quarter the following week...in a game where neither team could do much offensively in very cold weather.  

 

 And yeah, it's not all Josh...coaches gotta set up players to succeed and players need to make plays.  

 

A little context goes a long way for someone who loves to nit-pick other people. 

[nedboy7]

It’s a rebuild year. Stop this nonsense. 
 

Edited Saturday at 04:52 AM by nedboy7

[ChasBB]

It's pretty simple really - make fewer mistakes than your opponent.  McDermott's done a nice job of guiding the team this to this point.  He doesn't need to do anything different or magical Sunday - he just needs to coach a good game and avoid any clock blunders and continue to rely on the fine coaching of Brady & Babich - both will need to implement adjustments as quickly as feasible throughout the game, when necessary.  And special teams will need to perform well, too.

 

I expect the Bills to win a hard-fought battle.

[Mikie2times]

21 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

It’s a rebuild year. Stop this nonsense. 
 

Says nobody with a hall of fame QB

Edited Saturday at 05:13 AM by Mikie2times

[Doc Brown]

3 hours ago, CaseyatBat said:

At some point Allen needs to beat a good QB in the playoffs.
 

I understand McDermott criticisms for sure, but Allen makes a lot of money, it’s time to simply outscore a good QB in the playoffs that’s not Mason Rudolph or Mac Jones 

 

Jim Kelly beat the likes of Elway, Marino, Montana, etc in the playoffs just sayin

He took the lead against the Chiefs with 13 seconds left.  In my opinion he already has.  He can definitely shut a lot of people up over the next two weeks too.

[Richard Noggin]

9 hours ago, billsbackto81 said:

I've been critical of his post season coaching schemes and decisions.  To be fair he did do a good job last year against KC with a depleted D filled with off the street players and 2nd/3rd stringers. 

 

I have to hold him to a higher standard now. This is the first time in 4 years this D goes into the playoffs nearly 💯. 

 

I understand it's a tough draw and possibly our worst match up but this is the D he chose to roll with and they're healthy.

 

Now it's time for him and Babich to make it happen. 

 

 

Strongly disagree with your assertion that the Bills D was well schemed against KC in the playoffs last year. I watched a semi-retired LB (who was never really a coverage guy) try (and fail) to cover Travis effing Kelce 1:1 with the game on the line. That's unforgivable. 

 

It might also be indicative of the most damning criticism of Bills defenses throughout this recent playoff run: when it gets down to it, top offenses are able to dictate or at least decipher Bills coverages/pressure packages via tempo and/or formation/motion. The Bills don't have the dynamic defensive line talent needed to fall back on vanilla schemes and off coverages against the best competition. And yet they so often fall back against the best in the playoffs. 

 

(I understand 31 teams fall short of their goals each year, so this isn't some ultra-damning condemnation. But it is a 4 year (and counting) pattern that causes mucho angst among even the most faithful.)

[Thurman#1]

He's go

12 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

We are 0-6 against seeds 1-4 under McD

 

Lets not pretend people who questions his ability to lead us to a Super Bowl are wildly irrational. 

 

 

Wildly irrational, no.

 

Pretty unreasonable, yes.

 

It's essentially the Chiefs. We haven't been able to get past them. In McDermott's first three years he hadn't gotten a good team together yet. Nor had Josh really become Josh yet. The Sugar Rush Josh who fell apart against the Texans wasn't the Josh Allen we know. Nor was the Tyrod Taylor team in Year one in any way a team anyone would suspect would beat a good team in the playoffs.

 

After that, when we had a real competitive team, it's the Chiefs. 

 

You can say what about the Bengals, and if you want to count that also, it's not unfair. But the whole team had a horrible off day, something that  has never really happened otherwise in the playoffs. Saw today's Buffalo Plus episode and they mentioned this, that that day in the locker room they saw a team that was absolutely exhausted, that their tank was empty, and that they've never seen anything like it. It was the year of Hamlin's death, Knox's brother's death and all the rest of it. The players themselves said the same thing in the locker room, that they simply didn't have any juice.

