Lee Smith defends Ken Dorsey and Tells Angry Bills Fans: “Stay on your couch.”

[Matt_In_NH]

Lee Smith still gets false starts 2 years after he leaves the team....

[May Day 10]

I trust Lee Smith's opinion.  Comes across as a smart and grounded guy.  Has experience in this room.  I'm cool with what he says.  

[Fan in Chicago]

1 hour ago, Warcodered said:

For a first year OC he really wasn't terrible, giving the guy another year to improve isn't that ridiculous.

Begs the question - why was Dorsey given the job in the first place? Lack of OL and WR were clearly limitations but I find it surprising that his inexperience is used as an excuse for the poor showing in the playoffs. 

While every season ticks by with yet another excuse, Allen gets one year closer to retirement 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Fan in Chicago

[Shaw66]

10 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

You may be right about fixing the offense but I feel the opposite about Dorsey.  Talent was an issue on offense for sure - especially on the OL and maybe at WR.  

 

But if you give Dorsey a pass on talent, why not Frazier?  It seems like he was handicapped from the lack of talent as well - due to injury.  
 

He had to scheme around a secondary that was missing 3/4 of the starters for most of the year.  Sometimes all 4 starters.  It wasn’t a huge issue since they could get pressure with 4.  Once Miller went down he had to revamp how he called defense.  
 

I think Frazier needs to change some things on the defense but his track record of finishing in the Top 10 defensively is impressive.

I think the problem Frazier had was the complexity of the defense they run.   It is very much a team defense.   It's built in a way that each player is asked only to do things that he can execute well, and other players' assignments are determined by what the guys around them are expected to do.   So, when you're playing without the pre-injury White, you're not just replacing White, you're giving the guys around White some slightly different assignments.   When Edmunds misses time, you're asking the whole backfield to cover differently.   When Hyde goes down, you're reshaping a lot of stuff.   And when Miller goes down, ditto.   What I saw was a group of guys being asked to change their own games because of key injuries, all season long.   You can get away with Damar Hamlin growing into the job replacing Hyde, but you can't adjust quickly to Jaquan Johnson or Dean Marlowe stepping in, because with those guys on the field, Poyer's responsibilities will change, and White's, and Edmunds, Milano and Taron Johnson, too.   It's in the nature of the defense.  

 

Now, that's true to some extent for every team, but I think it's particularly true of the Bills.   Tre White isn't a true shut-down corner, but he's a great player because he's been able to think along with Poyer and Hyde to play really nuanced coverages.  Elam and Benford couldn't possibly fill that role for the first half of the season (altho Benford was pretty good at it), and there was nothing Frazier could do about it.   Just play the rookies and try to get them up the learning curve.   And the way to cover for their weaknesses is to adjust the responsibilities of Hyde and Poyer, but Poyer was in and out and Hyde was gone.   So, Frazier was trying to get Hamlin to play his own position AND help cover for the rookie corners.   

 

I think Frazier was looking at a more complex problem than we'd like to think.  

 

 

[ngbills]

20 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Man, I love the fan reaction!   

 

Here is a guy who has spent a dozen years in pro football locker rooms, who is a recognized team leader, who is a close friend of several of the Bills players, and yet, when he gives his opinion, fans here throw it out like it means nothing.  

 

Players know when the coaching works and when it doesn't.  They know when the season didn't work because, well, it just didn't work this year.   They know.   And that's what we're hearing from Smith.  He's telling us these players - with these coaches - are ready to move forward.   He's clearly saying that 2022 was an unusual year, everyone on the team knows it, and they'll be a powerhouse team again in 2023.   

 

For me, I think it's quite interesting to hear his perspective.   

Partially agree. But when do you hear 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc before a guy is fired that that people dont like them or they suck? Not very often. Its always they are great, need time, people dont get it, dont see it, blah blah blah. Then woof, they are fired and everyone now says how terrible they were. 

[Búfalo Blanco]

Sit on my couch next season and use my credit card on something else perhaps. Watch “Rudy” on repeat. At least then I can witness a happy ending. 

[Shaw66]

4 minutes ago, ngbills said:

Partially agree. But when do you hear 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc before a guy is fired that that people dont like them or they suck? Not very often. Its always they are great, need time, people dont get it, dont see it, blah blah blah. Then woof, they are fired and everyone now says how terrible they were. 

Yeah, but it's McDermott's way.  He is careful about the kind of guys he hires, just like he's careful about the kind of players he wants.   When he hires them, he has extreme confidence that they can do what he needs, and when they don't do it, he has extreme confidence that they will learn, because he hires learners.  Once he's hired them, he's going to stick with them.   

