Let's hear it for Coach McDermott

[Shaw66]

8 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

He got a “conservative” label by default for being a defensive coach.  People wanted him fired before his first game.  
 

He came in and played to the strengths of the team and masked its weakness as best he could to take a miserably average roster into the playoffs.  During that season, while the 6th seed, he sat his 2 time pro bowl QB for a lowly drafted noodle arm QB.  That’s a bold move and aggressive move to try and improve the team rather than stick with what was working at that moment.  
 

Fans would never punt, never kick a FG, never do any smart football decisions.  But McD with a weak roster was winning us games compared to losing us games like all the previous regimes.  Yet because he was a defensive coach, they said he is conservative because this bias was already there and over looked what McD was working with.  
 

As soon as Josh Allen came the next season, the aggressive nature of McD was easily spotted.  We were a team with a raw rookie QB and terrible receivers and yet still going for it on fourth down, still trying to throw deep.  And he has never looked back.  We have been one of the most aggressive teams on fourth down since Allen came on to the scene.  
 

In Allens 2nd season, the first 10-12 games Allen was the worst deep ball thrower in the NFL.  At one point he was like 1 out of 50 on completions deep or something like that.  But we kept throwing deep anyway, he didn’t care, he still was aggressive in our approach.  
 

I was on here arguing and defending McD against conservative criticisms almost his entire tenure here.  
 

The problem is, when you start off with a bias view of an assumption he must be conservative if he was a defensive coach then all you do is look for confirmation bias to support that until it’s decisively proven wrong.  and that’s what a LOT of people did with him.  Then you get people just repeating this inaccurate narrative that he’s too conservative and others start to believe it too if it keeps getting repeated.  
 

But if you come in with no bias either way, it’s easier to take what you see on the field (and understand the “why” on what you are seeing) and form a thesis or opinion based on what he is showing you week to week.  And he has just not ever been a “conservative” coach IMHO.
 

 

But if you were paying attention those first three years it’s pretty easy to see he wasn't conservative.  

Thanks for the detail.  I appreciated it.

 

I agree with you.  I was defending him in those days, too.   His decision-making has always been driven by maximizing the chances to win.  Sometimes that requires taking risks, sometimes it's about being conservative.  I've never had a problem with his balance on those decisions.  

[Rubes]

36 minutes ago, Logic said:

As for the option play where McKenzie fumbled and the Chiefs recovered...I feel like that one is on the player who didn't execute -- in this case, McKenzie. We, as fans, didn't watch practice all week. Maybe they DID consistently execute it correctly. Maybe it went for big gainers a few times against the Bills defense in practice. We simply don't know.

We only saw the one instance of it being used in a game, where it DIDN'T work...and it's hard for me to blame the coaches for a play in which execution (particularly a dumb concentration error like the one McKenzie made) was to blame. Sometimes it's the X's and O's, sometimes it's the Willies and Joes. That looked like a Willie and Joe mistake to me.

 

McKenzie was asked about it and this is his report of the play:

 

Quote

 

“It was a miscommunication,” McKenzie said. “It was a screen to the left, a handoff to me, but the D-end came up field. I wasn’t supposed to get the ball. I looked back, I thought he threw the screen, and then I looked back and he threw it to me. I’m like, ‘that wasn’t the play.’ I was thrown off. It hit my facemask, but I can’t, we can’t … the play is on nobody. It is what it is, but that wasn’t the play. At the end of the day, it’s all on us.”

 

 

That's what it looked like to me, too. I don't think he was supposed to get the ball on that play.

 

[Augie]

55 minutes ago, NewEra said:

But we’ve all read right here, that he is innately conservative and that will never change.

 

On a related note, mostly from the same people, Josh will never be accurate. 

[Alphadawg7]

Just now, Shaw66 said:

Thanks for the detail.  I appreciated it.

 

I agree with you.  I was defending him in those days, too.   His decision-making has always been driven by maximizing the chances to win.  Sometimes that requires taking risks, sometimes it's about being conservative.  I've never had a problem with his balance on those decisions.  

Agree, very well said.  Love how you just put that, it’s spot on and that is 100% the makings of a great coach.  

[Bob in STL]

1 hour ago, Logic said:

It makes sense on this Victory Monday to reflect on the amazing plays we saw our players make on the football field yesterday. Josh Allen's hurdle and golden-armed rocket throws, Von Miller closing, Taron Johnson sealing the win with a pick..,.

It makes sense on this Victory Monday to reflect on the awesome job that our GM Brandon Beane has done in building this roster...the late round gems, the trade acquisitions, the brilliant free agent signings...

One thing I want to make sure doesn't get lost in the good feelings of this Victory Monday, though, is the credit that Coach McDermott deserves for yesterday's win. 

For making all the right "Go for it vs kick it" decisions. For being aggressive throughout the game and not falling back any conservative tendencies. For keeping his team composed after early adversity. For great clock management decisions at the end of the game. For having this team ready to beat a high quality opponent on the road.

Hell of a game, coach!

 

I am a big McD fan.  He was agressive and out team responded to that. 

 

i just winder how many fans on this board would be had we lost by less than one FG after leaving 3 points on the field and then missing the 4th down conversion at midfield.  

 

Winning cures all.  

[boater]

McDermott practices what he preaches: resiliency and  continuous self-improvement. Every game and every season since he signed with the Bills was better than his last.

 

Is the juice worth the squeeze? He beat his mentor and top tier coach, Andy Reid, in his own dojo.

[Radar]

31 minutes ago, hemma said:

If not for McDermott,  we’d probably be stumbling along every year at 7-9/8-8/9-7.

 

Anybody that wants to get rid of McDermott is a damned fool.

