Bills interviewing Sean Desai for DC

[JBI$111]

I would prefer to have McDermott continue to call the defense, certainly better and more aggressive than Frazier. And many head coaches if their specialty is defense or offense, call the plays (it's not like when he was not calling the defense, we still didn't have boneheaded calls coming from the top at the worst possible time). You can definitely fault him for many things and his defense played horrible in the Kansas City game (and the Bengals game last year even though it was technically Frazier), obviously there were a ton of injuries though going into that game and he still does make some boneheaded calls, but overall the defense has been pretty solid. However, I'm still extremely salty from that game because it's been the same result with Kansas City regardless every year and something needs to change. He's had plenty to work with every year on the defensive side of the ball and unfortunately Beane has also missed on quite a few draft picks or picked the wrong person, but we really need some better wide receivers and to add some more players on the offense versus constantly drafting almost all defensive players at the top of the draft or in general (with the exception of last year). In an ideal world, it would be great to load up on defensive players again because we're going to lose a lot and we'll need it, but we really need to start addressing the offense as well and helping Josh out with more dependable weapons. Ed Oliver has played great, but we certainly do still need a proven pass rusher as well that can get to the quarterback consistently and with all the people we've drafted there or on the defensive line overall, it hasn't really come to fruition. 

Edited January 28 by JBI$111

[jwhit34]

A good transition would be to name Babich DC but McDermott calls the D. Have him do that for 1 year, kind of like an apprentice gig, then 2025 turn the calling of the D over to him. He can do all the other stuff a DC does. That's a logical progression.

[klos63]

36 minutes ago, DBilz2500 said:

Blacks aren’t being targeted as unfit candidates. There are more white coaches in the NFL because there are a lot more white people in America. It’s not a slight against black people just a fact. 

My whole family is white,  we are not in the coaching pool, so no,  the US population really has no impact on NFL hires.

56% of NFL players are black,  I'm gonna guess that most coaches played at some point... that's where the pool comes from. 

 

[NewEra]

48 minutes ago, jwhit34 said:

A good transition would be to name Babich DC but McDermott calls the D. Have him do that for 1 year, kind of like an apprentice gig, then 2025 turn the calling of the D over to him. He can do all the other stuff a DC does. That's a logical progression.

It is, but that may require him to turn down play calling opportunities for other teams in 2024. He might not be able to say no with hope that McD even has a HC job in Buffalo next season 

[machine gun kelly]

Babich will most likely get it.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Brady is retained as OC.

10 hours ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

I'll put it this way: Desai was replaced midseason for Matt Patricia.

And how did that go?  Patricia is a waste of space just like every other BB disciple.

[Clyde Smith]

If Babich is not retained, then I rather have Al Holcomb as DC. Promote from within.

[Heitz]

20 hours ago, MWK said:

He’s obsessed with promoting internally

 

Like most good organizations.  If you hire and develop talent, why would you want them to go elsewhere? 🤔

 

 

15 hours ago, DBilz2500 said:

I love how the Rooney rule requires teams to interview candidates of color. Liberal NFL at its finest. Hire the BEST candidate not someone based on color 

 

TBD is obvi full of guys who have had their NFL coaching career cut short by the Rooney rule 🙄

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

1 hour ago, machine gun kelly said:

Babich will most likely get it.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Brady is retained as OC.

And how did that go?  Patricia is a waste of space just like every other BB disciple.

Yeah. He is. Patricia sucked and Desai was considered worse

[hondo in seattle]

22 hours ago, MWK said:

 

He’s obsessed with promoting internally

 

There are no slam dunks at the head coach or coordinator positions.  There are only probabilities, possibilities, and levels of confidence.  You do your due diligence and then hope for the best.  

 

Just to give one example: The Panthers thought it was a slam dunk when they hired George Seifert as their head coach.  After all, he had won multiple Lombardi's both as a DC and HC.  Yet he finished with a 16-32 record with the Panthers and won only one game in his final year.  You just never know how things will work out.

