Hot Take: Does Bobby Babich Lose His Job?

[colin]

7 hours ago, Rocky Landing said:

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.

 

you don't have to look forward to what our FO can do with a huge investment in the D, you can look back and see their failures.

 

 

in 2022/2023 we had the number 2 d in points, and the number 2 o as well.

 

we let cinci walk on us, scoring 14 points on their first two drives with their oline being depth players in 2 or 3 spots.  we had all of those picks and most of our cap in the D, we had allen on a rookie contract, and diggs was on a cheap contract compared to his re up.

 

given ideal circumstances, the mcd defense did in that year exactly what it has done in every single year in playoff elimination games: start slow, allow touchdowns, and absolutely suck.  allen had his break up/scandal the night before so maybe we never had a chance, but with multiple top picks and a crazy % of cap on the D we once again got steamrolled in the playoffs.

 

in elimination games we allow over 4 points per drive, barely have any turnovers or sacks, and we start slow on d even in games we win.  we always have our opponents perform above their average in terms of EPA, points scored, success rate, etc. against us in the playoffs.

 

realistically, our best shot given our limitations at coaching is to get one or two studs on d to maybe make a few plays to get some stops occasionally, and to add outside wr talent and perhaps OG talent so that we can score at an even crazier rate than we allow.

 

i trust allen, cook, and our tackles to be able to deliver on this, but it will still take improvement and lots of luck for brady to perform at that level.

[BananaB]

58 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. 

This is total bull####! We’ve had Leslie call plays, McD call play and now Babich and got the same results. It’s not the coordinators it’s the system.

[BillsFan130]

2 minutes ago, BananaB said:

This is total bull####! We’ve had Leslie call plays, McD call play and now Babich and got the same results. It’s not the coordinators it’s the system.

Say what you want about Leslie in the playoffs, as he was a disaster. But in the regular season, he produced 10x better results than Babich has.

 

Babich was lost since week 1 and never found answers, outside of a few games 

[Pete]

 

[BananaB]

Just now, BillsFan130 said:

Say what you want about Leslie in the playoffs, as he was a disaster. But in the regular season, he produced 10x better results than Babich has.

 

Babich was lost since week 1 and never found answers, outside of a few games 

Then if that’s the case McD should done what best for the team and take over. It’s his system and he’s the HC, there is no better guy to do it. ***** sick of excuses for this defense that never shows up in big moments. 

[BillsFan130]

Just now, BananaB said:

Then if that’s the case McD should done what best for the team and take over. It’s his system and he’s the HC, there is no better guy to do it. ***** sick of excuses for this defense that never shows up in big moments. 

No disagreement there. I was calling for that after the Rams game 

[Coffeesforclosers]

I want to know how much freedom Babich has, and how much pull he's got in the Draft room.

 

I loved that he tries to be multiple on defense.  That he abandons Rush 4/Play Zone if that's a bad matchup week to week or in the post season.

 

The problem is that the team is still built for Rush 4/Play Zone, and he knows that we can't trust better execution and/or deception to beat the bestQ Bs in the post season.

 

If he's in charge and serious about the new direction of the D, we'll be adding size and speed this off-season. I'll judge him for real at the end of next season.

 

What this D needs more than anything is an elite DL.  Unfortunately that's what every D everywhere needs.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

32 minutes ago, BananaB said:

This is total bull####! We’ve had Leslie call plays, McD call play and now Babich and got the same results. It’s not the coordinators it’s the system.

Although they played mostly single high man vs KC, a completely different approach than previous seasons.

 

Our boundary CBs were getting their ankles broken by JuJu Smith Schuster.

 

But this is on McDermott. They don’t have any man CBs. They have slower zone DBs. That was by design. They do have an opportunity this offseason to sign a man CB to play opposite Benford. We will see what they do.

[Ga boy]

13 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

No.

They didn't have enough talent up front and injuries in secondary were a legit excuse. 

We knew it from day 1. The minute Beane signed Epenesa to an extension we knew the DL was screwed. The surprise was the drop off in DQ play. That hurt.

Rousseau is just far too inconsistent and that really hurt them against KC.

Bishop had better get much better next year or it will add to long list of 2nd round busts for Beane. 

 

Yea he stays.  I don’t have stats but it appeared that we played a more TOP control game, which means the D was on the field less.  This was intentional to protect the D, but the D still ranked lowest in the league.  We better get a pass rusher and wide nose tackle.

[KentuckyBillsFan]

I have no idea why people think we're suddenly going to be able to go out and get the elite talent we haven't been able to get for the last 7 years... Even if we do I have zero faith it will perform when needed.

[BuffaloRebound]

45 minutes ago, colin said:

 

you don't have to look forward to what our FO can do with a huge investment in the D, you can look back and see their failures.

 

 

in 2022/2023 we had the number 2 d in points, and the number 2 o as well.

 

we let cinci walk on us, scoring 14 points on their first two drives with their oline being depth players in 2 or 3 spots.  we had all of those picks and most of our cap in the D, we had allen on a rookie contract, and diggs was on a cheap contract compared to his re up.

