WGR Discussing McD's job security

[SoonerBillsFan]

59 minutes ago, jwhit34 said:

Probably as close to 0% chance of this happening and for good reason:

• Start with who is better. I can think of 4 probably for sure: Reid, McVay, Shanahan and Kevin O'Connell.
• Then maybe most would say John Harbaugh and Sean Payton, though McDermott has as good or a better track record over the past 10 years. Both of them have Super Bowl wins over 10 years ago, but how relevant is that? I'd say push to slightly better.
• There would be a couple, like Dan Campbell and maybe Sirianni, that some would favor but I think those are a push at best.

Common thread with all of the above? They aren't going to be available probably ever. 

 

So if you could upgrade that would be good. Otherwise you're taking a shot with a hot coordinator or a retread or a college coach and hoping for a better result. All of those would be a crapshoot. 

 

The Bills are arguably the 2nd or 3rd most successful team in the past 6 years (KC, Philly). McDermott and Beane are going nowhere and that is the right thing.

Mcdermott was a crap shoot as a DC.  We would need to give someone new a shot. And yes the Bill have been one of the best teams...with a QB who has bailed out the Defense more often than not. Lets not forget 2023 when Allen left the field a few games with a lead, only to have the D blow it.

 

That said, McDermott says he has learned from his mistakes and said this offseason things needed to change. We will see this year.

[Virgil]

10 minutes ago, NewEra said:

If our D gets blasted again in another season ending loss, I wouldn’t be opposed to moving on as long as we hire a coordinator that is extremely promising or someone with a great resume as a HC.  

That said, I don’t think Terry would fire McD for at least 2-3 more seasons.  I think his job is safe

If we had fired McD and hired Ben Johnson, I would have been all for it.  I don’t know if there will be a candidate available after this offseason. 

[Success]

Any Yankees fans in the house?

 

The coaching/managing similarities are pretty remarkable.  Boone and McDermott both have a generational talent and all-time player, and have had that for 7+ years.  Both of their owners spend as much or more than most other teams, and have built decent enough rosters around Judge & Allen.  And both Boone & McDermott keep getting to the playoffs, sometimes making a run, but never closing the deal.  

 

It's a conundrum.  You know what you have with both coaches - neither is great, but both are certainly competent, and making a change is one of those high risk/reward situations.  And if the risk doesn't pay off, you really lose the last prime years of both stars.

 

[Augie]

32 minutes ago, NewEra said:

If our D gets blasted again in another season ending loss, I wouldn’t be opposed to moving on as long as we hire a coordinator that is extremely promising or someone with a great resume as a HC.  

That said, I don’t think Terry would fire McD for at least 2-3 more seasons.  I think his job is safe

 

You know who has a great resume as a head coach?  

 

Yeah, a lot of frustrated people here don’t want to hear the obvious answer.   😊

 

I agree, his job is safe for the foreseeable future. 

 

I’d get a kick out of it if he was fired by the Bills and immediately won some Super Bowls elsewhere (he’d be unemployed for about 5 minutes) just to piss off his haters!   🤣 

 

I not only believe that people can get better at their job over time, I expect them to get better. I don’t throw out a coach consistently on the verge over personal frustration, especially over things that happened years ago. 

 

.

Edited Friday at 05:39 PM by Augie

[T.E.]

He is a good culture guy, but sorry, he consistently coaches tight in big games and turtles. Too many times, he's had an A/B decision and picked "A" when the answer should've clearly been "B."

 

Also, he coaches not to lose, which doesn't win Super Bowls. The second half of the Baltimore game last year was a perfect example of that, and barring a couple of gaffes by Mark Andrews, the Bills lose that game because he was too afraid to put a team away. That thinking creeps into the roster too, which is the reason his squads, especially on defense, have no edge or bite. 

Edited Friday at 06:08 PM by T.E.