 

But the gamble is greater when you hire from outside the organization.  When you hire from within, you know the person really well.  You know both their strengths and weaknesses, their work habits, how they get along with the rest of the staff, how they prepare for games, and all that stuff.   It's far easier to gauge the probability of success with an internal promotion than an external hire.

 

Additionally, promoting from within makes your organization more attractive to position coaches and lesser staff who want to join your team so they, too, can learn and grow.

[pennstate10]

13 hours ago, jwhit34 said:

A good transition would be to name Babich DC but McDermott calls the D. Have him do that for 1 year, kind of like an apprentice gig, then 2025 turn the calling of the D over to him. He can do all the other stuff a DC does. That's a logical progression.

Im pretty sure that is exactly what will happen. 

[DrDawkinstein]

Every. Single. Interview thread has to turn into people crying about the Rooney Rule. Grow up, snowflakes. It's a pathetic look.

 

Glad to see the Bills are interviewing for that spot at all, because it means McD is getting out of his own way.

[pennstate10]

12 hours ago, klos63 said:

My whole family is white,  we are not in the coaching pool, so no,  the US population really has no impact on NFL hires.

56% of NFL players are black,  I'm gonna guess that most coaches played at some point... that's where the pool comes from. 

 

The flaw in this line of reasoning is the assumption that most NFL head coaches are drawn from the NFL player pool. They’re not. 
 

Bellichek, Lombardi, and Walsh are probably the 3 best NFL HC of the modern era. They collectively played zero downs in the NFL. 
 

What is true is that almost all NFL HC played high school football. Or lower level college football. That is the real pool that’s being drawn from. 

[Mister Defense]

23 hours ago, Buffalo619 said:

Is McShottenheimer going to be our dc again next year? Another year of bone headed blunders and bad management at head coach? Find a capable dc and oc Sean. Wth are you doing ?

 

So you don't think he did a good job coaching the defense this year?

 

[klos63]

18 minutes ago, pennstate10 said:

The flaw in this line of reasoning is the assumption that most NFL head coaches are drawn from the NFL player pool. They’re not. 
 

Bellichek, Lombardi, and Walsh are probably the 3 best NFL HC of the modern era. They collectively played zero downs in the NFL. 
 

What is true is that almost all NFL HC played high school football. Or lower level college football. That is the real pool that’s being drawn from. 

Is your point that there is no issue with minority hiring in the head coaching ranks?

 

Not sure Lombardi was in the modern era, but not important. Do you think any blacks were even interviewed when BB, Lombardi and Walsh were hired? That's the point... opportunity.

 

approx 40% of assistant coaches are black, going into 2023, there were 3 black head coaches, less than 10%, 3 more were recently hired, so now closer to 20%. Progress.

3 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

Babich will most likely get it.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Brady is retained as OC.

And how did that go?  Patricia is a waste of space just like every other BB disciple.

Patricia is a fraud. Has anyone ever seen him use that pencil that's always on his ear?  Never used it, it's an act.

[BarleyNY]

17 hours ago, Buffalo03 said:

McDermott playoff record 5-6

Schottenheimer playoff record 5-18

 

You might want to think about who you're referring to as Schottenheimer

I grew up in Cleveland during the time of the Kosar led, Schottenheimer coached Browns. They were the team of my teenage years. So as someone who has lived it before I can tell you that this Bills run under McDermott feels eerily similar. Right down to Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes playing the parts of Dan Reeves and John Elway. I’m sorry. It sucks, but that’s the reality of it. And trust me when I say that I wish it wasn’t so because I am not having fun reliving that freaking nightmare. 

[bigK14094]

15 hours ago, klos63 said:

My whole family is white,  we are not in the coaching pool, so no,  the US population really has no impact on NFL hires.

56% of NFL players are black,  I'm gonna guess that most coaches played at some point... that's where the pool comes from. 

 

Its called the "availability pool"

[Buffalo03]

6 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

I grew up in Cleveland during the time of the Kosar led, Schottenheimer coached Browns. They were the team of my teenage years. So as someone who has lived it before I can tell you that this Bills run under McDermott feels eerily similar. Right down to Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes playing the parts of Dan Reeves and John Elway. I’m sorry. It sucks, but that’s the reality of it. And trust me when I say that I wish it wasn’t so because I am not having fun reliving that freaking nightmare. 

