For all you McDermott haters, who would you want? (Now a poll)

[Kirby Jackson]

2 hours ago, Walking Tall said:

I don’t know why you wouldn’t understand that.  I didn’t say don’t make a change. I said you’d better damn well know that the man you are bringing in is as good or better than Sean McDermott in running a football team. You have absolutely no idea what a rookie head coach would do calling the shots. You have no idea what staff that coach would put together. You have no idea what culture he’d bring to the locker room. You have no idea how he’d handle big games or critical game situations.

 

You bring in a dud and there go 3 more seasons of Allen’s career. 
 

Like when Tampa let go of Dungy, the Bills had better be wise if they consider such a move. 

 

 

You never know what you are getting though. Gruden came back. McCarthy came back. Doug Pederson came back. I don’t “need to know.” There is no such thing. You don’t know. Just give me the guy that you think is the right guy. The culture is already established and it is Josh’s team regardless of who is wearing the headset. The most important factor in the next coach/gm, if they go that way, is that they get out of Josh’s way. 
 

Where we disagree is on the downside risk. I believe there are 200 coaches currently coaching in college and the NFL that could win 11+ games with the current Bills and their schedule. Sustained excellence is guaranteed with Josh Allen in his prime. The ONLY thing that matters is taking the next step. I don’t NEED it to be Doug Pederson or Mike McCarthy because they did it before. 

Edited 40 minutes ago by Kirby Jackson

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

But in a world for a moment where the Bills do get themselves to "time for a change" I saw @HappyDays list of retreads earlier in the thread and I am very confident in saying all those names are downgrades from McDermott. I like Stefanski and he'd be high on my list as an OC candidate (if not at the top) and the idea of him bringing Schwartz back with him is appealing but if you think Sean is bad with clock and game management decisions I urge you to go watch some Browns games (I know, painful) Stefanski's game management is horrific. So any of those retreads feel like change for change's sake rather than change to get better. Feels like spin the wheel.

 

 

I think a lot of head coaches make dumb game management mistakes. Andy Reid was infamous for it with the Eagles. Game management just becomes a hell of a lot easier when you have an elite QB singlehandedly erasing mistakes in every game, so that's not really my deciding factor.

 

What I want from a coach is one of two things (ideally both):

1) A new organizational philosophy towards building the team around Allen first and foremost

2) A better coached defense that also performs well in the playoffs

 

KC has won Super Bowls both ways. The reason Stefanski with Schwartz is my top choice is that I think you get both. The other retreads I mentioned you at least get the defense that can perform and I'd like to think just about any regime other than McBeane would recognize that Allen has to be front an center in your team building philosophy. This regime has failed in such basic almost shocking ways that I sincerely think improvement would be almost automatic, which I know you don't agree with but that's where I'm at.

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

This regime has failed in such basic almost shocking ways that I sincerely think improvement would be almost automatic, which I know you don't agree with but that's where I'm at.

 

I think this is not just wrong, but not even in the right universe.

[HappyDays]

2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I think this is not just wrong, but not even in the right universe.

 

So be clear, I'm not saying that literally any possible head coach/GM combo would be better. I'm saying that because we have Allen we would have our pick of the litter, and given that advantage it would be almost impossible to screw it up. Of the realistic and available selections I genuinely think improvement would be almost automatic. It's impossible to focus less on passing offense than this regime has. It's impossible for the defense to perform worse in the playoffs. I know you still don't agree but I hope you can understand where I'm coming from.

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

So be clear, I'm not saying that literally any possible head coach/GM combo would be better. I'm saying that because we have Allen we would have our pick of the litter, and given that advantage it would be almost impossible to screw it up. Of the realistic and available selections I genuinely think improvement would be almost automatic. It's impossible to focus less on passing offense than this regime has. It's impossible for the defense to perform worse in the playoffs. I know you still don't agree but I hope you can understand where I'm coming from.

 

The names you put out there though are not in this category. I can just about take that argument on Stefanski, though I don't agree. But the rest of the retreads? No. I am very confident they would be worse.

[PromoTheRobot]

On 10/5/2025 at 11:48 PM, L Ron Burgundy said:

That's an end of season question right?  I'd have preferred Belichik or Vrabel over the clapping shiitthead.   Need to see whose available end of season.  

 

Have you seen what is happening at UNC????

[Bangarang]

Pegula isn't going to move on from Beane and McD unless they completely lose the locker room or the team underperforms for years. Neither likely happens anytime soon. 

[HappyDays]

3 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The names you put out there though are not in this category. I can just about take that argument on Stefanski, though I don't agree. But the rest of the retreads? No. I am very confident they would be worse.

 

I'll use Robert Saleh as an example. Even I was asking myself "am I really going to put this name out there?" But then I considered. When Saleh was there the Jets had an elite defense. They managed to slow down and confound Josh Allen which is a feat in itself. As soon as Saleh got fired their defense fell apart and this year their defense has continued to be mostly bad. Meanwhile the 49ers defense has been quite good this year, despite being banged up, after having a disappointing season last year. All of that evidence to me is a lot more informative than the results he had with the Jets under awful ownership with awful QB play (or circus QB play). I don't need him to be Vince Lombardi. I just need him to coach a defense capable of performing at even an above average level in the playoffs, and Allen will do the rest. So when I say improvement is practically automatic that's what I mean.

[Kirby Jackson]

10 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

So be clear, I'm not saying that literally any possible head coach/GM combo would be better. I'm saying that because we have Allen we would have our pick of the litter, and given that advantage it would be almost impossible to screw it up. Of the realistic and available selections I genuinely think improvement would be almost automatic. It's impossible to focus less on passing offense than this regime has. It's impossible for the defense to perform worse in the playoffs. I know you still don't agree but I hope you can understand where I'm coming from.

Well said! You articulated the thought process well. It isn’t that McDermott and Beane have failed. It also is true that they haven’t reached the ceiling and have had many bites at the apple. With Josh Allen, the ceiling is the Super Bowl title. That’s the standard now that they are held to. Many, many, many, many football coaches could win 11+ games and a playoff game or 2 with this group. The floor isn’t much lower than where they have been for 5 or 6 years. The downside risk isn’t there. This is close to the floor with Josh. We aren’t about to be 6-11 because Kevin Stefanski or Klint Kubiak or whomever is wearing a headset.