With my criticism of play calling as I described nowhere did I say to get rid of our coach. But I think k the reason our record is not what you speculated here crediting coaching is a but over the top. I think our GM and having a legitimate franchise quarterback is more responsible for our record.

[sonyab1974]

1 hour ago, Radar said:

Understand but if we lost the game I'm pretty sure we would be questioning the plays I mentioned.

Let’s all just enjoy the win!!! 😁

[hemma]

12 minutes ago, Radar said:

With my criticism of play calling as I described nowhere did I say to get rid of our coach. But I think k the reason our record is not what you speculated here crediting coaching is a but over the top. I think our GM and having a legitimate franchise quarterback is more responsible for our record.

McDermott recruited Beane.  Beane wouldn’t even be here if not for McD, thus no Josh.

You’re way, way off base.

[SWATeam]

1 hour ago, Radar said:

Sorry but I may be in the minority who thinks they won in spite of bad calls by coaches. Not taking the field goal, going for it on fourth down on your own 45, and dumb trick lateral play with a yard for first and turning ball over. Glad we won a game I frankly thought we were the underdog in but I give credit to the players in this one not our coaches. Having said all that I do like McDermott overall.

LOL, my ass you do.

 

I think you only called for his job 5 times during the game yesterday.

[Nextmanup]

15 minutes ago, Radar said:

With my criticism of play calling as I described nowhere did I say to get rid of our coach. But I think k the reason our record is not what you speculated here crediting coaching is a but over the top. I think our GM and having a legitimate franchise quarterback is more responsible for our record.

The guy I utterly FEAR losing is Brand Beane.

 

McDermott?  He's replaceable.

 

Josh?  He's one in a million...all I ask is that the franchise does everything on Earth it can to replace him with another top talent when Josh's time is over, and not, for example, draft 4 QBs in a 20 year period of time.

 

 

[Johnnycage46]

I think trusting Allen and Dorsey when they were pinned at their own 1 or 2 on 3rd and 13 before half is a huge deal.  Past years and definitely past coaches would have played for the punt.

[Bill Grundy]

I love him. Not because of play calling or anything like that. But the man understands the architecture of a team. He understands how to get people playing at their best. He understands the whole. He gets too much criticism for the detail, which is less important. The man knows how to build a unit. 

[Beck Water]

2 hours ago, Radar said:

Sorry but I may be in the minority who thinks they won in spite of bad calls by coaches. Not taking the field goal, going for it on fourth down on your own 45, and dumb trick lateral play with a yard for first and turning ball over. Glad we won a game I frankly thought we were the underdog in but I give credit to the players in this one not our coaches. Having said all that I do like McDermott overall.

 

I believe both Josh Allen and McKenzie have said that the "dumb trick lateral" was a busted play - it was supposed to be a screen to the L after the motion by McKenzie, and he wasn't expecting to get the ball.

 

Now you can fault McKenzie and say, "it's Josh Allen at QB, McKenzie should ALWAYS be expecting to get the ball" or you could fault Josh and say he was trying too hard to make something happen on a busted play, or maybe there were some whiffed blocks on the L that blew up the screen, but the point is: it's not exactly on the coaches for running a dumb trick lateral play if it wasn't supposed to be a dumb trick lateral play.

Edited October 17, 2022 by Beck Water

[US Egg]

The best QB in the NFL makes the case for McD.

…..and for Diggs having a HOF career here.

 

…..and why the Bills are so good.

 

A Herculean player.

 

 

[BobbyC81]

5 hours ago, SCBills said:

There's a lot of scar tissue from 13 seconds that, justifiably, taints some of our views towards the coaching staff.. but it's time to let that go and recognize that we have a phenomenal staff in place, led by a top tier Head Coach. 

How can everyone let that go when they gave us a deja vu moment before halftime?   I thought I was dreaming a nightmare.  At least they squib kicked this time to leave only 12 seconds on the clock.

 

Just like the playoff game, they take a timeout on defense after the Chiefs line up.  Just like the playoff game, they have everyone playing back and a quick pass to a speedy receiver gains about 20 yards.  Just like the playoff game, they don’t man up, (much less double team, Kelce and he again runs straight between defenders to pick up another 10 or so yards.  This again leads to a game tieing FG.

 

Watching that, it looked like they didn’t learn anything from that debacle in the playoff game.  Other than the squib kick, they played it all the same with the same results.

 

Thank goodness for Von Miller’s pressure and Taron Johnson’s aggressiveness to get that interception or we may have seen the same game result.

[BobbyC81]

5 hours ago, Jauronimo said:

A gadget play?  It was a pitch.  If McKenzie didn't forget he had arms and try to catch it with his face like a golden retriever it probably goes for a TD.

And to add insult to injury, Josh gets “credited” with the fumble?  I don’t care about McKenzie’s explanation.  He needed to be alert and ready for anything.

[John from Riverside]

Well he’s no Rex Ryan…

3 hours ago, hemma said:

McDermott recruited Beane.  Beane wouldn’t even be here if not for McD, thus no Josh.

You’re way, way off base.

It takes a village

[Milanos Milano]

13 scar tissues still remain, and now we have a fresh 12 seconds flesh wound. I’m not convinced an equally good coach like Sean Peyton or McVay couldn’t take this roster and do the same if not more. With that said, we could do worse at the coaching position, but make no mistake this is definitely the Josh Allen show and he is a king maker. 

[Jauronimo]

1 minute ago, BobbyC81 said:

And to add insult to injury, Josh gets “credited” with the fumble?  I don’t care about McKenzie’s explanation.  He needed to be alert and ready for anything.

Every eligible pass catcher should expect the ball when playing with Josh.  I don't blame McKenzie anymore after reading the explanation. Would have been great if he got his head around a fraction of a second sooner.