 

If you want to count that, I guess go ahead.

 

But basically, it's the Chiefs.

 

Adding in the games in his first three years when we simply did not have a team that anyone thought should be seriously competitive is not reasonable in evaluating McDermott.

 

 

13 hours ago, Rigotz said:

 

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.

 

 

 

He'll be back the next couple of years, win or lose. Which is as it should be. Unless he loses the locker room or something like that.

 

 

Edited Saturday at 09:25 AM by Thurman#1

[Bill from NYC]

This is not a make or break game for McDermott imo. I have been critical of him and did not like the way he initially built the team. When he came to town, he traded away the Mahomes pick.This would seem to be an insurmountable error but he lucked into Josh Allen so all is well. I wasn't crazy about some of his other draft picks.

 

Given the above, look at the offensive line that he built!!! These guys are not afraid of anybody and they not only protect our future first ballot HOF QB, they are making our running backs look great. McDermott built a tough, physical team. This is what I have wanted the Bills to look like for decades. This is what a cold weather team like our Bills should look like. This after decades of just the opposite. Leodis McKelvin anyone? CJ Spiller? Donte Whitner? We were a weak, stupidly run team. Not any more. 

 

I am through being critical of McDermott. In my view he corrected his early mistakes and he has earned my support.

 

GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Buffalo Boy]

13 hours ago, appoo said:

There has been exactly ONE game where the Buffalo Bills have underperfomed in a playoff game.

How bout the Miami game before that?

That was a suck fest we were lucky to win. Who was that QB for the Fins that day? I literally don’t remember ☹️

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Coach is ready.

 

 

[Scott7975]

13 hours ago, ganesh said:

In the last meeting,  we played a light box for 60% of the defensive snaps and gave all the holes to Henry to run. We were afraid of Lamar throwing downfield.   Now with the defense coming back in full swing, we need to be able to stop Henry and challenge Lamar to throw.  Can McDermott come with his disguised plays to confuse Lamar in the cold.  

 

This game is about McDermott elevating the defense.  Defense wins championships.

 

I think it was moreso that McD didnt trust 3 backup LBers to run the defense.

 

I get both sides of the argument from people. I still think McD is one of the best coaches in the league. I wont criticize people that would want to move on from McD though.

[colin]

i don't get the controversy here.  mcd as a head coach has had spectacular regular season success and very poor playoff success.  we've won every home game vs a low seeded team in the first round, and beat the ravens in 2021 at home in a windstorm.  that's basically what is expected after a strong regular season, which gives you the playoff entry and the home game to start.  our record vs top seed teams and in the divisional round is awful.  what's more noteworthy is that our playoff failures have come on the back of terrible defensive performances, and a good bit of our success have come in spite of bad d.  that's mcd's calling card and that's where the resources have been pushed.

 

now, history is being written all the time.  we have a game tomorrow that has the potential to rewrite mcdermots bio.  if the bills can handle the big bad nasty ravens he gets his team to the conference chip game after getting revenge on a great team who smoked us in the regular season.  if we go out and beat kc in kc or even houston in buffalo (really good story lines on both of those games) and make the chip, he proves to the world and himself he can run w the big dogs.  if he wins the bowl (which barring catastrophic injuries is much easier to do at that point than get to the bowl from where we are) he's enshrined himself as an all time coach.

 

i think some people don't want to admit the big stakes games still mean winner takes all.  that's how nfl football works.  you need to win it all at least once to get counted.  mcd has not shown the ability to do that, and he's not improved on what his failings were in prior years, so people here don't have confidence he can win the chip.  well, he's got his team where they need to be this year, so he can go out and get it done and make us admit we were wrong.  everyone who were riding for mcd will be proven quite right.

