pocoboy

The best cliche analogy I can come up with when it comes to McDermott and a big game is "bringing a knife to a gunfight."

It certainly has the feeling of payback for doing the Eagles dirty in last year's Super Bowl on that DPI. Like, "ok, we won't admit we were wrong, but every tough opponent you get in 2023 we'll make sure you're taken care of."

Yeah if only Hyde could have swatted the one in the end zone earlier...

If only some numbskull of a Head Coach hadn't have given him a beat to catch his breath...

My going theory is that the Green Bay 2nd Half fully soured McDermott on Dorsey. That is a clear line of demarcation in the way the Bills played. The next game vs the Jets was a garbage show that ended up leading to Allen's elbow injury. Nearly every game since that point has looked exactly the same. And that "souring" may have been inevitable given how Allen all but foisted that idea on McDermott, usurping the true choice from him. The hope would be Brady gets a fresh stab at playbook implementation. It won't be easy on a short week, against a tough NYJ Defense. But you do have going for you that NYJ comes in blind; it's possible the same tendencies manifest with Brady's direction, but they can't be sure of that until a series or three.

It's compounded by what is likely a low diversity of formations & play calls from said formations. It's very possible that the little corner route Harty ran might be what teams identify as the biggest risk from whatever formation was employed there. If that's the case, they're going to call the optimal defense to counteract that. Especially if you do have a few counter plays, but the defense is confident in being able to bottle those up for minimal yards even with planning for Plan A.

I agree that the closer McDermott is to the QB room, the worse it would be. Daboll is a super-smart former defender, I think he had nuts to keep McDermott at bay for the most part, and when the offense was going well it staves off the meddling. Let's be frank - this all started when Josh lost composure vs Green Bay and nearly cost them that game. That was likely the point where McDermott started forcing his way into the conversation, and ultimately soured it all. The only question now is whether McDermott will be willing to trust Brady, who does have some OC experience, to rid whatever bad habits, lack of prep, coordinator incompetence, etc have crept in.

It's a shame that a rather hefty batch of bad luck (injuries mostly), coupled with a lack of leadership & urgency, has put this team on the brink of a disaster of a season. Josh Allen needs to get better. Unfortunately the trend in the league is to reward guys and then have them go off the rails (see Deshaun, Kyler, etc). It's really going to be up to him whether he wants to return to greatness, because he holds some culpability in our current plight.

Andy Reid is no strategic genius. Have to play out the rest of this season. You have to keep it to 6 losses. This is one of a very few rosters that could pull that off with the schedule that remains. If it doesn't, that'll be the time to sort McDermott's future out.

It's tough to tell what a meeting like this can yield. It does look like our most influential personality on this team is in a conflicted state, whether personally or professionally. We've all seen Josh with a blank stare on his face, it's tough to read what's behind that. I think many of us hit a "halfway" point in our careers where maybe everything seems stale and for naught, and maybe that's what's facing those guys now. They've put in a lot of work in the past, gotten banged up, hear praise and criticism...and it all boils down to the same thing over and over. Granted they're making more in two games than most of us will earn in a lifetime, but still it seems like they've reached a doldrums (Allen primarily), and somehow this group has to snap out of it.

One big trouble this season has been that he's not accurate on the open deep shots that are there. I wonder if they're trying so hard to run reps throwing short that he's not getting the reps to develop the timing over the top with his receivers.

McDermott's imprint on the first few years of drafting is stark. Not only drafting, but FA signing. They say it's won and lost at the line of scrimmage, but McDermott has only invested top resources on his side of the LOS. While KC and CIN are out getting top talent to fill gaps, we're scrounging on the scrap heap of Saffold and Quessenberry. Morse is the only one that you'd consider a major investment. It's the offense. If the offense keeps scoring, the opponent can't afford to blow the time. And the defense DID get off the field after Josh's INT. It's the offense, they need to get their heads out of their a$$es, ALL OF THEM.

Embarrassment of riches and throwing it all away...

