Firing Dorsey did not solve Bills' number 1 problem: Sean McDermott (damning Warren Sharp article)

[Logic]

https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/analysis/sean-mcdermott-buffalo-bills-ken-dorsey/

 

A tiger cannot change his stripes.

Ultimately, neither can Sean McDermott.

The 2020 Bills came so close to winning it all. Their offense was nearly unstoppable. It didn’t resemble anything Buffalo had seen in decades. And it was the first time they made it to the AFC Title game since 1993.

But instead of running it back with minor tweaks, McDermott said in his post-season press conference that he wanted to “start over” and do so by “running the ball better.”

The direction of the Bills has been a downward spiral ever since that fateful day.

Want to know why that 2020 season seems so different and magical than what the Bills have seen since, particularly in recent years?

Because that was the only year McDermott truly took a step back from the offense and let someone else give it a spin with full impunity.

As I’ll detail below, that was OC Brian Daboll’s ticket to ride anything at the park. Super Bowl or bust. But if it busts, regardless of whether it got *this close* to a Super Bowl, the fun is over. Back to basics.

And since that AFC Championship loss, the blame from the top has gone everywhere:

First, it was Daboll. He left after 2021.

Then it was defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. He left after 2022.

Now it is Ken Dorsey, who was fired at the midpoint of this 2023 season.

Ironically, Dorsey’s firing came after a home loss to the Broncos that was both predictable and ultimately the fault of the head coach....

 

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That's just the beginning of the article, but I highly suggest reading the whole thing. 

Yikes.

 

[FireChans]

5 minutes ago, Logic said:

https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/analysis/sean-mcdermott-buffalo-bills-ken-dorsey/

 

A tiger cannot change his stripes.

Ultimately, neither can Sean McDermott.

The 2020 Bills came so close to winning it all. Their offense was nearly unstoppable. It didn’t resemble anything Buffalo had seen in decades. And it was the first time they made it to the AFC Title game since 1993.

But instead of running it back with minor tweaks, McDermott said in his post-season press conference that he wanted to “start over” and do so by “running the ball better.”

The direction of the Bills has been a downward spiral ever since that fateful day.

Want to know why that 2020 season seems so different and magical than what the Bills have seen since, particularly in recent years?

Because that was the only year McDermott truly took a step back from the offense and let someone else give it a spin with full impunity.

As I’ll detail below, that was OC Brian Daboll’s ticket to ride anything at the park. Super Bowl or bust. But if it busts, regardless of whether it got *this close* to a Super Bowl, the fun is over. Back to basics.

And since that AFC Championship loss, the blame from the top has gone everywhere:

First, it was Daboll. He left after 2021.

Then it was defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. He left after 2022.

Now it is Ken Dorsey, who was fired at the midpoint of this 2023 season.

Ironically, Dorsey’s firing came after a home loss to the Broncos that was both predictable and ultimately the fault of the head coach....

 

------------------------


That's just the beginning of the article, but I highly suggest reading the whole thing. 

Yikes.

 

Nobody blamed Daboll in 2021.  That premise alone is completely wrong.

 

He was the hottest coaching candidate in the league.

Edited November 15, 2023 by FireChans

[SWATeam]

Just from reading the synopsis here I don’t think the premise is right.  The league has adjusted to the high flying offensive attacks, taking the explosive plays away with two deep looks.  I don’t think we can just assume “running it back” would be just as successful.

 

if anything we’re not running enough now

[34-78-83]

my goodness with these "opportunity articles"

@SWATeam you said it man, you can't play offense the same in 23 as you could in 20/21. Its an ever evolving league.

 

I'm gonna read it though and not be a hypocrite.

 

[Logic]

4 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Nobody blamed Daboll in 2021.  That premise alone is completely wrong.

 

He was the hottest coaching candidate in the league.

I suggest you actually read the article.

[zow2]

I like this one quote: "McDermott’s defense has been terrible on opening drives and early in games (#29 defense on opening drive yards allowed, #31 defense in points allowed the first two drives of games)."

