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Why "Loyalty" Might Not Factor Into McDermott Possibly Firing Dennison Like Many Think

BuffaloRush

By BuffaloRush
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BuffaloRush Veteran

BuffaloRush

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The Bills offense is pathetic and by many account, you can say they failed the team in 2017.  Many, including myself, feel that it's time for  McDermott to cut his losses and find a new Offensive Coordinator to take over for 62 year old Rick Dennison who has been around the league for years and seen only marginal success.  According to many reports, the potential move does seem to be on the table in the offseason, but very little has been out on Dennison's security one way or another.

 

Those critical of McDermott have doubted whether he'd cut bait on an assistant after one season citing "loyalty" as one of the reasons why he won't go through with the firing.  We've had many example here in Buffalo where that scenario played out.  Most recently, Chan Gailey refusing to fire DC George Edwards in 2010 out of loyalty.  I don't think this will be an issue.  Keep in mind, McDermott has claimed multiple times that Andy Reid was his mentor.  Reid hired McDermott to take over the defense after Jim Johnson retired in 2009.  After two disappointing seasons, Reid released a statement saying that McDermott would be retained in 2011.  However, 3 days later he went back on his work and fired his protege.  

 

In my opinion, I think McDermott realizes the NFL is a business and if a coach is not successful, you cut ties and do what you need to do to upgrade.  With that being said, I don't think it's a given that Dennison is back.

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EasternOHBillsFan Veteran

EasternOHBillsFan

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32 minutes ago, Dunkirk Don said:

He’s coming back

 

You mean you don't have Ted Marchibroda's ghost taking over in 2018? I thought for sure you knew also! My cat said so, and he has a direct pipeline into OBD...

Edited by EasternOHBillsFan
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transient Veteran

transient

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11 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Um. Wtf. I don’t care if Denison stays or goes. But how can you know how effective of a OC he is with this QB?? It’s excruciating. 

 

He should be beaten with a sock full of pennies for his insistence of using Tolbert alone, regardless of his QB.

Edited by transient
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Green Lightning Veteran

Green Lightning

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12 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Um. Wtf. I don’t care if Denison stays or goes. But how can you know how effective of a OC he is with this QB?? It’s excruciating. 

 

Have to agree. Not a Rico fan but when your QB can't execute basic plays and throws this league demands you have to wonder what this O could be with a good QB. One of them has to go and it won't be Rico.

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Samwell Tarly Rookie

Samwell Tarly

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My biggest knock on Dennison is that he didn't play to Taylor or the offensive line's strengths. 

Not sure why they tried to reinvent the wheel on the o-line, only to have to change it back mid season.

Also took away the long passes and improvised running from Taylor, the 2 things he's actually decent at.

A traditional pocket passer he is not, nor will ever be. Losing Watkins didn't help, but throwing 8 yards backwards to Tolbert doesn't either.

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YoloinOhio Hall of Famer

YoloinOhio

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12 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Well considering the last two OCs did a much better job with him I think Dennison gets and deserves a lot of the blame.

 

The ultra conservative approach on offense is mind numbing. And no, that has nothing to do with Tyrod being the QB.

This is super cute. Continue...

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Wily Dog Rookie

Wily Dog

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11 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Well considering the last two OCs did a much better job with him I think Dennison gets and deserves a lot of the blame.

 

The ultra conservative approach on offense is mind numbing. And no, that has nothing to do with Tyrod being the QB.

I beg to differ, the QB has everything to do with the game plan an OC can implement. Whether or not Dennison is culpable or not remains to be seen. Tyrod, limited  the OC because of his inabilities.

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ColoradoBills Hall of Famer

ColoradoBills

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18 minutes ago, transient said:

 

He should be beaten with a sock full of pennies for his insistence of using Tolbert alone, regardless of his QB.

 

No argument here, if he was the one that called that.

 

3 minutes ago, Jigsaw2112 said:

My biggest knock on Dennison is that he didn't play to Taylor or the offensive line's strengths. 

Not sure why they tried to reinvent the wheel on the o-line, only to have to change it back mid season.

Also took away the long passes and improvised running from Taylor, the 2 things he's actually decent at.

A traditional pocket passer he is not, nor will ever be. Losing Watkins didn't help, but throwing 8 yards backwards to Tolbert doesn't either.

 

One thing is kind of weird about the offensive coaching team.

 

Juan Castillo - Offensive Line / Run game coordinator.

Kelly Skipper - Running Backs Coach

Rob Boras - Tight End Coach

 

All these coaches were hired BEFORE Dennison got hired.

We are not privy to how things run under McDermott (who hired these guys) works.

IF Dennison is retained, I wonder if he will change some of these guys out to coaches more suited to his vision.

 

I'm not at all advocating keeping Dennison, but this does seen a little weird, especially when your HC is a Defensive guy.

 

PS.  On a lighter side,  wish we had someone on this board with some insider info to ask these tough questions.

 

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fansince88 Veteran

fansince88

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3 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

No argument here, if he was the one that called that.

 

 

One thing is kind of weird about the offensive coaching team.

 

Juan Castillo - Offensive Line / Run game coordinator.

Kelly Skipper - Running Backs Coach

Rob Boras - Tight End Coach

 

All these coaches were hired BEFORE Dennison got hired.

We are not privy to how things run under McDermott (who hired these guys) works.

IF Dennison is retained, I wonder if he will change some of these guys out to coaches more suited to his vision.

 

I'm not at all advocating keeping Dennison, but this does seen a little weird, especially when your HC is a Defensive guy.

