HappyDays

They are a top 5 team because of Josh Allen. Every team with a QB playing at a top 5 level automatically is in the conversation for best team in the league. Imagine if Mahomes had only made it to one AFCCG and no Super Bowls. Andy Reid would be questioned, rightfully so. Ditto for Joe Burrow and Zac Taylor. Brandon Staley is being questioned despite having his team in the playoffs this year. Having an elite QB raises the standards.

If the Ravens and Chiefs had a similar game plan as us I would agree with you. But they didn't... We played passive defense, as usual. The Chiefs were pressing their receivers and throwing the kitchen sink at them in terms of pass rush packages. We did the same thing we always do, hope that the opposing offense makes a mistake over the course of a long drive and that just doesn't work against playoff offenses. Look what the Bengals did to us. Delayed blitzes, pressing Stefon Diggs despite an undertalented CB matched up against him. Other playoff defenses play physical. We play scared. I'm sorry I just can't buy into it anymore.

I don't believe the Ravens and Chiefs defenses are more talented than us, even with our injuries. They were both able to slow down the Bengals. Why not us? If it's not a talent gap there's only one thing to point to. Backing everybody up and giving Chase and Higgins room to work open was a horrible game plan. Running the same defensive looks and checks that we ran all year was lazy and easy to exploit. The Bengals constantly had a pulling guard running straight at Taron Johnson with Joe Mixon behind him. You could say Taron losing that battle is talent but really that is a coaching mismatch. We are not creative in the playoffs which is when it matters most. That's on coaching.

McDermott has proven himself to be a great regular season coach. But it is three years in a row now that his team collapsed in the playoffs despite having an elite QB. It goes back to the Colts wildcard game in 2020 where his defense made what should have been an easy victory a nail biter, and we really only won that one because Josh Allen pulled a couple rabbits out of a hat. Last year we know what happened. This year was the worst playoff loss yet. His playoff coaching if anything has been getting worse. Are you really convinced that he is creative enough as a coach to get us over the hump? Because for me after this last performance I've lost my faith in him. But he gets another year. If the same thing happens next year can we agree that this is just who he is?

It's always easier for fans to want the coaches fired than it is for the owners. We don't have to look McDermott in the eye and work with him on a daily basis for six years. We don't have to meet his family and get to know him on a deeply personal level. So I suspect that you are correct, it would take a lot for the Pegulas to move on from him. I'd like to think another similar playoff exit last year would be enough to make them pull the trigger even if they don't want to.

Three years in a row of consistent defensive failure in the playoffs. When exactly are these adjustments coming?

What does all the adversity they faced this season have to do with the coaches coming into the Bengals game with the completely wrong gameplan on both sides of the ball? What does it have to do with Beane failing to properly address the receivers and OL in the offseason? I thought we had the right game plan against the Patriots and Dolphins the previous two weeks, any failures in those games I placed more on the players than the coaches. Did something change in the week of the Bengals game that caused the coaches to lose their heads? Adversity didn't make Frazier and McDermott give free releases to Cincy's talented receivers and call the same vanilla nickel defensive plays that we called all year which Burrow easily dissected. It didn't make Dorsey refuse to have a quick pass game plan against a potent pass rush. Really this goes back to last year's 13 seconds failure. That wasn't adversity. It was the continuation of an ongoing trend that our coaching staff led by McDermott is never ready for playoff football against top tier contenders. Everybody gets one more year. I don't want to hear any excuses though. Either get your team led by an elite QB ready for championship contention, or we find someone that can.

I don't think it would require a rebuild. We aren't in cap jail and Beane hasn't been loose with future picks. It would probably take what it took Siranni when he took over the Eagles, one year of fine tuning the roster but nothing crazy. Our defensive scheme isn't so complicated that we have accumulated specific types of players that only work in one scheme. It's just Tampa 2 with a lot of double A gap looks. Our core of Milano, Edmunds, Hyde, White, Elam, Rousseau, and Miller fit into pretty much any 4-3 or nickel heavy scheme. On offense we need a rebuild no matter who our coach is in 2024. Our current core consists of Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs and to some extent Dawson Knox. Dawkins has fallen off a bit, Morse will probably not be here beyond next year, Davis and Brown haven't developed to the level we hoped. If McDermott can't get it done next year I would rather have the next guy in the room making decisions about the future of the offense. I think the idea of a multi-year rebuild is only for teams that are looking for their franchise QB. We got the most difficult part out of the way. To McDermott and Beane I say thanks for all you did getting us Josh Allen and you made millions of dollars each for that success, but now as a franchise we need to take the next step and I'm losing faith they can get us there.

