Hot Take: Does Bobby Babich Lose His Job?

[Donuts and Doritos]

No. Beane said this was a retooling year. The team over performed his expectations. He knows they need to add talent & plans to do so this off season.

[Sojourner]

1 minute ago, Donuts and Doritos said:

No. Beane said this was a retooling year. The team over performed his expectations. He knows they need to add talent & plans to do so this off season.

Been retooling a defense and an offense for the last 4 years. Might wanna start buying the right tools. 
 

Is he shopping at Home Depot? I know it’s multiple trips for any job to get done. 

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

1 hour ago, boyst said:

It's McDermotts defense. We have been through too many coordinators at this point not to look at the top of the problem. 

 

Yup, this has been McD's defense since the day he got here. 

 

It's ironic he spent the whole season preaching 'complementary football' yet his DEF is only good for racking up stats against garbage QBs in blowout victories. 

 

The DEF scheme/philosophy gets torched every single year in the playoffs by great QBs

[BillsFan130]

4 minutes ago, Donuts and Doritos said:

No. Beane said this was a retooling year. The team over performed his expectations. He knows they need to add talent & plans to do so this off season.

The offence over performed though. Not the defence 

[Cheektowaga Chad]

This was year one of building a more aggressive defense 

 

All year defenders gave up angles of sure or more sure tackles to get better angles on the ball. They were going for turnovers over tackles 

 

Get some talent where they can legitimately play man to man more often and an actual threat at edge

Edited 18 hours ago by Cheektowaga Chad

[billsbackto81]

4 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Without the takeaways the Bills would be dead last in the NFL on Defense.  Blaming Babich is lazy. Blaming Frazier is lazy.  This is Sean McDermott's team and 100% his scheme and hand picked players. He runs the show.  Now prepare for Smiley to be fired so Sean can survive another season.  What a deal....

I dont think I appreciate your assessment.😒 But God, I wish I could disagree with it. This was the first season in the last 5 that they were pretty much 💯 going in the postseason. I really thought this year was different. Then Rapp happens and then Benford. I knew after that we were in trouble considering McD's scheme and how important they are and how shaky Elam is. I'd like to think its time to move on or seriously adjust our current defensive scheme. Honestly I think it's run it's course. 

[BillsFanForever19]

Nope.

 

They were starting AJ Epenesa, Damar Hamlin, Daquan Jones hit the wall, Dorian Williams for most of the year and a Matt Milano who only became a semblance of his old self at the very end (though never looked fully like himself pre-injury). On top of that, in the Chiefs game we were rolling with Kaiir Elam and Cole Bishop.

 

The talent level just wasn't there to put the Defensive woes completely on him and fire him after 1 year. He won't be going anywhere this offseason.

[Billever76]

5 hours ago, BillsFan130 said:

First off... If I were to bet, I would bet saying no he doesn't get fired because it was his 1st year

 

BUT... I think it is at least a discussion worth having, and that he will be on thin ice next season.

 

Some stats that are pretty alarming:

 

29th on 3rd downs

Let up the 4th most first downs in the league. 

23rd in passing yards allowed and 8th most passing TDS allowed. (Insane compared to years in the past)

 

And in the biggest game of the year against KC with two starters out in the secondary, I believe Joe Marino stated they played man around 44 percent of the time...

 

I am trying not to make this a Sean Mcdermott discussion, as we get it as it is his scheme.

 

But inarguably, the Bills defence outside of turnovers? Was pretty much a disaster this season and Bobby B didn't have many answers.

 

What do you think about Babich going forward?

I think Babich just like Leslie Frazier are scapegoats for the long figured out scheme of Sean McDermott's defense

[Buffalo_Stampede]

I would’ve hired Lou Anarumo immediately as a consultant. Then made him DC in the offseason and demoted the kid Babich to DB coach. He isn’t ready.

Edited 17 hours ago by Buffalo_Stampede

[BillMafia716ix]

We have to upgrade the talent at DE, corner and safety. Then see where we are. I think we squeezed everything we could have out this group. Talent just wasn’t good enough. 

[Rocky Landing]

I'm probably in the minority on this, but I am looking forward to what McDermott, Brady, and Babich can achieve with a significantly upgraded roster, especially on defense, which I fully expect the Bills to have next season.

[LEBills]

No way. Maybe the Bills can bring in an experienced DC as a special advisor like the Ravens did with Dean Pees. Brought him in after week 5 to help a defense that was very leaky in the secondary with an inexperienced coordinator.

Edited 10 hours ago by LEBills

[Donuts and Doritos]

8 hours ago, BillsFan130 said:

The offence over performed though. Not the defence 

 

8 hours ago, Sojourner said:

Been retooling a defense and an offense for the last 4 years. Might wanna start buying the right tools. 
 

Is he shopping at Home Depot? I know it’s multiple trips for any job to get done. 