[Rousseauisnoschmo]

13 minutes ago, lookylookyherecomescookie said:

   Given Pegula's coaching hire history (Sabres-Rolston,Nolan, Bylsma,Housley, Krueger, Granato, Ruff).   (Bills- Marrone,  Rex 'don't let him out of the building'  Ryan), to even consider the thought of McDermott   (86-45, 5 straight afc east titles) being replaced is ludicrous.  Begs the question:  with all due respect,   WGR listeners vs. WGR callers?   your thoughts

Cant say you're wrong about Terry's hiring skills but if you're constantly falling short you have nothing to lose. Guys would be lining up for this job if McDermott got canned. It would be pretty hard to screw that up. Not impossible but pretty darn difficult.

[Mikie2times]

4 minutes ago, Success said:

Any Yankees fans in the house?

 

The coaching/managing similarities are pretty remarkable.  Boone and McDermott both have a generational talent and all-time player, and have had that for 7+ years.  Both of their owners spend as much or more than most other teams, and have built decent enough rosters around Judge & Allen.  And both Boone & McDermott keep getting to the playoffs, sometimes making a run, but never closing the deal.  

 

It's a conundrum.  You know what you have with both coaches - neither is great, but both are certainly competent, and making a change is one of those high risk/reward situations.  And if the risk doesn't pay off, you really lose the last prime years of both stars.

 

It's not happening. He isn't going anywhere. But this just isn't correct. Allen is getting us to the playoffs every year with basic levels of competency. Which is what we have already been doing. We would need to be Cincinnati incompetent to not be a perennial playoff team in the AFC East with an MVP QB. Heck, they almost made the playoffs last year with a historically bad defense.  NFL is a QB league and Allen pulls even more weight for his team than the other top players.  

[ticketssince61]

50 minutes ago, Logic said:

Nick Wright's comments really hit me this morning.

He showed a list of the 30 QBs in NFL history with 6+ playoff wins. 

29 of them have appeared in a Super Bowl. 1 has not, and it's Josh Allen.

He also showed the list of head coaches with 6+ playoff wins to never make a Super Bowl. It's just McDermott and Chuck Knox. That's it.

 

 

1. The list of QB's is for their ENTIRE career not just their first 7 years.  for example, Aaron Rodgers has 1 super bowl appearance in 20 seasons.

 

2. Many of the head coaches were in the league when you required  fewer wins to make the super bowl.  Now with teams generally having 3 games to make the super bowl, it is both a) harder to make and b) easier to gather wins

 

 

[dpberr]

His job security is at 99.9%.  A down season?  Who cares.  It won't be because of him.  The only way he gets fired in the next three years is if there is a change in ownership.  

 

I'd put the chance of change in majority ownership higher than McDermott being fired by the Bills.    The ownership situation is uncomfortably fragile.  

[RoscoeParrish]

26 minutes ago, Albany,n.y. said:

I'll clarify it for you because I guess I wasn't clear enough: By another I meant they did it before.  No coach who won a Super Bowl has ever gone to ANOTHER team and won ANOTHER Super Bowl.  There has never been a coach in NFL history who has won Super Bowls with 2 or more franchises.  Neither Arians nor Reid had won a Lombardi in their previous coaching stints. Coaches have gone to Super Bowls with more than 1 team, but they never won with any other team than the one they won it all with. Some before like Parcells, who lost with NE after winning with the Giants, and some like Reid who lost the Super Bowl with his 1st team & won it with his 2nd. 

 

There aren’t going to be a lot of Super Bowl winning coaches available to hire any way. Probably zero.
 

So really, it’s “has a coach who has never won a Super Bowl with their first job, won one with a different team” and the answer is that lots have.

[RiotAct]

1 hour ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

SuperBowl or bust for me. Honestly if he got outcoached in the SuperBowl I'd move on too. He should have been let go after 13 seconds and if Hamlin hadn't died he should have been fired after the Bengals playoff loss. 

