How Will McDermott Change the Defense?

[Simon Says]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

 

I think McDermott dropped some breadcrumbs about that in a couple of his pressers.

 

Basically he said something to the effect that you can have the same playbook and plan and it will still look different with two different coaches calling it.

 

I don't think the fundamental scheme or the playbook will change, but I think way its implemented will look more different than some think.  When you hire a guy, you can't micromanage him, and in general over the course of a season, McD was getting satisfactory results from Frazier's D so had no reason to micromange.

 

I don't think the D was being called exactly how McDermott would have called it in various in-game situations, especially the first or second time we've faced an opponent or when the same opponent throws something we weren't expecting at us. 

 

I also feel that Frazier was philosophically slower to make in-game adjustments than McDermott is.

The in-game adjustments,or lack thereof, were disappointing at times. And I'm sure Sean spoke with Frazier at halftime if there was something he didn't like. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Herb Nightly

[Don Otreply]

It is my hope that Sean shows us that he can make adjustments to the D when opponents show they can beat it, I don’t care what he changes as long as it works, especially in the post season,

 

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Simon Says]

29 minutes ago, mrags said:

He was defiantly pressured. They likely gave him the option to resign with dignity by “taking a year off” so they wouldn’t have to be the bad guys for firing him. McD has too much respect for Frazier to do that to him. 
 

I just hope I’m wrong and McD gets something out of this defense that Frazier failed to do. 

Nice guys fade into the sunset. Being away from the NFL for a season will severely limit Frazier's  opportunities. 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

3 hours ago, dorquemada said:

 

Ah, the old let them wear themselves out getting first downs, then we'll have them!  defense

The modern twist on the even older end of game prevent defense! 🤢

[PrimeTime101]

3 hours ago, Herb Nightly said:

With Frazier semi-retired and McD calling the defense...how much different will it look?

Less Nickel? Taron Johnson playing some safety?

Rapp playing a big nickel, in a  three-safety lineup?

4-3 scheme,with a more traditional "middle" linebacker ? I suppose the draft will shed some light. 

 

aggression. i think we get out of the nickel more and flip to 4-3/Dime with more situational awareness. I think we have to find more unique ways of sending pressure and I trust McD can do that more than Frazier can.   You can also disguise your defense more too. 

[CircleTheWagons99]

3 safeties, 2 CBs 2 LBs and 4 DL…..

[Simon Says]

4 hours ago, mrags said:

Expect to be disappointed if you expect any change. Anyone that thinks Frazier wasn’t running the D exactly how McClappy wanted it ran is in for a shocker this year. 
 

really hope I’m wrong. But we’ll find out I guess. 

What do you think was the "final straw" that pushed Frazier out?

[mrags]

2 minutes ago, Herb Nightly said:

What do you think was the "final straw" that pushed Frazier out?

The 2nd half of the season went pretty bad for him. Von was hurt and it affected our defense sure but at the same time was a flashing light to McDermott and the rest of the FO that maybe Frazier isn’t the reason why our defense was good in the first place. it was some of the talent we had at multiple positions. I’m not saying Frazier was holding us back necessarily. But maybe the FO and McD realized they can get by without him. 
 

Personally I think he’s alright but much to similar if how I feel about McD. Way too conservative. Hope I’m wrong about it and I see a defense set the world in fire this coming year. 

[Dr.Mantis_Toboggan]

Benford and Elam having a year under their belts coupled with Tre, Hyde, and Poyer all back to 100 percent, then mixing in Taron and Rapp is going to allow McDermott to call a much more aggressive defense.

 

The defense will take a step forward, and they crush the Vegas win total over 10.5.

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

7 hours ago, Herb Nightly said:

 I'm wondering what defensive clues we get from the draft. Jack Campbell LOOKS like Edmunds and seems to have strong leadership traits, recognition skills, making defensive calls,etc. If Bills pick him,I would expect the  alignment  to remain similar to what we have seen. But if they select Sanders,or Nolan Smith,or possibly even Simpson? That might signal a change?

This is one of the only defensive players I’d be okay w/ in the 1st round. I think he plays much more aggressive than Edmunds + the name Jack Campbell is a cool name for a Linebacker. 

[Beck Water]

4 hours ago, PrimeTime101 said:

aggression. i think we get out of the nickel more and flip to 4-3/Dime with more situational awareness. I think we have to find more unique ways of sending pressure and I trust McD can do that more than Frazier can.   You can also disguise your defense more too. 

