McDermott Coached his A$$ off Before and During the Ravens Game

[Big Turk]

19 minutes ago, Magox said:

I agree, if you look at the on-the-surface yardage stats of the Ravens getting over 400 yards you could make an assumption that the Bills didn't play well.  Obviously that isn't the reality.

 

The team stuffed Henry early and often and got the Ravens out of what they wanted to do which led to more drop back passes.   Those drop backs led to two forced turnovers that led to either a 10 or 14 point swing.    The Bills also played well situationally at times, after the big pass play they had a 1st down at the 2 yard line and against their vaunted seven 300 pound players with 6 OL 1 TE and 2 RB's that we've been hearing about all week the Bills stuffed Henry for a 1 yard loss which then led them to try to pass the ball.   And on one of those pass attempts, the Ravens deployed 6 OL again and the guy they brought in initially blocked Epenesa and then he ran out to the flat thinking that he'd be open for an easy TD, but Epenesa didn't take the bait, which led to indecision on Lamar's drop back which then Rousseau came up big with the sack.     

 

Forcing turnovers and protecting the ball is what the Bills did best this year, better than anything else they did was protecting the ball and forcing turnovers and so far in the playoffs that hasn't changed.   With a +27 TO advantage which is by far the best in the league and it is because of this ongoing dynamic that the Bills won the game.

 

Hats off to the coaches for preparing the players and for the players playing their hearts out against a team that matches up well against the Bills.

 

Playoff football is all situational football...the teams that excel at that the most and keep the turnovers clean usually win.

[Beck Water]

16 hours ago, billsfan89 said:

It was a good defensive gameplan and the defense was very hyped to play. Even in the second half when the defense was starting to get a bit grinded down the defense still made the big play with the amazing peanut punch. McD made a great gameplan and the defense executed it. Just a true signature coaching job that I think he really needed to display. It doesn't get easier next week McD's gotta come up with a way to slow down Mahomes and Kelce.

 

This may be a good place to link this TBN article, which goes into the defensive formations the Bills used overall and in a couple of critical situations.  

 

Quote

The Bills used their 4-3 front for the play against two backs and two tight ends. The Bills went with the 4-3 on 19 plays, the most in any game this season, according to Buffalo News charting. That included six plays when the Ravens had 21 personnel, with Rickard and Henry in the backfield and one tight end on the field. The Bills played nickel in those situations in the Week 4 loss at Baltimore.

 

19 plays out of 59 defensive plays is 32%.  

Describes how the Bills held the Ravens to a FG after they had 1st and goal from the 2:

Quote

Trailing, 14-7, the Ravens had a first-and-goal play from the 2-yard line. On a first-down run by Derrick Henry up the middle, DaQuan Jones penetrated against 380-pound guard Daniel Faalele and Jordan Phillips beat center Tyler Linderbaum. Linebacker Terrel Bernard crashed downhill in the hole to take on fullback Patrick Ricard, and linebacker Dorian Williams made the tackle for a 1-yard loss.

The Bills used their 4-3 front for the play against two backs and two tight ends.....The Bills played nickel in those situations in the Week 4 loss at Baltimore.

 

I think that's pretty illustrative about how stopping Henry was a team effort by the Bills D.  3 players had to "win" to enable 1 player to make a tackle.
 

Quote

On second down from the 3, the Bills rushed only three men but got a sack when Greg Rousseau eluded a block from Rickard. Ed Oliver pressured up the middle and almost drew a holding foul. Lamar Jackson had to hold onto the ball because Williams covered tight end Mark Andrews, and defensive end A.J. Epenesa dropped into coverage vs. tackle Ronnie Stanley, who ran a pass route as a trick play. Jackson wanted Stanley or Andrews on the play.

We also needed decent coverage from LB and DE!

 

Quote

Then on third-and-goal from the 8, the Bills ran a 3-2-6 dime package, with three defensive linemen, Bernard and Matt Milano at linebacker and six defensive backs. Milano rushed Jackson and hit the QB as he threw over the middle for Henry. Taron Johnson broke up the pass, and Damar Hamlin had good coverage on Andrews in the end zone.