It's not the same situation. McDermott has already surpassed Schottenheimer in my opinion. Schottenheimer coached 23 playoff games and only won 5. McDermott has coached 11 and his already won 5. He has already had better playoff success than Schottenheimer. It's not the same thing. It feels more like early Tom Coughlin. A guy that had a lot of success with the Jaguars and then had to wait another 4 years with the Giants before finally getting to and winning his first Super Bowl. 

[BarleyNY]

40 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

It's not the same situation. McDermott has already surpassed Schottenheimer in my opinion. Schottenheimer coached 23 playoff games and only won 5. McDermott has coached 11 and his already won 5. He has already had better playoff success than Schottenheimer. It's not the same thing. It feels more like early Tom Coughlin. A guy that had a lot of success with the Jaguars and then had to wait another 4 years with the Giants before finally getting to and winning his first Super Bowl. 

 

The NFL is different too, including more playoff teams now. Most of the teams that McD has padded his playoff stats against (all 6 of his wins are against 5th-7th seeds) wouldn’t even have made it during the 80s when only 5 teams in each conference made it.

 

Maybe McDermott can bee an Andy Reid or Tom Coughlin instead of a Norv Turner or Marty Schottenheimer, but it really doesn’t matter with respect to the Bills or to the comparison I made. That’s because I’m talking about McDermott and the Bills. I watched it once and it’s the same movie, just updated for the 2020s. 

[Buffalo03]

8 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

 

The NFL is different too, including more playoff teams now. Most of the teams that McD has padded his playoff stats against (all 6 of his wins are against 5th-7th seeds) wouldn’t even have made it during the 80s when only 5 teams in each conference made it.

 

Maybe McDermott can bee an Andy Reid or Tom Coughlin instead of a Norv Turner or Marty Schottenheimer, but it really doesn’t matter with respect to the Bills or to the comparison I made. That’s because I’m talking about McDermott and the Bills. I watched it once and it’s the same movie, just updated for the 2020s. 

But you compared it to Schottenheimer in Cleveland. Playoff wins are playoff wins. I don't care who they are against. Marvin Lewis went 0-7 in the playoffs. It didn't matter what seed the Bengals were. The Bengals lost to 6 seeds a few times

[wppete]

On 1/27/2024 at 12:44 PM, Process said:

I don't know much about this guy, but I do know the eagles defense was hot garbage all this season

 

edit: this could actually be a sign they are promoting Babich, as this would be a necessary step

 

 

Complete nonsense. This guy was a complete joke with Philly. 

[Buffalo03]

10 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

 

The NFL is different too, including more playoff teams now. Most of the teams that McD has padded his playoff stats against (all 6 of his wins are against 5th-7th seeds) wouldn’t even have made it during the 80s when only 5 teams in each conference made it.

 

Maybe McDermott can bee an Andy Reid or Tom Coughlin instead of a Norv Turner or Marty Schottenheimer, but it really doesn’t matter with respect to the Bills or to the comparison I made. That’s because I’m talking about McDermott and the Bills. I watched it once and it’s the same movie, just updated for the 2020s. 

And another thing, Schottenheimer just had terrible luck in a few of them. John Elway had probably the greatest drive of all time against them. The next year Ernest Byner fumbles running into the end zone. His last game coaching in San Diego, Marlon McCree picked off Brady in the final minutes, tried to run the ball back and fumbled and the Patriots recovered. There's even video on Marty Schottenheimer's "A Football Life" when it shows him in warm ups of that game telling McCree "if you make a play to seal it, just go down. Don't risk it". McCree tried to run it back anyway. He gets unfairly criticized. Some coaches get the bounces. Some don't. 