 

Agree with both points. But Bills brass saw this year as a transition from the players they moved on from last year & the cap issues & believed they set themselves up for this off-season to upgrade the talent. Because of that Babich will get a pass. Beane should feel some heat & probably McD too, but I doubt they will from Terry.

[Chandler#81]

11 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Without the takeaways the Bills would be dead last in the NFL on Defense.  Blaming Babich is lazy. Blaming Frazier is lazy.  This is Sean McDermott's team and 100% his scheme and hand picked players. He runs the show.  Now prepare for Smiley to be fired so Sean can survive another season.  What a deal....

I’m in complete agreement with you. The PLAYERS suck, not the coaches -yet, anyway. We’re cash-strapped so we only had the Draft and cheap FAs to address the aging Hyde, Poyer and the DE who left for Mo’ money (?). Oliver was his usual hit or miss and with a slew of injuries, we weren’t good enough to overcome. Hopefully, digging out from under Diggs will allow for ca$h to buy FA replacements and a boatload of picks to play with to try to move up for coveted rookies. I was actually more impressed with Babich’s schemes than I thought I’d be. Yes, Smiley needs to go.

[Back2Buff]

He can keep his job, but McDermott needs to go back to calling plays.

[RichRiderBills]

Babich was over his head. He had a bad 1st year, but not a disaster by any means. He was bad enough to get fired, but given it's his first year I feel this would be premature. 

 

Fault was on Babich. It's his responsibility to coach up players and several guys regressed in 24 .

 

Douglas, Oliver, Jones, and Bernard all showed some regression to me. A couple players, like Hamlin and Williams improved, but not a ton of overachieving IMO. The D-line needs a massive directional shift. 

 

There was also strong evidence Babich was easy to game plan against and had poor plans to stop opposition offenses. 

 

Bills D chronically had slow starts in 24, often struggling in the 1st half of games, giving up huge chunks of yards.

 

However- This flaw also displayed a strength; Babich was good adjusting in 2nd half, and apart from a couple games, the D made adjustments needed. This was something to build in and has promise. 

 

The turnovers were another huge plus. Many of them were takeaways, and this too is reason to have optimism. Difficult to count on though. 

 

I'd replace some key players, tweak D line coaching, and make a few other adjustments. 

 

I'm not sure if Babich is needed up in the box. I prefer DCs to be down in the trenches w the men. This may be something I tweak for 25. 

 

I'd give Babich another season and roll on. Criticism is merited though, and despite the fact Bills D is " middle of the road" we consistently get torn apart by top Offenses in the deep playoffs. 

Edited 10 hours ago by RichRiderBills

[BillsFan130]

25 minutes ago, RichRiderBills said:

Babich was over his head. He had a bad 1st year, but not a disaster by any means. He was bad enough to get fired, but given it's his first year I feel this would be premature. 

 

Fault was on Babich. It's his responsibility to coach up players and several guys regressed in 24 .

 

Douglas, Oliver, Jones, and Bernard all showed some regression to me. A couple players, like Hamlin and Williams improved, but not a ton of overachieving IMO. The D-line needs a massive directional shift. 

 

There was also strong evidence Babich was easy to game plan against and had poor plans to stop opposition offenses. 

 

Bills D chronically had slow starts in 24, often struggling in the 1st half of games, giving up huge chunks of yards.

 

However- This flaw also displayed a strength; Babich was good adjusting in 2nd half, and apart from a couple games, the D made adjustments needed. This was something to build in and has promise. 

 

The turnovers were another huge plus. Many of them were takeaways, and this too is reason to have optimism. Difficult to count on though. 

 

I'd replace some key players, tweak D line coaching, and make a few other adjustments. 

 

I'm not sure if Babich is needed up in the box. I prefer DCs to be down in the trenches w the men. This may be something I tweak for 25. 

 

I'd give Babich another season and roll on. Criticism is merited though, and despite the fact Bills D is " middle of the road" we consistently get torn apart by top Offenses in the deep playoffs. 

Well said

[Livinginthepast]

In a stunning plot twist, McD exposes the real culprit behind the defense's issues this year:

 

[dave mcbride]

12 hours ago, Sojourner said:

Players are the problem. You can have all the perfect plays, drills and practices put in place that in theory will work 100%, but if the execution isn’t there in the moment you have nothing. 
 

Joe B agrees, especially re the secondary: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6097505/2025/01/29/bills-chiefs-offseason-roster-free-agents/

[Gigs]

Not a chance. He's a first year coordinator and play caller, who wasn't a good play caller (anyone who paid attention during the preseason and off-season should've expected this tbh) yet he's preaching something that led to the massive amount of turnovers; including Bernard embodying Pat Tillman himself a few times lol. He needs to cook as a playcaller, and McDermott knows it which is why he took the training wheels off. Babich is only going to get better, he just needs time. 

 

If you really want to improve the defense, trade for Myles Garrett. On this defense he would fix a lot of problems and we have ammo to get him. Epenesa is our best pass rusher..