Why would a new stadium have anything to do with the GM or HC decision? That makes no logical sense either way. 

Beane has given him every tool to work with. Josh is at the apex of his career and there are precious few years left of his elite play. 

Reality is if they make the playoffs and lose again he isn't going to get fired. We are stuck with him. Only a catastrophic season would make Pegula move on.

No way, a Super Bowl appearance buys him another 2-3 seasons at least, no matter how we do in the Big Game.

[T.E.]

1 minute ago, ticketssince61 said:

 

1. The list of QB's is for their ENTIRE career not just their first 7 years.  for example, Aaron Rodgers has 1 super bowl appearance in 20 seasons.

 

 

Aaron Rodgers only playing in one Super Bowl is a great example of what can happen when you stick with the same coach who constantly underachieves in the playoffs and pair said coach with a front office who doesn't want to allocate top draft picks to offense because they expect the QB to pick up the slack. Who does that sound like?

[Mikie2times]

4 minutes ago, T.E. said:

Aaron Rodgers only playing in one Super Bowl is a great example of what can happen when you stick with the same coach who constantly underachieves in the playoffs and pair said coach with a front office who doesn't want to allocate top draft picks to offense because they expect the QB to pick up the slack. Who does that sound like?

 

Coaches who started after 1970, minimum 100 games, and no conference championships, stack ranked by winning%.  

 

 

[SoMAn]

Again?  

My reply is redundant, but so is the topic.

 

For perspective:

Super Bowl winning NFL coaches still active:

McVay (8 seasons),

Tomlin (18 seasons),

Harbaugh (17 seasons),

Carroll(18 seasons),

Sirianni (4 seasons),

Sean Payton (17 seasons)

Andy Reid was a head coach for around 20 seasons before finally winning it. Now has 3 of past 5 Super Bowl wins. 

Previously Mike McCarthy had 18 seasons as head coach with a single Super Bowl win.

 

Total seasons by these respected head coaches  : (+/-)125,  Total Superbowl wins: 11

 

It's not easy to make it to the Super Bowl, and even harder to win it.  

Why would anyone with a lick of sense entertain the idea of dismissing the most successful coach (winning percentage) in team history?  What guarantee is there that his replacement would get there?  

 

I suspect some of the comments are from the spoiled instant gratification generation who feel entitled for their dreams and desires always being realized. 

Tough world. 
p.s. - McDermott ain't going anywhere until he decides to move on.

 

 

[hondo in seattle]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

Was listening to WGR yesterday and someone called into ask what Schoop and Bulldog would need to see happen for McD to get fired after this season.  There answer and reasoning honestly surprised me, and also seemed like a course correction from prior years from them.

 

They both stated that the Bills switching to the new stadium next year should prevent McD from being fired under most circumstances, even missing the playoffs.  They both stated that a catastrophic PR issue or the entire team falling off a cliff could change things, but that's about it.

 

I know we have a thread about McD every year,  and even I've been thinking about this more since last years playoff exit.  To me, if we get knocked out of the playoffs again and the defense is the main reason why (giving up 25+ points again), then I think it's time to move on from McD.  I'm not a McD hater by any means.  I will always be grateful for the culture he's brought to this team and the winning we've since pulling us from the drought.  However, if our D (his specialty) fails us again, then I feel very confident to say that McD has taken us as far as he can as a coach.  It doesn't mean he's a bad coach, just means he's not a Superbowl caliber coach.  I know McD would get hired almost immediately by another team that is looking to recreate the Buffalo success and we would be taking a chance on anyone else.  But I also believe we would have our choice of HC candidates.  

 

I guess I'm just at the point where these playoffs losses haven't been talent related so much as they've been outcoached and outschemed.  We put so much focus on the defensive roster over the years, especially this year, that it's time to put up or shut up.  If not, then we are just defining insanity by running it back.

