What does "Complementary Football" mean in Bills Coachspeak?

[Chaos]

I generally understand the concept of complimentary football, trying to harmonize offense , defense and special teams strategizes to create synergies greater than the sum of the parts.  My personal observation is we try to manage the offensive cadence to compensate for problems on the defensive side of the ball, in a way that meaningfully reduces the sum of the parts. 

But my question is what does the coach really mean when he says "we need to play complimentary football". Is he saying 1) as head coach, I am not doing a good job of getting the units working together or 2) the units are not properly executing my complimentary game plan or 3) something else ? 

Edited 28 minutes ago by Chaos

[Psautcsk]

It is word salad and is just tossed around to lettuce feel confident in our coaches window dressing.

 

[Simon]

Stay traditionally conservative with tightly controlled procedures and don't let one unit foul things up for everybody else.

[CirclnWagons]

Typically, you’re 100% correct in your thought about all facets of the game working together in a team based synergy. With the bills however, complimentary football is throwing a lower tier mix of has beens, never were’s and James Cook out there every Sunday and praying that Josh Allen can continue to pull out plays that no other human being on this earth can accomplish, consistently enough to stay competitive and possibly even win despite incompetence filling every office at one bills drive. 

[DrDawkinstein]

So, first and foremost, it is COMPLEMENTARY, not complimentary. Not trying to be a grammar nazi but they are two very different things and if youre looking to define "complementary football" it helps to have the right one.

 

Compliment

Definition: To praise, admire, or express approval.

 

Complement

Definition: To complete, enhance, or make something perfect.

 

In Complementary Football, if each unit is executing properly then they should enhance the other units and make their jobs easier. Like the old saying "the best defense is a good offense" and vice versa. That's literally all Complementary Football comes down to.

 

Offense should play in a way that not only achieves their goals but makes the game easier for the defense. Score points, long drives, run the ball.

Defense should get the ball back and in good field position.

 

Quote

But my question is what does the coach really mean when he says "we need to play complimentary football". Is he saying 1) as head coach, I am not doing a good job of getting the units working together or 2) the units are not properly executing my complimentary game plan or 3) something else ?

 

Probably a mix of 2 and 3. With the "something else" being "I need to say something as a head coach so will just use this buzzword catch phrase and the media will get their sound bite"

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by DrDawkinstein

[BuffaloBillies]

My wife and I complement each other perfectly.

I do 0% and she does 100%, so together we do 100%

[drummernut74]

It's McD's  code word for the year for "I'm under too much pressure, so I need to cover for my beloved defense's inability to come up big when it matters most.  I can't take the chance of Josh getting hurt, so I am going to turn him into a game manager and play ball control and time consuming offense"

 

Just like the code word in previous years was "Trust the Process" ... and then it became "Find a Way"

 

.... and next year if he's still here it will be "Stop being a day late and a dollar short while we continue to learn from this"

 

His whole MO is always about "CYA" so he can continue to keep his job and have an excuse

Edited 2 hours ago by drummernut74
addition

[KingBoots8]

“You looked lovely running a bad route”

 

Am I doing this right?

[Kelly to Allen]

Sean McDermott is not Bill Walsh 

 

 

[dorquemada]

20 minutes ago, Chaos said:

I generally understand the concept of complimentary football, trying to harmonize offense , defense and special teams strategizes to create synergies greater than the sum of the parts.  My personal observation is we try to manage the offensive cadence to compensate for problems on the defensive side of the ball, in a way that meaningfully reduces the sum of the parts. 

But my question is what does the coach really mean when he says "we need to play complimentary football". Is he saying 1) as head coach, I am not doing a good job of getting the units working together or 2) the units are not properly executing my complimentary game plan or 3) something else ? 

 

It means when any of Offense, Defense, or special teams suck on a given Sunday, that it is also required that the other 2 squads also suck.  They compliment each other.

[T.E.]

