HomeskillitMoorman

What about the blown lead against the Texans? Giving up 38 and 42 points in consecutive years to KC when the D was relatively healthy? Or having so much trouble stopping Phillip Rivers and the Colts and needing Josh to be a superhero that day, or almost losing to Skylar Thompson? Or getting shredded by Cincinnati last year? McD's defense gets gutted in these big games against top teams on a consistent basis, healthy or not. Like you mentioned for 13 seconds, his in-game coaching is also a problem. So in your opinion...what is it exactly that McD does bring to the table if his defense that gets a heavy amount of resources can't stop anyone when it matters most, he's not a good in-game manager, and he obviously has a hard time identifying and hiring good coordinators given the evidence of how many he's having to fire? With another ST coordinator firing likely on the way here.

I mean I don't agree with the first part either, for either guy on either side, obviously age can be a factor. I'd take him over McD for sure. But someone like a Ben Johnson makes so much sense.

But how do those reasons as whole for all of these playoff disappointments line up favorably for McD? They don't at all.

I would say even if we're essentially punting next year and bringing McD back that we should do some due diligence and interview other possible OC's to see if someone better is out there than Brady...but I don't even now if McD knows how to evaluate that. We're already looking at probably another ST coordinator firing and he has no DC left. His history with coordinators has not been pretty.

The Bucs and Bengals both have. And it's not necessarily "stopping" them, it's even just mitigating some damage on them. Or even making a stop or forcing a Hail Mary with 13 seconds left. And even going beyond that...what's the point of having a defensive head coach if his D's get lit up in the playoffs consistently like McD's have? He hasn't been good at hiring coordinators as we've seen, with most likely yet another ST coordinator firing coming up and he has no DC left to fire and probably another search has to be done for an OC here. If we're resigned to this idea that we can't stop Mahomes and Reid at all, shouldn't we be hiring the best possible offensive coach as HC to try to win the shootouts against them? What we're doing with Josh right now isn't sustainable, we can't win unless he's 100% perfect. The Chiefs don't even demand that of Mahomes.

It's maddening that we're wasting the best talent we've ever had here. Maybe the best we'll ever have in our lifetimes. All for a coach that doesn't actually excel at anything.

I don't know about Belichick because of the age....but I just wanted to comment that we don't even need a guy who can build a monster defense...just one that can even be decent in these big games and mitigate some damage. It would be a big improvement if he could even come in here and just do that.

Who hires the OC for us? A big part of being a HC is recognizing and finding good coordinators and coaches. If you're saying that's an issue, whose fault is that? And McD's side of the ball has failed us in these big games and moments for YEARS. We were relatively healthy in 20 and 21 and gave up 38 and 42 points in those games. Allen was outstanding in 2 out of these 3 games and we lost both. McD's side of the ball couldn't even hold a lead with 13 seconds left.

It's not that mode of thinking that was the problem. It was a very poorly designed play and the confusion and the way he was lined up was a dead giveaway. At that point a good HC would have audibled out of it or gone for it by giving the ball to Josh. But McD has no feel for the game whatsoever. It's a huge problem.

I was with you on your other post but this one is back to the same old nonsense. I won't even count the first 2 playoff losses here, although I do think he did a couple of stupid things vs the Texans. But fine, whatever, it was early on. AFCCG his D got lit up and he went ultra conservative with his punts and FG on 4th and shorts in favorable positions while his D was getting blown away. Not a valid excuse for him personally. Not saying the players are exempt from accountability, but this is a post about evaluating McD and he was horrible in that game himself. And if you remember the Colts game, we needed a superhero effort from Josh because McD's defense had a ton of trouble against Rivers and Reich/Sirianni's scheme and we also got a couple of gift decisions from our guy Frank. We all know 13 seconds. Completely, 100% on him. And even earlier in that game in the 1st half we went pretty conservative against a KC secondary that had injuries. He again had trouble breaking out of his in-born conservatism. Last year his D still got smoked. Josh's worst postseason game for sure, would've been tough to win regardless. But again, this is an evaluation of him, and his side of the team and his D dropped the ball once again. And we almost lost to Skylar Thompson before that. Last night - D was awful once again. Terrible call and design on the fake punt and everyone knew it was coming when we could see the confusion and where Damar was pretty much gave it away...and he still pulled the trigger on it. If we're gonna go for it right there, just give it to Josh or you have to have something much better in place. These are not valid excuses. On a sole evaluation of him, he has been incredibly awful in the postseason. He doesn't put in the work to improve himself. I know you're saying you want him gone and I agree...but this is still going way too soft on a guy that has nothing to offer or bring to the table and has buried us. Yup. Allen was great and had to leave his heart out there. Mahomes was solid and that was enough. And that's always going to be the case with McD here.