Don't think Davis is as open as they want you to believe on that crosser. Sure, Good Josh can complete that throw, but there is a defender underneath and you have to get that right. I don't think picking on a 1v1 shot play is very useful. Yeah you'd like to see Allen complete more of them, but after the runs got nowhere on the previous series, a deep ball to keep everyone honest isn't the worst thing. Ball placement wasn't great, sure. But in that Harty route you really need him to be able to fight for and win a ball as you're just going pure speed and less deception. One would also wonder if Shakir would be more effective down the field than Harty as we've seen nothing from him all year.

If there is a change at this point in the season, I'd have to bet the choice is an in-house promotion again, just because you don't have a lot of time to install a new system. Seems interesting that there haven't been any leaks.

That has seemed to be indicated from the media types who have spoken of the dynamic. McDermott ought to have some leash to figure this out, and hopefully he would consult Beane on ways to "fix" the offense (including play-calling duty changes or outright personnel moves). There's also a case to be made for stability, but it seems that particular approach has run its course. Sure they might beat a Denver team at home, but I could also envision a scenario where that entire stadium starts chanting for an ouster.

Do you understand leverage? You don't need to run Josh in blowouts. You don't need to run Josh when you're making headway without it. But hell, in that game yesterday, you have him go for a couple of 10 yard pops in the 1st Quarter, and the defense has to respect it. Even a split second hesitation can lead to points. So yes, there can absolutely be logic that criticized some reckless runs under Daboll while STILL emphasizing how much more difficult they've made it by removing almost all threat of the QB draw.

Yeah it's tough to find optimism at the moment. You don't see a lot of urgency or drive on the field. Everybody looks tentative when the game is in the balance, afraid to make mistakes, but also wound so tight that mistakes are prevalent (see the 2nd half challenge last night). I think McDermott knows he's losing the room. His "complementary football" line is pointing fingers. To call the guy who bails you out of many games the problem comes off as extremely defensive (no surprise for McDermott), as if he knows things are going into the ditch and he's blaming the driver when he was supposed to check the tire tread weeks ago.

The offensive conundrum at the moment is all on the relationship between Ken Dorsey and Josh Allen. Steps: 1) OC draws up plays that (presumably) each have a purpose/plan. 2) OC effectively communicates that purpose/plan to QB, so when each play is called the QB knows exactly how to maximize the play's effectiveness. 3) QB calls play 4) QB carries out instructions to maximize play. There are some in-between points too - the blocking/protection, rushers, targets all have points that would synergize with the QB's points to bring about the best chance of a play to work. I've long suspected that point #2 is the weak link.

Things change in a heartbeat in football. The sport is unforgiving, both physically and mentally. You blow off a draft or two because you think you're set, and you'll end up where Beane was buying up aging free agents and watching their careers dissipate seemingly immediately. Miller and Floyd are basically eating roster spots at the moment. Hyde and Poyer are on the backside of their careers. You could have a succession plan, but you've pissed away draft picks like Elam and all the ones you've traded to move up for players that likely would have been there at the original pick. I think most GM's are that way. Beane just bit it when we found out McDermott had no clue on strategy in < 15 seconds, and ever since we've been weak-spined and outphysical'ed by the teams that can.

It's tough to overcome SuperFanMedia Status. Mouths to feed.

You see any worms down there, ostrich?

McDermott straps them into the seat, "here's your game-plan, you'd better not score in under 2 minutes or else it's gonna make my defense even more tired." Then pull the string, and there's your 9-8 and watching January football. The coach is just too iron-willed to ever see the error of his ways. He's the perfect type of head coach if you're polling your Bill Cowher's or Tony Dungy's. But we're in an era of the NFL where those two coaches would be spit out the other end of the coaching carousel as quickly as anyone. I think we're on a collision course for that 0.500 target at the other end of the room (hell, maybe they'll find a way to tie a game so that's fully possible), and McDermott's not only conducting the test but he's the straps holding you in there to take the beating.

I'm pretty sure Beane doesn't have that authority.

Better known as "The Pete Carroll."