[BarleyNY]

31 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

But you compared it to Schottenheimer in Cleveland. Playoff wins are playoff wins. I don't care who they are against. Marvin Lewis went 0-7 in the playoffs. It didn't matter what seed the Bengals were. The Bengals lost to 6 seeds a few times

 

LOL. Pretend that if you want, but to me it’s ridiculous. But speaking of seeding, it does seem to matter to McDermott though. He has gotten all 5 of his playoff wins against 5th-7th seeds. All 6 losses came against 1st-4th seeds. Which does bring up a difference. At least Schottenheimer lost to teams that made the SB. The teams that McDermott’s Bills have lost to are yet to even make it there (though KC would change that this season if they beat the Ravens).

[Buffalo03]

28 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

 

LOL. Pretend that if you want, but to me it’s ridiculous. But speaking of seeding, it does seem to matter to McDermott though. He has gotten all 5 of his playoff wins against 5th-7th seeds. All 6 losses came against 1st-4th seeds. Which does bring up a difference. At least Schottenheimer lost to teams that made the SB. The teams that McDermott’s Bills have lost to are yet to even make it there (though KC would change that this season if they beat the Ravens).

Ok. And again, I just gave a perfect example of a coach that went 0-7 in the playoffs who had home games as the 1 seed at times losing to 6 seed and 5 seed teams and you're response is "pretend that if you want". Those 4th, 5th, 6th seeds are better than Marvin Lewis did and they are still playoff wins. You may hate that but it's the truth

[BarleyNY]

5 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

Ok. And again, I just gave a perfect example of a coach that went 0-7 in the playoffs who had home games as the 1 seed at times losing to 6 seed and 5 seed teams and you're response is "pretend that if you want". Those 4th, 5th, 6th seeds are better than Marvin Lewis did and they are still playoff wins. You may hate that but it's the truth

I didn’t compare McDermott to Marvin Lewis, you did. I compared him to Marty Schottenheimer. FWIW I think McDermott is a better HC than Lewis, but that’s a completely different conversation. 

[Buffalo03]

5 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

I didn’t compare McDermott to Marvin Lewis, you did. I compared him to Marty Schottenheimer. FWIW I think McDermott is a better HC than Lewis, but that’s a completely different conversation. 

My God. Itt's not a Marvin Lewis comparison. You are the one that said "McDermott's playoff wins are only against bottoms seeds". That was you, right? I said a playoff win is a playoff win And when I made the Marvin Lewis example showing that he never won a playoff game no matter who it was you said "pretend that if you want". What I'm trying to say to you is...what do you think Marvin Lewis's response would be if someone asked him if he would have liked at least one playoff win against a 5th or 6th seed, I guarantee he would have have gladly taken it.  McDermott already has a bunch. That means something. A playoff win is a playoff win. I think it's great that you devalue any playoff win, though.

[BarleyNY]

Just now, Buffalo03 said:

My God. Itt's not a Marvin Lewis comparison. You are the one that said "McDermott's playoff wins are only against bottoms seeds". That was you, right? I said a playoff win is a playoff win And when I made the Marvin Lewis example showing that he never won a playoff game no matter who it was you said "pretend that if you want". What I'm trying to say to you is...what do you think Marvin Lewis's response would be if someone asked him if he would have liked at least one playoff win against a 5th or 6th seed, I guarantee he would have have gladly taken it.  McDermott already has a bunch. That means something. A playoff win is a playoff win. I think it's great that you devalue any playoff win, though.

My point is that nothing changes because Marvin Lewis is a god awful playoff coach. A win against Skyler Thompson in the playoffs isn’t the same as one against Mahomes. I don’t know what to tell you if you think they’re equivalent. 

[Buffalo03]

1 minute ago, BarleyNY said:

My point is that nothing changes because Marvin Lewis is a god awful playoff coach. A win against Skyler Thompson in the playoffs isn’t the same as one against Mahomes. I don’t know what to tell you if you think they’re equivalent. 