Not more than I'd like a paddle to teach you that Participation Trophies don't mean anything

Yup, we're throwing it away on a coach who is completely in over his head in these big games and moments. This is worse than Babers to be honest. Babers never had championship talent or close to it. That's not necessarily defending Babers, he had trouble recruiting at SU and it is a tough place to recruit football but obviously there was better out there. But McDermott's failures have been with what most coaches salivate over having, especially obviously at QB. He has not improved at all as an in-game coach, his D gets lit up in every big game and moment, and he still panics late in games and even at times at the end of halves. 3 Divisional Round exits in a row, especially when in 2 of those games he got an all-world performance from his QB, is a massive failure. It's possible...but Fran's already recruiting better than Babers did. And what did we have to lose by firing Babers? That's probably what I don't understand the most about this. What are people afraid of losing with McD? I literally can't think of anything.

It was the epitome of McD. Unprepared, poor design.

Yup. McD is trash at Home or on the Road. We can't hide from him.

Yeah the teams we've actually beaten in the playoffs have not been very good ones, except I guess the Ravens in 2020. And even that year McD's D got lit up by the Colts and it took a superhero effort from Josh and a couple of coaching gaffes from our good friend Frankie on their side for us to survive that game. McD is an incredibly horrendous postseason coach. He is completely outclassed by good coaches and top QB's.

Yeah I just don't understand the comparison at all. Reid showed his chops and what his strengths were even during his playoff struggles. Yeah he was a terrible in-game manager...he's probably now not even that good of one...but he was obviously a talented coach on his side of the ball. McD's side of the ball has absolutely destroyed us in these big games. I mean we're losing games where Josh is playing lights out and McD's D just can't get stops. Even when we were relatively healthy we gave up 38 and 42 to KC in the other two games. I don't understand what people feel that McD's strengths are. We can't even mitigate damage, let alone bottle up top QB's in the playoffs and he's not a good in-game manager. I honestly don't see what people are so afraid to lose here. What about last year's playoff game when we got blown out? Or the 2 years before that when his D gave up 38 and 42 to KC? These 3 games vs KC would all be blowouts if not for top echelon performances by Josh that unfortunately are completely wasted. McD's side of the ball gets destroyed in these games every single time. And obviously McD DIRECTLY blow the 13 seconds game himself. We literally had this coach cost us a season. Why do the McD apologists here not ever have him accountable for any of that?

It's not something to shoot for though. Clearly this isn't working with McD here. There are a lot of examples of great players in every sport who needed a new coach to get over the hump. And there's quite a few of those guys I would not put on Allen's level. The worst part is, Allen has played fantastic in 2 out of those 3 losses to the Chiefs and we've come up empty because of our coach. It's not like he's had 4 pick games in those moments.

I don't like or respect McD at all...but I appreciate that even if you do, you can see reality.

Surefire of what? Being "able" to get to the Divisional Round with an elite QB?

I'm rooting for the Ravens. I want for other QB's to get there and get past Mahomes so maybe Terry can see that the problem here is McD and that other teams are able to get over this hump.

For the most part that's true. But they can also mitigate damage. Or at the very least put a team away with 13 seconds left. McD can't even do that.

You're basically giving credit to the team for blowing early games to bad teams. And lets dive into McDermott facts, shall we? What happened in the other 2 playoff games vs KC when we were relatively healthy and gave up 38 points and 42 points. That's including that time when he completely botched the end of the game with 13 seconds. How about when we were getting gashed last year as well? Or almost lost to Skylar Thompson? Or when old man Phillip Rivers came into Buffalo with the Colts and they were able to do pretty much whatever they wanted and we needed an elite performance from Josh just to squeak by? McD's defense ALWAYS gets lit up in these big games. This wasn't some kind of anomaly because of injuries.

Yup, look at Kyle Shanahan getting to a SB with Jimmy G and now one of Purdy or Goff will be in the SB. Even Sirianni made the SB and it was close. Our clown of a HC can't get past the divisional round with an elite QB.

Yes. But I disagree, McD is not a good coach. He has an elite QB who overall has played great in the playoffs and has his side of the ball get lit up in every big game and moment, and is a horrendous game manager.

What I'm saying is you're trying to excuse McD because of the injuries, but his D's have gotten lit up by KC in the playoffs even when they have been relatively healthy. I think someone said that in the last 4 postseasons in these games in which we've been eliminated, we've forced a total 7 punts? That's astonishingly awful. That's his side of the ball that he has poured many resources into. It would be hard to find a coach that's consistently worse than him on his side of the ball when it matters most. I can't think of any.