4 minutes ago, drummernut74 said:

It's McD's  code word for the year for "I'm under too much pressure, so I need to cover for the defense's inability to come up big when it matters most.  I can't take the chance of Josh getting hurt, so I am going to turn him into a game manager and play ball control and time consuming offense"

I honestly think that we could have the '85 Bears defense and McDermott would still prefer that Allen not throw the ball much.

[Urban Achievers]

People mistake McD meaning of complementary … he means complimentary. Being nice to your neighbor in the locker room and congratulating each other for good or bad performances.  So as a coach he has truly succeeded. Participating with joy ls what matters.

[bmur66]

It means control the clock and don't score too fast because you will expose the defense.

[Kirby Jackson]

29 minutes ago, Simon said:

Stay traditionally conservative with tightly controlled procedures and don't let one unit foul things up for everybody else.

This seems like the right answer. It’s about balance and predictability. Don’t do something wildly outrageous that changes the game in any phase. It’s kind of “do your job.”

[juno999]

Bills 2025 complimentary football:  Bills win coin toss, and since they’re nice, they defer and kickoff. Our special teams tackle the guy around their 35, the opposing offense scores a TD after running a bunch of plays and chewing up 6+ minutes of game clock. Then the Bills offense goes 3 and out.
 

OR the Bills defense stops the opposing team but not before they’re in Bills territory. The opposing team punts and the Bills offense starts inside their 15 and go 3 and out. 
 

Sorry .. just frustration spewing out. 
 

Actually a good example was the defense holding Tampa to a FG after Allen was intercepted at their own 5 yd line. Also, many good kickoff returns in that game gave the Bills offense good starting field position. 

Edited 2 hours ago by juno999

[Big Turk]

It means the offense doesn't put the defense in bad positions and scores points, controls the ball to minimize other team's opportunities and doesn't turn the ball over.

The defense gets stops and turnovers and does so without giving up a bunch of yards so that punts end up pinning them inside the 10, which then gives the offense a bad drive start.

Special teams limits opposing returns, pins them deep and makes plays when we have the ball as well as making kicks when we need them to.

 

Essentially, all 3 areas of the game play well and more importantly play together in a way that maximizes the chance to win THAT game. That's the key point. On a game to game basis, what that means is situational.

[GunnerBill]

It essentially means:

 

Offense don't turn it over.

Defense get off the field on 3rd down.

Special teams win the field position battle.

 

So far this season we are not doing a great job at any of the 3.

[st pete gogolak]

It’s really insane when you think about it. Do you think our offense would look like this if we had an offensive minded HC and GM from the get-go of Allen’s career?  First priority would be get Josh an offensive line that could protect him. Second get him some weapons.  Third, fashion a defense which is high risk, high reward, i. e. designed to get the ball back in Josh’s hands as many times and as soon as possible.  I’m thinking the Rams defense during the Greatest Show on Turf era.  Instead, we have a ball control offense designed to minimize turnovers and a bend but don’t break defense which fails in the post-season every damn time.  It’s crazy.

[Fr. Jerk]

It means we're on to Pittsburgh, ya dig?

[GoBills808]

2 minutes ago, st pete gogolak said:

It’s really insane when you think about it. Do you think our offense would look like this if we had an offensive minded HC and GM from the get-go of Allen’s career?  First priority would be get Josh an offensive line that could protect him. Second get him some weapons.  Third, fashion a defense which is high risk, high reward, i. e. designed to get the ball back in Josh’s hands as many times and as soon as possible.  I’m thinking the Rams defense during the Greatest Show on Turf era.  Instead, we have a ball control offense designed to minimize turnovers and a bend but don’t break defense which fails in the post-season every damn time.  It’s crazy.

it's one of the strangest plans i can remember tbh

 

we need more possessions on offense but we try to play ball control and kill the clock. we say the way to win is to run the ball but we build our defense to stop the pass

 

makes zero sense