 

I could be wrong, but I think in Carolina the variations in McD's defense were more based upon how he used the personnel on the field, vs. switching up the personnel on the field.  He did switch things up more his first year in Buffalo, but a lot of that was he didn't have the bodies he wanted - Preston Brown and Ramon Humber etc

[Simon Says]

7 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

This lol

 

Are people really convincing themselves that McDermott somehow allowed Frazier to mismanage his defense for the last 5 years😂😂

So what is your theory on why Frazier is on leave  for all we know ,at full pay? Because of how good a job he did ?

[PrimeTime101]

25 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

I could be wrong, but I think in Carolina the variations in McD's defense were more based upon how he used the personnel on the field, vs. switching up the personnel on the field.  He did switch things up more his first year in Buffalo, but a lot of that was he didn't have the bodies he wanted - Preston Brown and Ramon Humber etc

I think where McD will improve this defense (or hope he improves) is solid play by play situational awareness and aggressiveness where/when needed. for example,, how many times did we complain that we did not blitz enough against rookie QB's over the last 3 years... I think McD will do better in these areas.

 

Here's for hoping. Cheers

[John from Riverside]

4 hours ago, SUNY_amherst said:

Same vanilla defense that doesn't get any pressure on the QB. Only worse this year because the MLB left in free agency and the DT wants out

That really isn’t what a McDermott defense looks like

[GoBills808]

9 minutes ago, Herb Nightly said:

So what is your theory on why Frazier is on leave  for all we know ,at full pay? Because of how good a job he did ?

My theory is that he took a year off as has been reported. What's yours?

[Goin Breakdown]

Now I'm just thinking here. What if this was always McD's defense?  We've always said it was right?  I'm not expecting a whole lot different. Do we know for sure it was Frazier's idea to give 10 yard cushions?  Maybe it was McD. Well never know. I have to wonder a little bit if Fraziers decision to "take a year off" wasn't based in wanting to get out from under the scrutiny he was receiving when he may have just been doing what he was told. Idk. 

[skibum]

10 hours ago, ganesh said:

I remember the one time McDermott took the play calling during half-time and it showed a different team...I hope we get the same....The main issue is that this team is dependent on generating pass rush by its front-four -  Groot, Basham, Epenesa and Oliver.   This group has been vastly underwhelming. 

There will also be a guy named Miller back on the front four this year, FWIW. 

[flmike]

9 hours ago, BigAl2526 said:

McDermott, of course, will use the same basic scheme.  I don't really expect to see a lot less nickel alignment. The only change I realo expect is a somewhat higher number of blitzes.  I don't think McDermott is anything close to "blitz happy," but I think he is just a little more aggressive than Frazier.  Of course, I think he wants his front four to be a   lot more effective rushing the pastor than they were after Von Miller went down last season.  I think he knows it's not healthy to be in a position where you're so dependent on a single player like Miller.

Mighty unchristian of a team to "rush the pastor" LOL

[BigAl2526]

42 minutes ago, flmike said:

Mighty unchristian of a team to "rush the pastor" LOL

I had to reread it to realize what you were talking about.  As it happens, I am a retired pastor.  I guess I'm just used to writing the word "pastor" after 40 years.  LOL

[billsbackto81]

10 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Can start by playing some press man in the playoffs because defensive holding is rarely called and we have failed to take advantage of that for 2 post seasons now

Unless you're playing KC 😄

[Thurman#1]

11 hours ago, KHAN said:

The Bills are always ranked very high on defense. What they do in the regular season "works" because you're not playing top offenses every week while putting out (even with their struggles) a top offense. You don't "give" them anything, and make them work for everything. It kind of works for the regular season racking up wins.

 

When you play Mahomes and Burrow in the playoffs, they carve you up taking what you give them.

 

You can't totally stop those guys. But you do need to get a stop sometimes. That's the biggest failing IMO.

 

 

Every team has a harder time in the playoffs than the regular season because you play better teams. It's not the Bills. It's everyone. Offense and defense.

 

Yeah, when Mahomes (or Allen) are playing at high level, pretty much nobody can stop them.

 

But last year it was more about their horrible injuries, losing Miller and Da'Quan on the DL for that last game, and the whole team playing like crap, appearing emotionally hung over. The D really didn't even play that horribly. Not well, but not horribly. They held the Bengals to their season average of scoring. The problem was that our offense scored ten points.