 

So let me get this straight, McDermott's defense has been terrible at the beginning of games...and in all 5 losses it's been pretty awful at the end of games, unable to get the crucial stop to either win, or give the offense the ball back for a chance to win.  Man, that's a problem!  I'd say even the Giants game was technically a stop at the end, but the Bills got lucky.

[Logic]

4 minutes ago, SWATeam said:

Just from reading the synopsis here I don’t think the premise is right.  The league has adjusted to the high flying offensive attacks, taking the explosive plays away with two deep looks.  I don’t think we can just assume “running it back” would be just as successful.

 

if anything we’re not running enough now

I suggest reading the entire article. What Sharp eludes to in it is not simply "running it back" from 2020. He goes into greater detail as to what exactly he means.

[boyst]

@HoofHearted argue this article. even here he calls out all of our defense and the blitz on 3rd down.

[blitzboy54]

This article is spot on and I'm glad others see it. Sean McDermott has been choking the offense every time he inserts his philosophy into it. I believe, he believes he is doing the right thing but it's not.

Edited November 15, 2023 by blitzboy54

[boyst]

8 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Nobody blamed Daboll in 2021.  That premise alone is completely wrong.

 

He was the hottest coaching candidate in the league.

read the article to understand it better. it's a solid article from someone on the outside.

this is an impressive statement and entirely true:

Quote

If you approach this exercise sincerely, I think it might be quite illustrative of the issues the Bills are working through right now.

Jump a few years into the past and put yourself into Josh Allen’s shoes while he was a kid out of Wyoming and before he was paid franchise QB money.

You have a breakout year in 2020 that no one thought you were capable of.

Immediately at the conclusion of the season, your head coach comes out and tells the press and your team internally, in an indirect manner, that he wants to take the ball out of your hands more often and place it in the hands of your running backs.

 

[Seventeen]

Excellent article backed up by actual statistics. 

 

Send it to Terry so he can use it as the rationale for firing McD after this season. 

 

 

[FireChans]

5 minutes ago, boyst said:

read the article to understand it better. it's a solid article from someone on the outside.

this is an impressive statement and entirely true:

 

I did. It's cherry picking and riding the "Fire McD" wave.

 

Criticism has been RAMPANT on the Bills inability to be less "Josh Allen-centric."  That's consistent since 2020. There's only one way to do that, run the ball. We have tried to get better in that regard.

 

Folks wanted Frazier gone after 13 seconds. They thought the Bills defense was too passive. They wanted a more attacking and blitzing style defense.  We did that, we tried to get better in that regard.

 

Half the posts in weeks 1-4 were how fans were SO EXCITED we had a run game that worked. How the defense was much more aggressive. Some key injuries and some regression on offense and now its "Sean McDermott orchestrated the Bills fall" lol.

 

This article could have easily been "Dorsey sucked and was holding this team back despite improved personnel" (because pretty much every stat supports that), but Sharp included a bunch of frustrated quotes after losses from 3 years ago to make it seem far more nefarious.

 

There aren't any quotes about McD's offensive frustration from 2022 or 2023?  Why? Has McD not said a million things about the offensive woes' between 2022 and now?

 

Of course he has.

 

Hack job.

 

0/10. 

 

Would not submit my email to read this garbage again.

[Peter]

McCoach blathers on about "accountability" but that apparently is a hollow word when he looks in the mirror.

 

McCoach has thrown others under the bus to deflect from his own issues. I hope Terry makes McCoach accountable.

 

After all, we can say that firing McCoach was part of the "process."

 

Karma is a B--ch.

[NewEra]

25 minutes ago, SWATeam said:

Just from reading the synopsis here I don’t think the premise is right.  The league has adjusted to the high flying offensive attacks, taking the explosive plays away with two deep looks.  I don’t think we can just assume “running it back” would be just as successful.

 

if anything we’re not running enough now

This

[strive_for_five_guy]

Scathing, or at the least, an interesting take.  Probably fired Dorsey because he thought we should have run the ball even more the other night, and blaming the loss on that.  Will be interesting to see where this offense goes the rest of the season and what McD has to say about it.

