I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying here. This is where I get torn in regards to how I feel, or perhaps indecisive (so I'm glad it's not my choice)- Coaching
I believe McD develops players very well, but I feel like for the most part he hasn't wanted to deviate from his philosophy. His defense struggles against good QBs and in the playoffs. This is something we all know and have seen so I'll just leave it at that. It does seem that perhaps there is a shift in scene coming in the form of a little more man vs man, so we'll see.
You mentioned about being upstanding. That got me thinking about Bill Belicheck and then got me thinking about 13 seconds. Bills was/ is a master at finding loopholes. I so wished that McD would have told one of our DBs to get physical or hold (at the LOS) on one of the first plays with 13 seconds left. Run a little clock and see what KC was doing. Idk maybe that's not a great plan but neither was lining up giving 10 yard cushions all the time.
basically I'm just glad it's not up to me but I do think most of the issues Buffalo has have to do with philosophy and in game decisions. And then sprinkle in some bad contracts (Von) and draft misses (Elam, and I really think Coleman is going to end up in the same category. Hope I'm wrong though).