 

given ideal circumstances, the mcd defense did in that year exactly what it has done in every single year in playoff elimination games: start slow, allow touchdowns, and absolutely suck.  allen had his break up/scandal the night before so maybe we never had a chance, but with multiple top picks and a crazy % of cap on the D we once again got steamrolled in the playoffs.

 

in elimination games we allow over 4 points per drive, barely have any turnovers or sacks, and we start slow on d even in games we win.  we always have our opponents perform above their average in terms of EPA, points scored, success rate, etc. against us in the playoffs.

 

realistically, our best shot given our limitations at coaching is to get one or two studs on d to maybe make a few plays to get some stops occasionally, and to add outside wr talent and perhaps OG talent so that we can score at an even crazier rate than we allow.

 

i trust allen, cook, and our tackles to be able to deliver on this, but it will still take improvement and lots of luck for brady to perform at that level.

This.  We’ve already given McDermott everything he wanted on defense the past 8 years.  Free agent signings, high draft picks… he has yet to produce a defense that doesn’t fold in the playoffs.  The lack of resistance in the playoff losses is completely damning.  Nothing will change until the defensive philosophy/scheme changes.  Undersized players playing soft conservative schemes will never win you a championship.  

[SoonerBillsFan]

14 hours ago, Augie said:

No. 

 

But we need a few fixes. 

The talent is greatly lacking.

[nuklz2594]

no. small and slooooowwww defense.

if anything perhaps we need better trainers and conditioning personnel. 

[Billsfanatic8989]

Isn't this McD's defense? Doesn't everything go by him?

 

There have been different DC's. Yet...the results are the same. 

[RyanC883]

The investment on D has given abysmal returns.  Better idea is to spend on offense, start taking D later in the draft unless a CB or S who fits this D is available.   

[Rocky Landing]

1 hour ago, colin said:

 

you don't have to look forward to what our FO can do with a huge investment in the D, you can look back and see their failures.

 

 

in 2022/2023 we had the number 2 d in points, and the number 2 o as well.

 

we let cinci walk on us, scoring 14 points on their first two drives with their oline being depth players in 2 or 3 spots.  we had all of those picks and most of our cap in the D, we had allen on a rookie contract, and diggs was on a cheap contract compared to his re up.

 

given ideal circumstances, the mcd defense did in that year exactly what it has done in every single year in playoff elimination games: start slow, allow touchdowns, and absolutely suck.  allen had his break up/scandal the night before so maybe we never had a chance, but with multiple top picks and a crazy % of cap on the D we once again got steamrolled in the playoffs.

 

in elimination games we allow over 4 points per drive, barely have any turnovers or sacks, and we start slow on d even in games we win.  we always have our opponents perform above their average in terms of EPA, points scored, success rate, etc. against us in the playoffs.

 

realistically, our best shot given our limitations at coaching is to get one or two studs on d to maybe make a few plays to get some stops occasionally, and to add outside wr talent and perhaps OG talent so that we can score at an even crazier rate than we allow.

 

i trust allen, cook, and our tackles to be able to deliver on this, but it will still take improvement and lots of luck for brady to perform at that level.

I don't have to look forward, no. I choose to.

[LarryMadman]

Babich, like Frazier are/were just job title holders, this defense hasnt really changed in the Sean era regardless of who the DC is. 

 

Its Seans hand picked coaches and players playing the same form or variation of a Sean designed defense, maybe a few wrinkles here and there but in the end it's the defense Sean wants and what gets played.  

 

The blame game needs to start at the top, these coaches and players were hand picked by the HC to be in his system as that is who he wanted, he needs to be held accountable, everything else is just fodder.

Edited 3 hours ago by LarryMadman

[AZSanta]

15 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?

Just fire the whole staff and start fresh. Mcd and company had 8 cracks at it and didn’t get it done. Time for something new 

[C.Biscuit97]

Leslie Frazier top 3 defense and a bunch of injuries : see you loser!!!

 

bobby Babich with a meh defense: patience!!!

 

I won’t fire him but there are so many double standards. That said, it basically is one team that completely owns our defense and it is one that might be a dynasty. It absolutely sucks but until they get a stud pass rusher, it’s going to be hard to change things. 

[JohnNord]

11 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. 

That’s the problem.  It’s not for lack of trying.  He’s tried to address major defensive needs with big swings and they backfired and set the team back further.    
 

In 2018, the interior was ***** so they overpaid Star Lotulelei to be the solid 1TDT and he sucked after 2019.  So they were stuck with his contract which limited what they could do.

 

In 2020, it was obvious they needed to get younger pass rushers, so Epinesa was drafted and he didn’t do much.   So the position was a bigger need in 2021.  They drafted Rosseau and Basham but found they needed a lot of time.  
 

In 2022, since they failed at finding a pass rusher, Beane needed to take a major swing and sign Von Miller to be the star DE and mentor.  It worked well for about 10 weeks until he tore his ACL.  Between the draft capital and money tied into his contract, they could only afford modest FA’s.

 

Putting so many resources into the Defensive Line and failing to find at least one consistently impactful player really hurt the team

Also, Beane had the right idea in 2022 to draft a CB but drafting and missing on Elam hurt badly.