Buffalo vs Kansas City Divisional Game: The Aftermath

[Alaska Darin]

4 minutes ago, Core Four said:

 

Agree with this.  McD is the anti-Wrecks.

 

However, McD needs to stop shitting the bed in these consequential games; the witch hunts and questioning will go away..  2019 WC vs Texans, 2020 AFCCG, 2021 Divisional round.  All games with extremely poor execution and/or coaching strategy and decisions, three years in a row.  Much of this falls on him.

You'll get no argument from me.  That defense has been pissing me off since year 1.

[Uncle Joe]

10 minutes ago, Core Four said:

 

Agree with this.  McD is the anti-Wrecks.

 

However, McD needs to stop shitting the bed in these consequential games; the witch hunts and questioning will go away..  2019 WC vs Texans, 2020 AFCCG, 2021 Divisional round.  All games with extremely poor execution and/or coaching strategy and decisions, three years in a row.  Much of this falls on him.

I would add the Hail Murray and Tampa Bay overtime games as well to the less then stellar defensive outcomes.

But on the other side of the coin we were in a position to win those games.

[RochesterRob]

29 minutes ago, Core Four said:

 

Agree with this.  McD is the anti-Wrecks.

 

However, McD needs to stop shitting the bed in these consequential games; the witch hunts and questioning will go away..  2019 WC vs Texans, 2020 AFCCG, 2021 Divisional round.  All games with extremely poor execution and/or coaching strategy and decisions, three years in a row.  Much of this falls on him.

  Coaches that get to stick around for several years to get it right are a rarity in the NFL.  Jeff Fisher.  Marvin Lewis.  You just laid the case out for firing McD for 98 percent of the time.  By the way those two who I mentioned never capitalized on the extended time but you could argue that the respective front offices did little to help them.  

[Alaska Darin]

16 minutes ago, RochesterRob said:

  Coaches that get to stick around for several years to get it right are a rarity in the NFL.  Jeff Fisher.  Marvin Lewis.  You just laid the case out for firing McD for 98 percent of the time.  By the way those two who I mentioned never capitalized on the extended time but you could argue that the respective front offices did little to help them.  

There are just so many things involved in building a winning culture. 

 

Both Fisher and Lewis worked under some pretty bad ownership in their last jobs but at the same time were basically unadaptable guys when it came to how they approach football.

 

McD doesn't have an issue with ownership - the Pegulas are clearly willing to pour resources into the team at every level.  That training facility is the best not only in the NFL but likely the world.  In lil' ol' Buffalo. 

 

He has said at the end of each season that you must completely and honestly re-evaluate everything.  Hopefully that includes a very honest review of the defense (especially 49 and the corners after 27), strategy, and on-field communication.

 

 

 

[Spartacus]

57 minutes ago, Core Four said:

 

Agree with this.  McD is the anti-Wrecks.

 

However, McD needs to stop shitting the bed in these consequential games; the witch hunts and questioning will go away..  2019 WC vs Texans, 2020 AFCCG, 2021 Divisional round.  All games with extremely poor execution and/or coaching strategy and decisions, three years in a row.  Much of this falls on him.

maybe the problem is he actually has his team playing in those big playoff games.

fans could go back to years of suckitude, with the season over by Thansksgiving

[Core Four]

23 minutes ago, RochesterRob said:

  Coaches that get to stick around for several years to get it right are a rarity in the NFL.  Jeff Fisher.  Marvin Lewis.  You just laid the case out for firing McD for 98 percent of the time.  By the way those two who I mentioned never capitalized on the extended time but you could argue that the respective front offices did little to help them.  

 

Thing is, I really wasn't trying to make a case to fire McD.  I do think Frazier, and possibly Heath Farwell should be fired, though they probably won't be.  Frazier and McD go way back, Farwell was with McD in Carolina.  McD has to make a decision - continue to have more snafu games that I and other posters have pointed out, or bring in coordinators that understand today's game and can actually communicate and construct a game plan that will work.  The good 'ol boy network may have been in fashion during the 1980s, but that is long gone.

[Core Four]

8 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

He has said at the end of each season that you must completely and honestly re-evaluate everything.  Hopefully that includes a very honest review of the defense (especially 49 and the corners after 27), strategy, and on-field communication.

 

I'm not convinced this applies to his coaches and coordinators.  They come back the next season with schemes that didn't produce during the previous year.  If only the players would 'execute better' seems to be the mindset.

[Core Four]

4 minutes ago, Spartacus said:

maybe the problem is he actually has his team playing in those big playoff games.

fans could go back to years of suckitude, with the season over by Thansksgiving

 

So winning the Super Bowl should not be the goal?  Josh Allen and every other player disagrees with you.

[RochesterRob]

9 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

There are just so many things involved in building a winning culture. 

 

Both Fisher and Lewis worked under some pretty bad ownership in their last jobs but at the same time were basically unadaptable guys when it came to how they approach football.

 

McD doesn't have an issue with ownership - the Pegulas are clearly willing to pour resources into the team at every level.  That training facility is the best not only in the NFL but likely the world.  In lil' ol' Buffalo. 

 

He has said at the end of each season that you must completely and honestly re-evaluate everything.  Hopefully that includes a very honest review of the defense (especially 49 and the corners after 27), strategy, and on-field communication.