 

PS.  On a lighter side,  wish we had someone on this board with some insider info to ask these tough questions.

 

PS: Have you not met Dunkirk Don?

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Happy Veteran

Happy

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Given the questionable offensive play calling, use of Tolbert as an RB2, blocking scheme that took more than half a season for the OLIne to grasp, Ducasse at RG, as well as losses attributed to the offense in the Carolina, Cincy, and arguably the Jets (insisting on running against a five man front) games, I'm having a hard time seeing exactly how Dennison is an asset to this team.

Give him another year and new QB?  No.  How many games do we want Dennison to lose next year before realizing we should have cut bait at the end of 2017?

Dennison needs to go; he got much less out of an offense that was ranked 10th just last season.  

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JM57 Veteran

JM57

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58 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Um. Wtf. I don’t care if Denison stays or goes. But how can you know how effective of a OC he is with this QB?? It’s excruciating. 

Pop quiz:

 

Who dreamed up the play where Mike Tolbert was split out wide and ran a slant that bounced right off his belly? Was it the QB or the OC?

 

Who utilizes Tolbert in the running game in the exact same fashion as McCoy? The QB, or the OC?

 

Who decided on Sunday to run a FB screen in the red zone, the QB, or the OC? O

 

Who refuses to try to create any type of deception in the offense? Who is responsible for the basic formula of QB under center = run, QB in shotgun = pass?  Follow that logic and you can guess right 90% of the time. Is that the QB or the OC?

 

The offense seems to face a lot of 3rd and long situations after going run/run on 1st and 2nd down. Is that the QB or the OC?

 

Taylor has his flaws, but Dennison really sucks. He makes Anthony Lynn and Greg Roman look like geniuses.

20 minutes ago, kota said:

How many OC's failed to get anything out of Tyrod Taylor?  3?  Tyrod cannot throw which forces the OC to do out of the box type plays to get yards.  Like the screen pass to the FB which failed miserably.  

....no good OC is going to call a FB screen to "get yards" when their primary RB is McCoy.

Edited by JM57
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yungmack Veteran

yungmack

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1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

Omg. I don’t know if he’s great but look at his QB!!! 

You mean the QB who led a mu h higher ra ked O BEFORE thia idiot took over? If Baldie doesn't fire him, Pegs should fire them both, like Ralphie did when Wade refused to rid the world of Randy Jones.

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Nihilarian Veteran

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5 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

No argument here, if he was the one that called that.

 

 

One thing is kind of weird about the offensive coaching team.

 

Juan Castillo - Offensive Line / Run game coordinator.

Kelly Skipper - Running Backs Coach

Rob Boras - Tight End Coach

 

All these coaches were hired BEFORE Dennison got hired.

We are not privy to how things run under McDermott (who hired these guys) works.

IF Dennison is retained, I wonder if he will change some of these guys out to coaches more suited to his vision.

 

I'm not at all advocating keeping Dennison, but this does seen a little weird, especially when your HC is a Defensive guy.

 

PS.  On a lighter side,  wish we had someone on this board with some insider info to ask these tough questions.

 

Agree with that first sentence.

 

First of all the run game has faltered big time compared to even what Hackett was able to do by running straight up the middle 70% of the time. Greg Roman did a better job, Anthony Lynn did a better job. However, the Bills have gotten better the last few weeks but I attribute that to McCoy being a Barry Sanders clone over the play calling and line play. 

 

I'm all for the team firing both Castillo and Dennison. The argument that Dennison didn't have an elite QB to call plays for doesn't cut it for me as I believe that a coach should able to get the most out of his players regardless of their skillset. Taylor has regressed from a QBR 68.2 to a QBR 54.9 and to be honest I was expecting Taylor to be much improved this year. I place the blame on the OC/ run game coordinator.

 

Taylor might not have been the trainwreck in some games had he had a better O line, run game coach, OC. In my view, it's up to the OC to find ways to make the offense work with the roster at hand. This year it was like Rex Ryan was running the offense in attempting to make round pegs fit square holes like he did with the defense. 

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Punching Bag Hall of Famer

Punching Bag

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It is clear the Coach McD did not like either offense scheme or the blocking scheme.

He hired the OL Coach FIRST Juan Castillo and the RB and TE coaches implying where the direction is coming from.

I think Rick Dennison is in a bad situation due to these changes.

 

They got rid of a very good OL coach Aaron Kromer and let OL assistant coach Pat Meyer who actually coached 6 games go and is doing a great job with the LA Chargers.

 

I stated this at the time - McD was dumping the baby with the bath water.  Sanjay Lal was an excellent WR coach teaching techniques to WRs and the new WR coach Phil McGeoghan while he maybe well known to McD having worked in a college in Carolina has not had the chops to bring Zay Jones up to average NFL starter level.

 

There does not appear to be a strong game plan other than "not like Bills had in 2016".

 

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reddogblitz Hall of Famer

reddogblitz

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1 hour ago, kota said:

How many OC's failed to get anything out of Tyrod Taylor?  3?  Tyrod cannot throw which forces the OC to do out of the box type plays to get yards.  Like the screen pass to the FB which failed miserably.  

 

We scored a lot more points with the other 2 guys with the same QB, same OLine, same RB.

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Johnny Hammersticks Hall of Famer

Johnny Hammersticks

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1 hour ago, pimp on da' net said:

Even tho I think Rico's stays as the OC...TJ Yates was his pick at QB to backup TT in the off season, that in itself gives me pause.

 

Yates was a veteran camp arm who was familiar with the system/terminology.  Nothing more.  Why would this sour you on Dennison?

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