I never said that they were really equal but a playoff win is STILL a playoff win. Should we have lost to Mason Rudolph because it wasn't Mahomes? As if beating Rudolph somehow doesn't really mean anything? And who the hell knows what we do with a healthy defense last week. No Benford, No Bernard. Rasul not at 100%  that makes a difference also. It's not necessarily an excuse but it was part of it. If he had a fully healthy defense and still lost then I think the criticism is more valid. And you are probably one of the "every team has injuries" guy. How many have 3 or 4 to big name players on one side of the ball. Again, as I said about Schottenheimer. A couple of McDermott's losses have been bad luck. This year with injuries, last year the Damar thing which took a lot out of the team. There are no excuses for 13 seconds or the Championship game. But it's not ALL coaching

[BarleyNY]

1 minute ago, Buffalo03 said:

I never said that they were really equal but a playoff win is STILL a playoff win. Should we have lost to Mason Rudolph because it wasn't Mahomes? As if beating Rudolph somehow doesn't really mean anything? And who the hell knows what we do with a healthy defense last week. No Benford, No Bernard. Rasul not at 100%  that makes a difference also. It's not necessarily an excuse but it was part of it. If he had a fully healthy defense and still lost then I think the criticism is more valid. And you are probably one of the "every team has injuries" guy. How many have 3 or 4 to big name players on one side of the ball. Again, as I said about Schottenheimer. A couple of McDermott's losses have been bad luck. This year with injuries, last year the Damar thing which took a lot out of the team. There are no excuses for 13 seconds or the Championship game. But it's not ALL coaching

Do you think that Schottenheimer wouldn’t have padded his playoff stats with wins against Mason Rudolph or Skyler Thompson? But he didn’t get the chance because those teams didn't make the playoffs during his time. 

[Buffalo03]

11 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

Do you think that Schottenheimer wouldn’t have padded his playoff stats with wins against Mason Rudolph or Skyler Thompson? But he didn’t get the chance because those teams didn't make the playoffs during his time. 

He definitely may have. We don't know. My point is I know of 4 Schottenheimer losses, the drive, the fumble, Lynn Elliott missing the field goal in the closing seconds to beat the Colts in 95 to play the Steelers in the Championship game, the Marlon McCree game. Those all look bad on Schottenheimer and he gets ridiculed for it. Imagine if McDermott got to the championship game or divisional every year and lost but every time it was a missed kick by his kicker in the closing seconds, a fumble by James Cook at the goal line, an INT by one of our defensive backs that instead of going down chooses not to and fumbles and the other team recovers. The narrative of him would still be "he can't win the big one". The McDermott hate at times is ridiculous 

Edited January 28 by Buffalo03

[GunnerBill]

20 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

Do you think that Schottenheimer wouldn’t have padded his playoff stats with wins against Mason Rudolph or Skyler Thompson? But he didn’t get the chance because those teams didn't make the playoffs during his time. 

 

I mean he lost to Matt Schaub, TJ Yates, the Sanchize and a game in which Landry Jones played QB for a chunk of the 2nd half. 

 

Not like he lost to a ton of great QBs. 

[BarleyNY]

2 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

He definitely may have. We don't know. My point is I know of 4 Schottenheimer losses, the drive, the fumble, Lynn Elliott missing the field goal in the closing seconds to beat the Colts in 95 to play the Steelers in the Championship game, the Marlon McCree game. Those all look bad on Schottenheimer and he gets ridiculed for it. Imagine if McDermott got to the championship game or divisional every year and lost but every time it was a missed kick by his kicker in the closing seconds, a fumble by James Cook at the goal line, an INT by one of our defensive backs that instead of going down chooses not to and fumbles and the other team recovers. The narrative of him would still be "he can't win the big one". The McDermott hate at times is ridiculous 

The “McDermott hate” whine is very weak sauce. If that’s all you got, then you’ve got nothing. I certainly don’t hate McDermott. I think he did a great job turning the Bills team around. But this team has come up short too many times under him and he’s made too many mistakes in at least some of those big games with the Bills. A championship not going to happen here with him at the helm. Both sides have a much better chance at success if they part ways. 

4 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I mean he lost to Matt Schaub, TJ Yates, the Sanchize and a game in which Landry Jones played QB for a chunk of the 2nd half. 

 

Not like he lost to a ton of great QBs. 

True. Though I was specifically addressing his time in Cleveland. 

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

 

True. Though I was specifically addressing his time in Cleveland. 