 

Milano makes a difference, because he can both cover the pass and rush effectively.  According to TBN, Bills ran dime 7x times with a 3-2-6 and 5x with a 4-1-6.

Of course the unstated part of this is, Babich guessing correctly on personnel for down, distance, and who the Ravens had on the field.

 

[T master]

17 hours ago, jethro_tull said:

I have read about the incredible preparation Sean McDermott did for the Ravens game(studied every play by the Ravens this season). Going so far as to sign former Baltimore QB Anthony Brown to the practice squad to help the Bills prepare a defense for Lamar Jackson.  

The way the Bills countered the Ravens showed that they made some worthwhile corrections and that they were the most prepared team on the field.  The Bills were called for only one penalty for a total of 10 yards.  He also made the critical call to go for the three points when they were 4th and a long two yards from scoring after Josh lost yards on the 3rd down play.  Clock management was excellent and even the coin toss worked out well.  

Well done coach McD ! 

 

I'm glad that some here realize that the Bills have a really really good coach and is determined to do all he can for him & his team to be the best .

 

After the game one the reporters asked him if after the interviews if he was going to go back to his office and start on the Chiefs game to which i believe his reply was no "that was what i did last week for this game & it's been a long week and i need to get some rest" Talk about devoted but that seems to be lost on many here .

 

I know McD is going over every inch of tape that he can and remembering every single mistake he has ever made, plus i believe in the Ravens game when the Ravens HC took a penalty to save his downs & some time on the clock i feel that went in the vault too and that this team will be as prepared for this game as they were for the Ravens, Lions, and any other team they met this season .

 

GO BILLS !!! 

[JP51]

He gonna have to do it again. 

[bigK14094]

17 hours ago, T.E. said:

He was on the precipice of another playoff choke job until that dropped 2PT conversion. Went insanely conservative in the 2nd half, showed zero trust in his best player, and, of course, his vaunted zone defense once again gave up a huge TD drive when we had to have a stop. Sorry, but he continues to make the same mistakes over and over again. 

Had that been caught, I am thinking Josh and company would have produced  3 points in the minute and a half that was left.  the national media has not even conjectured about this possibility.  Andrews did not drop the game winning 2 pointer, he dropped the game tying 2 pointer.

[Kwai San]

This was the game that typically the Bills would be in the Ravens role.  FINALLY they turned it around.  Agree that Sean did a great job coaching and the team was pumped.  Also agree with another poster that they played a little bit vanilla it seems.  

 

GO BILLS!!

[Sierra Foothills]

 

 

22 hours ago, jethro_tull said:

I have read about the incredible preparation Sean McDermott did for the Ravens game(studied every play by the Ravens this season). Going so far as to sign former Baltimore QB Anthony Brown to the practice squad to help the Bills prepare a defense for Lamar Jackson.  

The way the Bills countered the Ravens showed that they made some worthwhile corrections and that they were the most prepared team on the field.  The Bills were called for only one penalty for a total of 10 yards.  He also made the critical call to go for the three points when they were 4th and a long two yards from scoring after Josh lost yards on the 3rd down play.  Clock management was excellent and even the coin toss worked out well.  

Well done coach McD ! 

 

So far, so good!

 

21 hours ago, boyst said:

Not that this isn't true, but the Ravens also have two issues

They're flawed. When down they don't do well, they lost games they should have won.

Lamar is a deck chair in the playoffs. 

 

Aside from his two turnovers Lamar was brilliant and out-showed Josh.

 

Josh won because he is 100% willing to set his ego aside and play disciplined football. I have a feeling Lamar will reach that point next year.

 

20 hours ago, Gugny said:

The third quarter was crap. 
 

We need four quarters of great football. 

 

Three quarters was enough... this time.

 

20 hours ago, T.E. said:

He was on the precipice of another playoff choke job until that dropped 2PT conversion. Went insanely conservative in the 2nd half, showed zero trust in his best player, and, of course, his vaunted zone defense once again gave up a huge TD drive when we had to have a stop. Sorry, but he continues to make the same mistakes over and over again. 

 

You overstate your case IMO.