 

If Andy Reid wanted to coach the Bills, I'd be onboard.  But I tend to believe the slam dunk HC candidates are all gainfully employed already so we'd have to roll the dice on an unproven OC, DC or a college coach.  Maybe they'd be great and maybe we'd waste the second half of Josh's career.  Personally, I wouldn't want the risk.

 

With 32 teams in the NFL, there's a 3% chance of any given team wins the SB.  I think the McD/Josh combo elevates that to 10% or so.  Nobody will ever name a trophy after McDermott but he's better than the average NFL coach.  And I do believe if we give him enough shots, he'll get us a Lombardi.      

 

 

[Buffalo Ballin]

Somebody talk to the Chain Gang and press them on why Buffalo Bills are always short on 3rd and inches/4th and inches when we face Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs. McDermott should do that.

[Success]

15 minutes ago, T.E. said:

He is a good culture guy, but sorry, he consistently coaches tight in big games and turtles. Too many times, he's had an A/B decision and picked "A" when the answer should've clearly been "B."

 

Also, he coaches not too lose, which doesn't win Super Bowls. The second half of the Baltimore game last year was a perfect example of that, and barring a couple of gaffes by Mark Andrews, the Bills lose that game because he was too afraid to put a team away. That thinking creeps into the roster too, which is the reason his squads, especially on defense, have no edge or bite. 

 

This is what drives me crazy.  Even as a viewer, I can feel the team & coaching getting tighter as games go along.  The Ravens last year was the perfect example - that shouldn't have been that close.  We were controlling that game. On that last drive, we went complete prevent, and they got downfield in a jiffy.

 

But I agree he's good for our culture, and would even say that he's good at week to week gameplans.  He can be a good HC.  The one thing I wish he would do is give any DC we have full reign - let the DC come up w/ his own schemes and strategy, and let the DC make their own calls during the game.

 

[HereComesTheReignAgain]

I want a SB as much as anyone and think they have a great chance at getting over the hump this year.  To those that want McDermott fired due to his lack of success in the playoffs against KC, I think people tend to overlook the fact that Mahomes and Reid are probably the 2nd best coach / QB tandem in NFL history.  Is there anyone that would argue the fact that Buffalo would have multiple SB appearances in recent years if they played in the NFC?  

[BillytheKid]

If he doesn’t get to the Super Bowl this year he will get fired. People can not like it all they want but it’s the reality. 
 

You can’t keep doing the same things over and over again and keep getting the same result and think things will change. You have to do something different eventually. They aren’t going to get rid of Josh obviously so they will go with a different head coach. 
 

It happens all the time in sports to good coaches when they keep taking their teams far but never get over the hump, they let the coach go eventually and hire someone else they feel will get them over that hump.

 

Mcdermott has been a great coach in most aspects but if there is same thing happens in the playoffs this year then they will need to make a change somewhere and they have already tried multiple OC’s and DC’s now. So he is the next in line. 
 

No matter how good you do if you don’t get where you need to get to at some point every one needs a new change of scenery and to try something different. 
 

You can’t keep getting to the ACF championship and losing and not doing something different.

 

Josh Allen is the only QB in history to win 7 playoff games and NOT play in a Super Bowl. 
 

Mcdermott and Chuck Knox are the only 2 head coaches to win 7 playoff games and not play in a Super Bowl. 
 

Also no head coaching and QB duo has ever not won a Super Bowl with in the first 5 years playing and coaching together ever. 
 

So the only people not liking this or putting a red X on peoples takes are people who don’t know sports or football. 

Edited Friday at 06:05 PM by BillytheKid

[Mikie2times]

Just now, BillytheKid said:

If he doesn’t get to the Super Biwl this year he will get fired. People can not like it all they want but it’s the reality. 
 

Does the rest of the post matter when the first sentence misses this badly? Regardless of what side you're on with such an outcome, I would bet my life he will not get fired even if he loses in the wild card round.