 

Sorry my mistake I was talking Marvin Lewis. 

 

Schotty in San Diego lost to the Sanchize and Pennington (bad) and then to Ben, Brady and Manning (all of which he was outmanned at QB). I'd have to look at Cleveland. Before my time.

[Buffalo03]

5 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

The “McDermott hate” whine is very weak sauce. If that’s all you got, then you’ve got nothing. I certainly don’t hate McDermott. I think he did a great job turning the Bills team around. But this team has come up short too many times under him and he’s made too many mistakes in at least some of those big games with the Bills. A championship not going to happen here with him at the helm. Both sides have a much better chance at success if they part ways. 

True. Though I was specifically addressing his time in Cleveland. 

Lol. You think I got nothing. The comparison to Schottenheimer that you did is basically showing some form of hate. We all know that a Schottenheimer comparison isn't a good thing. Yes, SOME of what McDermott has done in playoff games is coaching and I have acknowledged that. I brought up 13 seconds which was inexcusable and the Championship game when we clearly weren't ready. But people are putting the Loss to the Bengals last year 2 weeks after Lamar almost dies and their head not being in the right spot as part of it as well as an injury depleted defense trying to stop Mahomes with 2nd and 3rd stringers. Yes, they are losses but they aren't in the same category 

[BarleyNY]

21 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

Lol. You think I got nothing. The comparison to Schottenheimer that you did is basically showing some form of hate. We all know that a Schottenheimer comparison isn't a good thing. Yes, SOME of what McDermott has done in playoff games is coaching and I have acknowledged that. I brought up 13 seconds which was inexcusable and the Championship game when we clearly weren't ready. But people are putting the Loss to the Bengals last year 2 weeks after Lamar almost dies and their head not being in the right spot as part of it as well as an injury depleted defense trying to stop Mahomes with 2nd and 3rd stringers. Yes, they are losses but they aren't in the same category 

Excuses are for losers. I’m sick and tired of hearing them. Every team has excuses, but the winners find ways to overcome obstacles. Losers embrace them. 

[Buffalo03]

1 hour ago, BarleyNY said:

Excuses are for losers. I’m sick and tired of hearing them. Every team has excuses, but the winners find ways to overcome obstacles. Losers embrace them. 

Yep. Winners overcome 4 defensive starters being out and having players that started the year as 3rd stringers playing late in preseason games starting in playoff games. And having a teammate die on the field a couple weeks earlier. They do it all the time

[cale]

I appreciate that he is a fellow South Asian brother making it in the NFL. But No thank you.

[LABILLBACKER]

4 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

 

The NFL is different too, including more playoff teams now. Most of the teams that McD has padded his playoff stats against (all 6 of his wins are against 5th-7th seeds) wouldn’t even have made it during the 80s when only 5 teams in each conference made it.

 

Maybe McDermott can bee an Andy Reid or Tom Coughlin instead of a Norv Turner or Marty Schottenheimer, but it really doesn’t matter with respect to the Bills or to the comparison I made. That’s because I’m talking about McDermott and the Bills. I watched it once and it’s the same movie, just updated for the 2020s. 

I agree, McD in the 80's wouldn't work. But the bottom line is he can't beat KC when it matters. And historically his playoff defenses have way underperformed. 

[BarleyNY]

28 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

Yep. Winners overcome 4 defensive starters being out and having players that started the year as 3rd stringers playing late in preseason games starting in playoff games. And having a teammate die on the field a couple weeks earlier. They do it all the time

 

Wasn’t Cincy’s OL a shambles when they beat us a couple years ago? Wasn’t Mahomes hobbled the year before that? Wasn’t KC down 3 points and getting a KO with 13 seconds left? Lotta excuses just sitting there for those teams, but they found a way. 

[T master]

On 1/27/2024 at 12:05 PM, JGMcD2 said:

This tells me they’re promoting Bobby B

 

If they don't they will more than likely lose him . I think Babich knows what & how McD wants the defense to be, other words more aggressive than when Frazier was running it & having someone like Desai on the squad could be a help we just have to trust those doing the hiring that those people will fit .