Personally I would go the route that has been successful for most of the recent contending teams - hire an up and coming offensive coach. Nick Sirianni, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Zac Taylor. Throw in Andy Reid and you have most of the last two years' conference championship and Super Bowl contenders. That's the group I'd like to be in. The best part is we should be able to easily attract any offensive coach we want. "You want to get your head coaching career started on the right foot? Here's Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs and cash-rich owners. Have fun." My personal preference is the Lions OC Ben Johnson. He's about the same age as Sean McVay and he looks like a true innovator with a knack for maximizing his talent. I saw what his offense did to our defense despite being ostensibly less talented than us and with a limited QB. Give him the keys to our offense, let him hire an experienced DC, and see what happens. You're right there is no guarantee he is better than McDermott. But one more year with a disappointing early exit from the playoffs and I'm done playing it safe.

The difference in these situations is they didn't have Josh Allen at QB. That's why I'm growing impatient with this regime. We have an elite QB and haven't even sniffed a Super Bowl appearance yet. I mean last year Josh Allen arguably had the greatest postseason run of any QB in history and we didn't even make it out of the divisional round. Why? Because our defensive head coach's defense fell apart yet again, and a huge coaching mistake cost us in the final 13 seconds of the game. I can't look at that outcome and what happened this year and compare it to Kyle Shanahan leading a who's who of mediocre QBs to a Super Bowl and conference championship. The Chiefs have now made it to 3 Super Bowls and always the conference championship since Mahomes took over. Mahomes may be better than Allen but he isn't that much better. The difference is coaching on both sides of the ball and at the top. So McDermott gets another year to prove he can finally adapt to playoff football. But I won't have any great expectations regardless of how the team looks in the regular season. We have seen them falter when it counts too many times and I have to start thinking that maybe that's just who this team is under McDermott. A team that wins a lot of games because of elite QB play but never gets over the hump. As usual your posts are much appreciated.

Dorsey. Not because I thought he was particularly bad this year but because I think an offense led by a prime-of-their-career Allen and Diggs is too good to be led by a green play caller. I said this before we hired him too. There is no reason an offense with that much talent at the most important positions should be a vehicle for a rookie OC to get his feet wet. When you get deep into the playoffs against defensive coordinators that have been around the block, experience matters. Dorsey was taken to school by Lou Anarumo. If we had made it past the Bengals he probably would have been taken to school by Steve Spagnuolo. We could have had our pick of the litter at OC last year. It's an easy sales pitch - come coach an elite QB and an elite WR with two years of experience together and use the opportunity as a career stepping stone. Instead we went the McDermott family route of a guy getting his shot because he "earned it the right way." Dorsey should have gone the Daboll route and learned the ropes coaching bad offenses for a few years, then eventually gotten an opportunity with a young QB. Personally I think Frazier is not the problem on defense. This is McDermott's defense. If it doesn't get fixed in next year's playoffs we aren't going to solve the problem by firing the wrong guy.

I have a premium membership with Cover 1 which gives me access to a private channel where Erik Turner sometimes drops hints of things he has heard directly from players and other sources with the team. In his words, "directly from the source" it was not an off the field issue or injury or anything like that. Just a normal healthy scratch. Erik was as perplexed by it as anyone.

None of these players would have started for the Bills. Not because they aren't good but because this coaching staff for some reason refuses to develop its rookies on the field. McDuffie a man only corner would have been made inactive at one point for washed up Xavier Rhodes. Mind you I'm not saying that would have been a good decision but that is the reality of this coaching staff. I saw plenty of flashes from Elam, Cook, and Shakir but they didn't play.

Two examples from yesterday I will use: 1) 4th and 1 in the red zone, Mahomes has Smith-Schuster open in the flat for an easy 1st down. He instead tosses it to Kelce in single coverage downfield in the endzone. TD. 2) 4th and 6 at midfield, Burrow launches a deep ball to Chase in double coverage. Huge completion and sets them up for a TD. Our version of that play - 3rd and 2, Allen launches a deep ball to Davis. Bounces off his hands and we punt. What's the difference in those plays? Not the decision. Mahomes' and Burrow's guys made plays for them. Our guy dropped his. So of course our fanbase screams at Allen for being over aggressive. Yeah this stuff really bothers me. Throwing deep in short yardage situations a lot of times is a good thing because the defense is overplaying the sticks. I don't ever want Allen to lose that part of his game. Instead I want Beane to draft guys that hold up their end of the bargain for him.

His not great defense held the Bengals to 20 points and carried him to victory after he personally made big mistakes on several drives in the 2nd half. His #3 WRs and no running game didn't stop Chad Henne from learning a 98 yard TD drive a week before. Sorry but the support system around him is much better. Allen has to play perfect for the Bills to have a chance against good opponents. Mahomes can leave the game for a quarter or singlehandedly cost his team 3 consecutive drives in the 2nd half and still end up the victor. Not taking anything away from his greatness. But greatness still needs support from time to time.