 

I'm sure that's how he feels about Frazier, and I'm sure that's how he feels about Dorsey.  He trusts their ability to learn and adapt.   If he didn't trust it, he would replace them.   

 

Now, people may not agree with his decisions, and that's on McDermott.  But as I've said for a few days in these threads, it's pretty hard to complain about the results McDermott has had in six seasons as a head coach.  (People still complain, but really, be serious.   He's piling up wins like a HOF coach.)

[DapperCam]

Lee is just defending people he played with. I’m not sure if he has actual credibility on whether or not we can criticize play calling.

 

His general point of let’s see what happens next year is fine though.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Why are Buffalo fans always so angry?

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

2 hours ago, arcane said:

Based Lee Smith

Pure cringe

 

 

 

[ngbills]

16 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Yeah, but it's McDermott's way.  He is careful about the kind of guys he hires, just like he's careful about the kind of players he wants.   When he hires them, he has extreme confidence that they can do what he needs, and when they don't do it, he has extreme confidence that they will learn, because he hires learners.  Once he's hired them, he's going to stick with them.   

 

I'm sure that's how he feels about Frazier, and I'm sure that's how he feels about Dorsey.  He trusts their ability to learn and adapt.   If he didn't trust it, he would replace them.   

 

Now, people may not agree with his decisions, and that's on McDermott.  But as I've said for a few days in these threads, it's pretty hard to complain about the results McDermott has had in six seasons as a head coach.  (People still complain, but really, be serious.   He's piling up wins like a HOF coach.)

Its the hard part with really good but not great results. Much easier to identify that change is needed when the team sucks. My hope is that McD doesn't buy into the we could be doing worse mindset that a lot of people have. With him it can be hard to tell if he has the killer instinct and championship mentality. We have seen he is a good coach but is he willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top is a different story. And I will add the O is not his expertise so this is where he has the least to offer in terms of grooming a OC. You could argue that is why you hire a guy like Daboll that was ready for the job than someone green as Dorsey with not much support. So maybe they need to bring in somebody to help with that. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by ngbills

[babulator]

Lee simply has different expectations than our fanbase does. Lee's happy to be competitive, fans want to win it all.

 

There have been lot's of good coaches and "good men" worth having their character and careers defended. Fans don't care, we want to know  what it's going to take to win it all.

 

I didn't see Lee put his marbles on the table that this will be our year, or that Dorsey can bring it home this year. Just that we'll be good. I'm sorry but for most fans THAT won't be good enough.  Of course we'll be good we have JA17. The real question is can Dorsey put together a Superbowl winning year.

 

IDK the answer, but I'm not keen on wasting prime years of JA's career.

[Fan in Chicago]

2 hours ago, JohnNord said:

 

Let’s hope that Lee Smith is right!  I have my reservations about him as OC.  

Yet another way to say "stay the course" while second year coach Siriani takes his team and year 3 QB to the Superbowl and plays competitively. 

[RyanC883]

2 hours ago, Warcodered said:

For a first year OC he really wasn't terrible, giving the guy another year to improve isn't that ridiculous.

 

yeah, but it's the way he said it.  Smith wouldn't even make this team, BTW.  

[jethro_tull]

Terrifying in a good way?  

[Don Otreply]

2 hours ago, Warcodered said:

For a first year OC he really wasn't terrible, giving the guy another year to improve isn't that ridiculous.

I don’t know man, he didn’t live up to my expectations, 😂

[RyanC883]

33 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Yeah, but it's McDermott's way.  He is careful about the kind of guys he hires, just like he's careful about the kind of players he wants.   When he hires them, he has extreme confidence that they can do what he needs, and when they don't do it, he has extreme confidence that they will learn, because he hires learners.  Once he's hired them, he's going to stick with them.   

 

I'm sure that's how he feels about Frazier, and I'm sure that's how he feels about Dorsey.  He trusts their ability to learn and adapt.   If he didn't trust it, he would replace them.   

 

Now, people may not agree with his decisions, and that's on McDermott.  But as I've said for a few days in these threads, it's pretty hard to complain about the results McDermott has had in six seasons as a head coach.  (People still complain, but really, be serious.   He's piling up wins like a HOF coach.)

 

MCD won't sniff the HOF without multiple SB appearances and/or a win.  

[Shaw66]

5 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

MCD won't sniff the HOF without multiple SB appearances and/or a win.  

I didn't say that.   I said he's winning like a HOF coach, and that's statistically correct.  

[Franco_92]

26 minutes ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

Pure cringe

 

 

 

The bills will bootyblast these ***** teams

[C.Biscuit97]

I will always respect Lee smith for lasting as long as did in the nfl without actual talent. Impressive.