 

18 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I keep hearing this insanely conservative/no trust thing about the offense and I don’t really see it personally.  Half the drives in the second half (not counting the final clincher) were killed by Josh himself or Josh/kincaid…there were only 4 total.   I’ve gotta fact check myself on this but I don’t believe we ran twice on a series of downs all game.

 

• 1st drive: (1st quarter) TD: 9 runs/2 passes, ran on 8 straight plays.
• 2nd drive: (1st quarter) Punt: 1 run/2 passes
• 3rd drive: (2nd quarter) TD: 3 runs/1 passes, ran on consecutive plays
• 4th possession: (2nd quarter) TD: 7 runs/2 passes, twice ran on consecutive plays
• 5th possession: (3rd quarter): Punt: 1 run/2 passes, (3 and out)
• 6th possession: (3rd quarter): Punt: 1 run/5 passes
• 7th possession: (3rd-4th quarter): Field Goal: 5 runs/4 passes, twice ran on consecutive plays
• 8th possession: (4th quarter): Field Goal: 5 runs/4 passes, ran on 5 consecutive plays
• 9th possession: (4th quarter): End of Game: 1 run/kneel downs

So not including the end of game possession the Bills had 8 possessions and scored on 5 of them.

 

18 hours ago, Buffalo03 said:

I do agree that we were very conservative and it almost killed us but after rewatching on the NFL network just a little bit ago, the playcalling wasn't as bad as I thought, though it still could have been better. It was pretty much like a "kill them with a thousand papercuts" game plan. That offensive drive after Bernard knocked the ball loose from Andrews was very methodical. It died inside the 5 because it got way too conservative. But until the 5 yard line, it was actually executed quite well. We got yards in very small chunks. But it worked

 

Ultimately there were 3 play calls which people are remembering and using as evidence that the Bills were too conservative:

• 5th possession (3rd quarter) Punt: the Bills ran on 1st down for 1 yard and threw incomplete on the next two downs before punting.
• 6th possession (3rd quarter) Punt: the Bills passed on all three downs on the first set of downs and ran on 1st down on the second set of downs for no gain, which stalled the drive.
• On the 7th possession (3rd-4th quarter) Field Goal: on 3rd and goal from the Baltimore 2, the Bills should have run a tush push but instead ran Josh from the shotgun, losing yardage.

 

So ironically, on the Bills highly-criticized punt possession in the 3rd quarter, they actually passed more than they ran... BUT the drives stalled in part due to a 1 yard gain and no gain on first down runs.

 

8 hours ago, Cray51 said:

I mean... us winning proved that you dont NEED four quarters of great football.  Three was enough

 

Three was enough at home against Baltimore.

 

Edited 14 hours ago by Sierra Foothills

[boyst]

12 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

was brilliant and out-showed Josh.

 

Josh won because he is 100% willing to set his ego aside and play disciplined football. I have a feeling 

 

If it was an individual sport Lamar still wouldn't win. 

 

He didn't outplay Josh. He threw an INT, had a fumble, went stupid a few times and choked... Even if he did a lot good he set his team back and lessened the chance to win by his mistakes. 

 

That's not outplaying the opponent. Just like Mahomes is outplayed by Josh every playoff game - Mahomes gets the job done. 

[Sierra Foothills]

12 minutes ago, boyst said:

If it was an individual sport Lamar still wouldn't win. 

 

He didn't outplay Josh. He threw an INT, had a fumble, went stupid a few times and choked... Even if he did a lot good he set his team back and lessened the chance to win by his mistakes. 

 

That's not outplaying the opponent. Just like Mahomes is outplayed by Josh every playoff game - Mahomes gets the job done. 

 

Show me where I said that Lamar outplayed Josh.

 

I'll save you the effort... I didn't.

 

[boyst]

16 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Show me where I said that Lamar outplayed Josh.

 

I'll save you the effort... I didn't.

 

Outshowed. 