[Don Otreply]

30 minutes ago, SWATeam said:

Just from reading the synopsis here I don’t think the premise is right.  The league has adjusted to the high flying offensive attacks, taking the explosive plays away with two deep looks.  I don’t think we can just assume “running it back” would be just as successful.

 

if anything we’re not running enough now

It can be both to some degree,  McDermott is not likely getting the buy in from the players that he hoped with his change of scheme, and that could be because it isn’t working, mostly because of the lack of investment in really good O-line personnel, it’s been five years and that unit has been a patchwork assembly from the start, not to mention the other issue on offense. 
 

GO BILLS!!!

[boyst]

19 minutes ago, FireChans said:

I did. It's cherry picking and riding the "Fire McD" wave.

 

Criticism has been RAMPANT on the Bills inability to be less "Josh Allen-centric."  That's consistent since 2020. There's only one way to do that, run the ball. We have tried to get better in that regard.

 

Folks wanted Frazier gone after 13 seconds. They thought the Bills defense was too passive. They wanted a more attacking and blitzing style defense.  We did that, we tried to get better in that regard.

 

Half the posts in weeks 1-4 were how fans were SO EXCITED we had a run game that worked. How the defense was much more aggressive. Some key injuries and some regression on offense and now its "Sean McDermott orchestrated the Bills fall" lol.

 

This article could have easily been "Dorsey sucked and was holding this team back despite improved personnel" (because pretty much every stat supports that), but Sharp included a bunch of frustrated quotes after losses from 3 years ago to make it seem far more nefarious.

 

There aren't any quotes about McD's offensive frustration from 2022 or 2023?  Why? Has McD not said a million things about the offensive woes' between 2022 and now?

 

Of course he has.

 

Hack job.

 

0/10. 

 

Would not submit my email to read this garbage again.

you're lumping everyone in on this because of a herd mentality lynch mob. i had been against frazier not using more blitzes but did not hate him. just that he didn't adapt.

 

you're acting as if all of the comments on him have been sudden. i know i can only speak for myself. since 13 seconds i have been 100% against him. since the Peterman 5 pick game in San Diego i have thought he was a chump. Since Houston's playoff game i thought he was a terrible game manager and inept at proper decision making.

 

he's been the root of all these problems. sharp is drawing the same comparison and likely more recently evolved to this situation.

[BillsFan130]

That was a really good article.

 

Thanks for sharing that 

[TheFunPolice]

EVERY COACH under the ago of 60 will be fired from his current NFL job. 

 

Hell, even Belichick could be fired after this year. He actually won things. Lots of them. 

 

McDermott has led the Bills to a few playoff berths. He has won nothing of consequence. 

 

So it's a matter of time, as always. Question is can McDermott lead the Bills to a Super Bowl?

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by TheFunPolice

[FireChans]

Just now, boyst said:

you're lumping everyone in on this because of a herd mentality lynch mob. i had been against frazier not using more blitzes but did not hate him. just that he didn't adapt.

 

you're acting as if all of the comments on him have been sudden. i know i can only speak for myself. since 13 seconds i have been 100% against him. since the Peterman 5 pick game in San Diego i have thought he was a chump. Since Houston's playoff game i thought he was a terrible game manager and inept at proper decision making.

 

he's been the root of all these problems. sharp is drawing the same comparison and likely more recently evolved to this situation.

You can't say that and ALSO SAY that Frazier was a nefarious scapegoat to the McD agenda.

Sharp is purposely avoiding the current year and the comments surrounding Dorsey his entire tenure as an OC, and linking quotes from 3 years ago instead.  Like Sean hasn't been basically telling Dorsey to figure it out all season? 

 

His premise is that this is the offense McD wants.  Well if Dorsey was doing a great job doing what McD wanted, WHY DID HE FIRE HIM!

 

I don't care if you hate McD and think he sucks. That's fine. I don't even disagree that we should fire him.  But this article is still garbage.