 

With Von and Da'Quan and Hyde, and with Poyer and Tre White and Phillips moving the way they normally did, that side of the ball might have looked totally different.

 

Against KC, who knows, but when Von and everyone was healthy early, they strangled the KC offense last year.

[Thurman#1]

7 hours ago, Herb Nightly said:

What do you think was the "final straw" that pushed Frazier out?

 

 

The fact that he wanted to go.

 

Him. He pushed himself out. Possibly not getting the Bears job in particular.

[Simon Says]

13 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

The fact that he wanted to go.

 

Him. He pushed himself out. Possibly not getting the Bears job in particular.

Do you really believe that? If he was mad about not getting HC opportunities, why walk out on the Bills? Taking the year off hurts his chance of ever getting a head coaching gig. If its a not a health issued, he should honor his contract.

[Thurman#1]

17 hours ago, Herb Nightly said:

Do you really believe that? If he was mad about not getting HC opportunities, why walk out on the Bills? Taking the year off hurts his chance of ever getting a head coaching gig. If its a not a health issued, he should honor his contract.

 

 

Do I believe it?

 

Yes, of course I do. There isn't a good reason to say that if it's not true, to pretend he's taking a year off if he isn't.

 

"He should honor his contract"? That's just dumb, man, he did. It's not a contract of slavery. He's got the right to leave if he wants. Bless him.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Thurman#1

[Bills Bud]

Not much probably. Only so much you can do on D nowadays. It's mainly making stops at crucial times. Chiefs, Bengals etc will put up 30 on any D

[Freddie's Dead]

He won't.

[Alphadawg7]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:02 AM, ganesh said:

I remember the one time McDermott took the play calling during half-time and it showed a different team...I hope we get the same....The main issue is that this team is dependent on generating pass rush by its front-four -  Groot, Basham, Epenesa and Oliver.   This group has been vastly underwhelming. 

 

Here is one stat that gives me hope some new thinking and play calling could help spike our ability to get more pressure and get more from our young guys.

 

Jerry Hughes since being traded to the Bills has played 10 seasons.  5 of them with Frazier, 5 of them without Frazier (his first 4 seasons here and last year with Houston).  

 

Without Frazier:  Averages 8 sacks a season.

With Frazier:  Averages 4 sacks a season.

 

Doesn't mean it was all Frazier's fault, could be the scheme too.  But, I don't think it had any chance of being "better" this year had Frazier stayed, more like more of the same.  At least with McD potentially being more aggressive and bringing new thinking and play calling to the table, there is at least the potential to get more out of our young guys and improve our pass rush.  

 

So I am actually quite excited to see if McD can make a positive impact on this defense and ramp up the aggression and pass rush.  The one concern is the MLB spot which has been a key position for McD's defenses.  Hoping we get one of the top prospects there in the draft in the first couple of rounds to give him something more to work with than an unproven Bernard.

 

 

[Punching Bag]

On 4/3/2023 at 12:25 PM, jkeerie said:

I sure hope there's no limit to the number of posters we can ignore on this site.

 

There is a limit on number of posters quoted though - zero.

[hondo in seattle]

On 4/5/2023 at 11:00 AM, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Here is one stat that gives me hope some new thinking and play calling could help spike our ability to get more pressure and get more from our young guys.

 

Jerry Hughes since being traded to the Bills has played 10 seasons.  5 of them with Frazier, 5 of them without Frazier (his first 4 seasons here and last year with Houston).  

 

Without Frazier:  Averages 8 sacks a season.

With Frazier:  Averages 4 sacks a season.

 

Doesn't mean it was all Frazier's fault, could be the scheme too.  But, I don't think it had any chance of being "better" this year had Frazier stayed, more like more of the same.  At least with McD potentially being more aggressive and bringing new thinking and play calling to the table, there is at least the potential to get more out of our young guys and improve our pass rush.  

 

So I am actually quite excited to see if McD can make a positive impact on this defense and ramp up the aggression and pass rush.  The one concern is the MLB spot which has been a key position for McD's defenses.  Hoping we get one of the top prospects there in the draft in the first couple of rounds to give him something more to work with than an unproven Bernard.