 

 

 

  I really think that the resources if not perfect are adequate.  Each team is allotted a certain payroll overall and a certain number of players active on game day.  In the case of McD it comes back to Frazier and his less than cutting edge approach to defense.  If it is not already happening then some talk behind closed doors at OBD about offering Frazier a retirement package.  A few million dollars for a retire and walk away deal for Frazier is not even peanuts for Pegula.  We are a couple minutes to 1PM EST on Tuesday with no talk heating up for a HC position for Frazier.  While it is possible that Frazier is somebody's plan B or plan C the probability keeps going down by the hour in terms of a HC position for Frazier.

[Spartacus]

5 minutes ago, Core Four said:

 

I'm not convinced this applies to his coaches and coordinators.  They come back the next season with schemes that didn't produce during the previous year.  If only the players would 'execute better' seems to be the mindset.

yeah agree

no changes were made from last year

 

the defense was #1 in NFL

the offense was borderline unstoppable

won all their games by double digits

 

trust McD will make changes to find fixes against the offensive juggernauts

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by Spartacus

[Beer__League__Hockey]

1 hour ago, Core Four said:

 

Agree with this.  McD is the anti-Wrecks.

 

However, McD needs to stop shitting the bed in these consequential games; the witch hunts and questioning will go away..  2019 WC vs Texans, 2020 AFCCG, 2021 Divisional round.  All games with extremely poor execution and/or coaching strategy and decisions, three years in a row.  Much of this falls on him.

Honestly the majority of the game was coached well - the Bills set the tone early with 2 converted 4th downs, the Bills adjusted their O when they went down by 9, and the D hung in there, at least until about 2 min to go.  Then all hell broke loose.  The passive calls at the very end of regulation do need fixing.  Ultimately the defense's personality needs to change, but I'm not sure McD can do that.

[RochesterRob]

4 minutes ago, Beer__League__Hockey said:

Honestly the majority of the game was coached well - the Bills set the tone early with 2 converted 4th downs, the Bills adjusted their O when they went down by 9, and the D hung in there, at least until about 2 min to go.  Then all hell broke loose.  The passive calls at the very end of regulation do need fixing.  Ultimately the defense's personality needs to change, but I'm not sure McD can do that.

  Easy to play tight defense early in the game when everybody is fresh.  Our alignment at the very end might have been to allow exhausted players to assume reasonable positions with respect to our opponent.  I'm still not convinced that Frazier is the right guy going forward.

[Alaska Darin]

21 minutes ago, Core Four said:

 

I'm not convinced this applies to his coaches and coordinators.  They come back the next season with schemes that didn't produce during the previous year.  If only the players would 'execute better' seems to be the mindset.

Loyalty has always been overvalued in NFL coaching staffs - there's this misplaced idea that disloyalty means you won't be able to find people willing to take jobs.  Wade basically got fired over friggin' Ronnie Jones, to give one egregious example.  Don't get me wrong, I get coaches standing on the hill when the guy they're fighting for deserves it.

 

I'm super curious about how the locker room reacts to Frazier, either way.  I know he's a well-liked man - but if you're an offensive player and you watched that defense play the way it did so often...can you really not be affected by it?

 

Organizationally there are definitely places for improvement and I doubt Beane will stand pat another season (ignoring the obvious salary cap factor that will be in play now that 17 is getting paid).  I bet that lesson was learned.

[Alaska Darin]

1 hour ago, Uncle Joe said:

Hail Murray

I've bitched about this before but I'll never understand putting defensive tackles on the field in these situations, especially when the opposing QB is basically a waterbug.  We rushed (I believe) 4 guys on this play...and 2 of them were DTs.  

 

Mystifying.

[Foxx]

2 hours ago, Ann said:

9 months!? Try years.

Yeah, no. As the leader, you don't throw anyone under the bus. It isn't going to accomplish anything other than creating inhouse issues that you just don't need.

[Beer__League__Hockey]

Which leads me to a good question - what would you like to see out of the defensive side of the football?

 

For me, I've always loved attacking/borderline gambling defenses such as Glanville's HOU/ATL teams, and more recently the Harbaugh lead Ravens schemes.  Even the Flores Dolphins showed a tendency to pressure more often than not.  They don't always win, but paired with this offense, the gambling would be worth it.  The offense can make up for some of the times when the D gets burned.  But the opposing team has to account for the pressure packages more often, slowing presnap reads - and the wins can be exciting.

 

The approach this D has taken for 4 years is always to play the odds.  Run blitz obvious running downs, play zone in obvious passing situations, and force teams into executing 10-12 play drives to score.  Generally it is a cerebral approach and it works against average and below offenses, but it is by nature also a passive/weak approach.  And when needed, the defense then IS weak by nature.  They do not have the ability to apply their will at all - a 3rd & 10 is a win if they give up 8 yards.  Good teams figure out how to be patient and convert.

 

I doubt we can retool this defense in 1 offseason, but maybe an approach change will work out better than we'd expect.  McD has embraced change on offense, maybe the D side can evolve as well.

[Foxx]

21 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

Organizationally there are definitely places for improvement and I doubt Beane will stand pat another season (ignoring the obvious salary cap factor that will be in play now that 17 is getting paid).  I bet that lesson was learned.

Isn't this coming year, Josh's 5th year option? If memory serves, that's $16 mm this year (still quite a bargain considering what he is going to make). His hefty contract doesn't come into play until '23 I believe.

[Alaska Darin]

24 minutes ago, Beer__League__Hockey said:

Ravens schemes

I almost lost my mind when Martindale became available.

[Beer__League__Hockey]

9 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

I almost lost my mind when Martindale became available.

He's a coaching tree hopper (worked for both Gruden & McDaniels) so maybe?

[Ann]

To everyone's point about McDermott learning on 4th down....