[Sierra Foothills]

Building on my earlier post, here is the breakdown of runs to passes on first downs only:

• 1st Possession: TD 2 runs/2 passes
• 2nd Possession: Punt 1 run/1 pass
• 3rd Possession: TD 2 runs/0 passes
• 4th Possession: TD 2 runs/2 passes
• 5th Possession: Punt 1 run/0 passes
• 6th Possession: Punt 1 run/1 pass
• 7th Possession: Field Goal 3 runs/1 pass
• 8th Possession: Field Goal 2 runs/3 passes

All first downs: 14 runs/10 passes

• 1st drive: (1st quarter) TD: 9 runs/2 passes, ran on 8 straight plays.
• 2nd drive: (1st quarter) Punt: 1 run/2 passes
• 3rd drive: (2nd quarter) TD: 3 runs/1 passes, ran on consecutive plays
• 4th possession: (2nd quarter) TD: 7 runs/2 passes, twice ran on consecutive plays
• 5th possession: (3rd quarter): Punt: 1 run/2 passes, (3 and out)
• 6th possession: (3rd quarter): Punt: 1 run/5 passes
• 7th possession: (3rd-4th quarter): Field Goal: 5 runs/4 passes, twice ran on consecutive plays
• 8th possession: (4th quarter): Field Goal: 5 runs/4 passes, ran on 5 consecutive plays
• 9th possession: (4th quarter): End of Game: 1 run/kneel downs

So not including the end of game possession the Bills had 8 possessions and scored on 5 of them.

 

Ultimately there were 3 play calls which people are remembering and using as evidence that the Bills were too conservative:

• 5th possession (3rd quarter) Punt: the Bills ran on 1st down for 1 yard and threw incomplete on the next two downs before punting.
• 6th possession (3rd quarter) Punt: the Bills passed on all three downs on the first set of downs and ran on 1st down on the second set of downs for no gain, which stalled the drive.
• On the 7th possession (3rd-4th quarter) Field Goal: on 3rd and goal from the Baltimore 2, the Bills should have run a tush push but instead ran Josh from the shotgun, losing yardage.

So ironically, on the Bills highly-criticized punt possessions in the 3rd quarter, the Bills actually passed more than they ran... BUT the drives stalled in part due to a 1 yard gain and no gain on first down runs.

 

12 hours ago, boyst said:

Outshowed. 

 

That word was chosen carefully because it doesn't mean outplayed... outshowed as in "eye candy" or "style points?"

 

If I meant outplayed, I would have used the word outplayed.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Sierra Foothills

[Governor]

41 minutes ago, boyst said:

If it was an individual sport Lamar still wouldn't win. 

 

He didn't outplay Josh. He threw an INT, had a fumble, went stupid a few times and choked... Even if he did a lot good he set his team back and lessened the chance to win by his mistakes. 

 

That's not outplaying the opponent. Just like Mahomes is outplayed by Josh every playoff game - Mahomes gets the job done. 

After watching it again, he wasn’t all that good. The passes where he was rushed and flat out missed were really important plays in the game. Overall, he was pretty sloppy except for the few long completions.

[boyst]

3 hours ago, Governor said:

After watching it again, he wasn’t all that good. The passes where he was rushed and flat out missed were really important plays in the game. Overall, he was pretty sloppy except for the few long completions.

As pointed out by Sierra the candy was there. He made some great passes. To outshine Allen 

[Jauronimo]

On 1/20/2025 at 5:33 PM, billsfan89 said:

It was a good defensive gameplan and the defense was very hyped to play. Even in the second half when the defense was starting to get a bit grinded down the defense still made the big play with the amazing peanut punch. McD made a great gameplan and the defense executed it. Just a true signature coaching job that I think he really needed to display. It doesn't get easier next week McD's gotta come up with a way to slow down Mahomes and Kelce.

The Dline was clearly fired up. Ed and Daquan had something to prove.  Absolutely loved seeing it. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Jauronimo

[ticketssince61]

We allowed 427 yards , did not force a punt, and let them drive the length of the field in last 2 minutes for potential tie

 

Not sure that qualifies as "defense stepping up"

[LABILLBACKER]

McDermott has mellowed and it shows in the passion these guys play with. With each passing game and especially the adjustments he made in preparation for Baltimore, was absolutely brilliant.  He knows he doesn't have a top 10 defense yet he stresses the value of takeaways. And this team is #1 in defensive takeaways. I'll bend all day long if I know it's going to result in a turnover. I've done nothing but criticize Sean since the 2019 Houston game. But this is the season he's really impressed me.  He's brought this team together as a band of brothers.

