What does "Complimentary Football" mean in Bills Coachspeak?

[The Jokeman]

1 hour 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 ? 

Basically the offense holds onto the ball and scores points while avoiding making bad plays (turnovers) and not flipping the field aka going three and out and punting leads to the defense to defend 50 yards compared to 70-80 yards. 

[Neo]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

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.

 

 

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"

 

 

 

 

 

This explains it.   The entire team is unaware of this and are doing their damndest to play COMPLIMENTARY football!  The louder McD asks, the bigger the team misses.

 

[Kelly to Allen]

49 minutes ago, bmur66 said:

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

 

I know this is possibly true, but I don't want to believe it.

 

It makes me feel like I have to throw up if McDermott is purposely shortening the game to protect his defense 

 

I want to vomit 🤢 

[ScotSHO]

TBD's favorite radio host from the stone ages Chuck Dickerson would say that's a bunch of horse poopy and things coaches say when they're whistling past the graveyard.

[Neo]

1 minute ago, Kelly to Allen said:

 

I know this is possibly true, but I don't want to believe it.

 

It makes me feel like I have to throw up if McDermott is purposely shortening the game to protect his defense 

 

I want to vomit 🤢 

 

 

IF?

[The Jokeman]

52 minutes ago, bmur66 said:

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

or avoid going three and out and kill less than  3 minutes of clock. It totally killed the Bills in Super Bowl XXV. 

[dcinmuncie]

It means design a terrible pass game with the greatest bill qb ever to go along with a craptastic run defense. 

[QCity]

It essentially means all 3 units played well. It's coach speak - a way to give an answer without really giving an answer (or blaming a specific unit), and it now feels mandatory for all postgame/sideline interviews. It was brought into the football lexicon by Bill Belichick and is another thing I hate him for.