 

As of now, clearly he's not delivered.  im an on record mcd detractor, and i don't think he has what it takes to win a chip.  I do have to admit, this team right now is super balanced on O, allen is a monster with a run game to boot, and the d while being hot cheeks for much of the regular season showed some improve at times and for the playoffs has one game where they were monsters.

 

the same way the nfl is all or nothing, i think mcd's future is all or nothing.  he's gonna win it this year (or at least come close to) or as mikie says it's 4 consecutive divisional losses, 3 in a row at home, to 3 different teams.  That's a total mirror image of the 90s bills, except they lost 4 consecutive games to 3 different teams in the super bowl.  imagine if 3 of those super bowls were at home and we lost them, would that make you say those bills teams had the coach they needed?

 

that 90s team was second best in the biggest game of the year 4 times in a row, if we drop this one we will be second best in the most exciting game of the year 3 wins away from the chip.  mcd has some real high stakes tomorrow.

[Chaos]

15 hours ago, eball said:

McDermott is 6-6 in the playoffs (6-5 with Josh).  In the playoffs you’re always playing another playoff team (duh), so an above-.500 record can’t (or shouldn’t) be considered “bad.”

 

We all want to reach the next level.  A lot has to go right to get there.  Our head coach is not the problem.

 

Here's the thing. Only two teams go into the playoffs with the two best QBs  in the league each year.  One of them keeps winning super bowls. The other one does not advance past the divisional round.  Pretending, that losing with rookie Bo Nix is the same as a losing with Josh Allen (ie, .500 is good enough in the playoffs) is silly. 

[eball]

7 minutes ago, Chaos said:

Here's the thing. Only two teams go into the playoffs with the two best QBs  in the league each year.  One of them keeps winning super bowls. The other one does not advance past the divisional round.  Pretending, that losing with rookie Bo Nix is the same as a losing with Josh Allen (ie, .500 is good enough in the playoffs) is silly. 

 

Dude, we all agree that the defense is what has kept Buffalo from advancing.  Last year they had a friggin’ practice squad trying to defend Mahomes and Kelce.  The year before that the team was completely drained (and had the Diggs drama).  13 seconds is 13 seconds.  Let’s not pretend that everything has gone right for Buffalo and McD screwed the pooch.  Too many people fail to realize just how much luck comes into play in the playoffs.  That’s all I’m saying.

 

 

[Bill from NYC]

36 minutes ago, eball said:

 

Dude, we all agree that the defense is what has kept Buffalo from advancing.  Last year they had a friggin’ practice squad trying to defend Mahomes and Kelce.  The year before that the team was completely drained (and had the Diggs drama).  13 seconds is 13 seconds.  Let’s not pretend that everything has gone right for Buffalo and McD screwed the pooch.  Too many people fail to realize just how much luck comes into play in the playoffs.  That’s all I’m saying.

 

 

Teams that have strong, dominant offensive lines keep their defense fresh and rested. This is what the Bills finally have. This line protects Josh, gives him time, and opens big holes for the running game.

I blasted McD for quite some time about the way he built this team. Now, it looks as if he finally got it right and I am about credit where it is due.

[SoonerBillsFan]

Look McDermott has an opportunity with potentially 3 games ahead of him, to cement his legacy.  Ibprat he can do it. 

[Thurman#1]

1 hour ago, Chaos said:

Here's the thing. Only two teams go into the playoffs with the two best QBs  in the league each year.  One of them keeps winning super bowls. The other one does not advance past the divisional round.  Pretending, that losing with rookie Bo Nix is the same as a losing with Josh Allen (ie, .500 is good enough in the playoffs) is silly. 

 

 

Equally silly is pretending all .500 records are the same. It's idiocy.

 

Again, you have to go way the hell out of your way into Wackytown to suggest that the 2017 Jax game and the 2019 Houston game should be held against McDermott.

 

Is there anyone here - anyone at all - who thinks that if the 2017 Jags or the 2019 Texans played any of the 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 or for that matter the 2024 Bills either of them wins? Of course not. We lost those games because they rebuilt and hadn't yet put together the team we know today.