[colin]

the o was super conservative and the d basically played rock paper scissors.  i think it was a well coached game, and the three biggest errors in coaching/planning came on O

 

1 -- running qb power on 3rd and 2 from the 2.  a tush push, or a less predictable play from shotgun was in order.  when all you need is 2 and you have power up front, don't give up an advantage by going into shotgun unless you have a good trick.

 

2 -- first drive out of the half.  they should have shown a prior formation and play actioned into something.  those type of transitional moments are where you take those shots.  a big gainer on 1st down would have potentially broken the ravens, and a td on that drive would have made the game easy.

 

3 -- second drive in the 2nd half -- again, the ravens were aggressive up close and had a shell behind, a creative play or qb roll out, whatever would have worked.  TY Johnson eats those kinds of formations for breakfast.

 

joe marino had a breakdown on D.  when we blitzed vs when we didn't was shocking.  blitzing is when all the good stuff happened, not blitzing is when all the bad stuff happened.  also, on that last drive i think our guys were gassed but they advanced the ball vs linemen who wouldn't make the roster of most playoff teams.  maybe there was a way to rotate into having better players out there, but that's tough.

 

this was the second best coached game of the playoffs ever for our staff IMO.  the denver game was the best (bad play got them down early, like this one, and they corrected.  denver was beat by about 4 mins into the 3rd quarter).  we gotta keep it up vs kc.

[stuvian]

We stopped Henry cold in the first half, thereby forcing Lamar to beat us passing. When forced to pass, Lamar will eventually turn the ball over. It was great strategy and it worked. I've never seen our defense tackle like that in an important game in the Clappy era. I guess they were saving it for when it mattered. Now we know they can. 

 

I didn't like that we coasted on an 11 point lead against a very good team in the second half but the results speak for themselves. Sometimes going turtle is the right call even if it is terrifying to watch as a fan. 

[Sweats]

14 minutes ago, colin said:

the o was super conservative and the d basically played rock paper scissors.  i think it was a well coached game, and the three biggest errors in coaching/planning came on O

 

1 -- running qb power on 3rd and 2 from the 2.  a tush push, or a less predictable play from shotgun was in order.  when all you need is 2 and you have power up front, don't give up an advantage by going into shotgun unless you have a good trick.

 

2 -- first drive out of the half.  they should have shown a prior formation and play actioned into something.  those type of transitional moments are where you take those shots.  a big gainer on 1st down would have potentially broken the ravens, and a td on that drive would have made the game easy.

 

3 -- second drive in the 2nd half -- again, the ravens were aggressive up close and had a shell behind, a creative play or qb roll out, whatever would have worked.  TY Johnson eats those kinds of formations for breakfast.

 

joe marino had a breakdown on D.  when we blitzed vs when we didn't was shocking.  blitzing is when all the good stuff happened, not blitzing is when all the bad stuff happened.  also, on that last drive i think our guys were gassed but they advanced the ball vs linemen who wouldn't make the roster of most playoff teams.  maybe there was a way to rotate into having better players out there, but that's tough.

 

this was the second best coached game of the playoffs ever for our staff IMO.  the denver game was the best (bad play got them down early, like this one, and they corrected.  denver was beat by about 4 mins into the 3rd quarter).  we gotta keep it up vs kc.

 

 

 

 

You don't think the Bills vs. NE (the perfect game) a few years back was the best coached?..........i mean, i can't think of a better game plan than the one i saw from the team that night, i can tell you.

 

NE had all but given up by the 2nd quarter........threw in the towel, waving the white flag sort of giving up.

[thenorthremembers]

I think it says a lot about the fan base when we are surprised that a coach who has a .656 winning percentage in the regular season, and a has taken the team to the playoffs 7 of 8 years, had a good coaching outing.  

 

I understand he has had a few game day issues which have led to bad loses over time but anyone who has coached knows the totality of coaching goes way beyond game day.   

 

The guy is a fantastic head coach.  Hopefully someday he gets the respect he deserves both locally and nationally.