 

 

 

Before coming to the Bills, Jerry averaged only 1.7 sacks per year.  I'm not sure why you left that out.  But, yeah, it's a little weird that Jerry only got 2 sacks in his last season with the Bills and then 9 his first year with Houston.  Maybe we did misuse him.  

 

Maybe we're misusing Ed Oliver, too.  He's very fast and athletic.  But he's smallish and maybe a bit weak.  There might be a better way to leverage his strengths.

 

But I'm not sure how much McD will introduce because I think this was his defense - not Frazier's - all along.  Maybe the departure of Edmunds and the addition of Rapp will result in some new wrinkles.  I'm not thinking the DL will be much different.  

[nosejob]

On 4/4/2023 at 2:01 PM, Herb Nightly said:

Do you really believe that? If he was mad about not getting HC opportunities, why walk out on the Bills? Taking the year off hurts his chance of ever getting a head coaching gig. If its a not a health issued, he should honor his contract.

He's 65 and I'm sure he did all right for himself over the years since playing with the 85 Bears. He could probably use a break....and that's good enough for me.😉

[DCofNC]

I hope he just uses players to their strengths instead of ramming square pegs into round holes.  Lrr we TD Elam play some man, Groot allowed to kick in for pass rush etc.

[newcam2012]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:19 PM, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Every team has a harder time in the playoffs than the regular season because you play better teams. It's not the Bills. It's everyone. Offense and defense.

 

Yeah, when Mahomes (or Allen) are playing at high level, pretty much nobody can stop them.

 

But last year it was more about their horrible injuries, losing Miller and Da'Quan on the DL for that last game, and the whole team playing like crap, appearing emotionally hung over. The D really didn't even play that horribly. Not well, but not horribly. They held the Bengals to their season average of scoring. The problem was that our offense scored ten points.

 

With Von and Da'Quan and Hyde, and with Poyer and Tre White and Phillips moving the way they normally did, that side of the ball might have looked totally different.

 

Against KC, who knows, but when Von and everyone was healthy early, they strangled the KC offense last year.

Thurman playing the woulda, shoulda, coulda here. 

 

Not sure what game you watched? The Bills defense was horrible! They could not stop the Bengals early or when it counted. They did whatever they wanted to do. They shredded the Bills defense. In real time, I remember saying to my son the Bills defense sucks. No doubt the offense equally sucked but to say the defense wasn't horrible is disingenuous in my eyes. The Bengals were up by so much that they decided to run the ball with great results. They could have probably scored 40 or 50 points. 

 

Injuries always play a part in football. Clearly, the Bills Injuries on defense hurt.  However, good to great teams have to overcome injuries. Players have to step up, execute, and perform at a higher level. Coaches have to have solid game plans. None of that happened. That's a total failure from the players, coaches, and organization. 

 

Go back and look at the majority of the posters prior to the Cinci playoff game. 95% of them were about how the Bills were going to beat the Bengals. Many were not overly concerned about the Bills defensive injuries. The talk was how the Bills pass rush would beat the injury riddled Bengal Oline and how the Bengal run game wasn't any good. I don't remember you discussing how the Bills defensive injuries were going to be difficult to overcome? I don't remember many posters echoing your theme here. 

 

Time after time and year after year the Bills have continued to disappoint in the playoffs. At some point, Bills fans have to really start thinking can this team, coaches, and organization get over the hump? 

 

It amazes me how fans continually make excuses for the Bills playoff failures. You can decide where your mindset fits. Wondering what excuses people will use next year? 

 

Groundhog day...

Edited April 8, 2023 by newcam2012

[Let's Go Buffalo]

I think the draft will be pretty telling in regard to this.....assuming we draft a Linebacker, of course. There's a few "Swiss Army Knife" types of Linebackers, and then there are also some of your more traditional Linebackers, so only time will tell, in my opinion. 

[Simon Says]

On 4/4/2023 at 9:46 PM, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Do I believe it?

 

Yes, of course I do. There isn't a good reason to say that if it's not true, to pretend he's taking a year off if he isn't.

 

"He should honor his contract"? That's just dumb, man, he did. It's not a contract of slavery. He's got the right to leave if he wants. Bless him.

 

 

Yes, he has the right but why would he pass up the opportunity? We assume he is still getting paid? I haven't heard for sure whether he is. If he wanted to take a year off to rest,or pout, it's odd that Pegulas would pay him.

Why would Pegulas pay a coach that doesnt honor his contract?