Buffalo Bills 2023 Thread

[Night Train]

Still, the Bills have to win out and need a lot of help to achieve the playoffs. Their own fault. 

Just focus on defeating a depleted Chargers team and don't have a hangover letdown. 

[Doohicksie]

4 minutes ago, Night Train said:

Still, the Bills have to win out and need a lot of help to achieve the playoffs. Their own fault. 

Just focus on defeating a depleted Chargers team and don't have a hangover letdown. 

The Bills control their own destiny.  There is a single scenario where the Bills are eliminated if they win out:

 

12 hours ago, Night Train said:

TV boys said Thurman in 1991. 

It was actually Fred Jackson.  I heard the Thurman quote but that was earlier in the game.

[Doohicksie]

11 hours ago, nfreeman said:

I'll say it again:  McD is a great coach.

If he was a great coach, 13 seconds would not have happened.

[Doohicksie]

Did anyone watch the late game yesterday?  All I can say is Jacksonville is one poorly coached team, and Tevor Lawrence is one undisciplined quarterback.

[inkman]

8 hours ago, K-9 said:

Allen had a similar play last week from six yards out. These push plays are becoming more common as we see one every week around the league at least. Used to be illegal back in the day.

It will be again…soon 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I had a feeling in my gut that the Bills would win big.

It's more exciting when more teams are competitive.

In the end I think the Bills win the division.

[nfreeman]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

If he was a great coach, 13 seconds would not have happened.

If he weren't a great coach, they'd still be going 7-9 every year.

The Bills were the biggest joke in the NFL for 17 freaking years.  The stink of loserville was deeply ingrained in the franchise.  He pulled them out of it. 

And this year, when they were on the ropes, he did what needed to be done in firing Dorsey and he got the team to rally and beat KC on the road and throttle one of the hottest teams in the league yesterday.

There's another franchise in town that could sorely use a guy like McD.

[Doohicksie]

56 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

If he weren't a great coach, they'd still be going 7-9 every year.

The Bills were the biggest joke in the NFL for 17 freaking years.  The stink of loserville was deeply ingrained in the franchise.  He pulled them out of it. 

And this year, when they were on the ropes, he did what needed to be done in firing Dorsey and he got the team to rally and beat KC on the road and throttle one of the hottest teams in the league yesterday.

There's another franchise in town that could sorely use a guy like McD.

It's not *just* the 13 seconds.  It's that the Bills would LITERALLY be in first place if he could kill an opponent's drive on the last possession of a game.  How many has he blown this year?  4?  It's gotten so predictable that when the Bills have a late go-ahead drive you just know the other team is going to drive right back down the field.  Only a stupid mental error by Toney prevented that against KC last week.

McClappy has just about the worst end-of-game management I've ever seen.  You can't be a "great coach" if you can't protect a late lead.

[Crusader1969]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

If he weren't a great coach, they'd still be going 7-9 every year.

The Bills were the biggest joke in the NFL for 17 freaking years.  The stink of loserville was deeply ingrained in the franchise.  He pulled them out of it. 

And this year, when they were on the ropes, he did what needed to be done in firing Dorsey and he got the team to rally and beat KC on the road and throttle one of the hottest teams in the league yesterday.

There's another franchise in town that could sorely use a guy like McD.

Great ??? There is now way he is great. I'll give him pretty good for the first 58 mins of a game.   In close games in the last 2 mins he is down right awful 

If hes great what are the guys that recently out coached him in playoff games. -Reid  (KC) and Taylor (CIN)? 

2 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

It's not *just* the 13 seconds.  It's that the Bills would LITERALLY be in first place if he could kill an opponent's drive on the last possession of a game.  How many has he blown this year?  4?  It's gotten so predictable that when the Bills have a late go-ahead drive you just know the other team is going to drive right back down the field.  Only a stupid mental error by Toney prevented that against KC last week.

McClappy has just about the worst end-of-game management I've ever seen.  You can't be a "great coach" if you can't protect a late lead.

Me and you should be better friends ! lol 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

2 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

It's not *just* the 13 seconds.  It's that the Bills would LITERALLY be in first place if he could kill an opponent's drive on the last possession of a game.  How many has he blown this year?  4?  It's gotten so predictable that when the Bills have a late go-ahead drive you just know the other team is going to drive right back down the field.  Only a stupid mental error by Toney prevented that against KC last week.

McClappy has just about the worst end-of-game management I've ever seen.  You can't be a "great coach" if you can't protect a late lead.

The game is played on the field. 

The difference in winning or losing is often a matter of inches.

[Doohicksie]

3 minutes ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

The difference in winning or losing is often a matter of inches.

It doesn't excuse all the blown wins.  McDermott will coach a stellar defensive effort only to go to a week prevent at the end and hand victory to the other team.  He's done it again and again and again.

[Crusader1969]

6 minutes ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

The game is played on the field. 

The difference in winning or losing is often a matter of inches.

But when you are the wrong side over and over again, then there is a cause ... in this case coaching 

[Night Train]

Until McD gets the Bills to the SB, he's Marty Schottenheimer.

Gets teams out of the basement and qualifies them for the playoffs. Marty had 200 wins and a .613 win % in the regular season. Then 5-13 in the playoffs. Played not to lose. Scared. 

Maybe Brady as the OC was the gift he needed. We'll see. It took a while for Reid to get Philly to the SB. He was still fired later but got a good QB in Mahomes after a year in KC. 

 McD has a good QB in Allen. And yet the Bills still lose games to the Jets, Pats, Broncos, Jags.. D folds late in others. 

 Hopefully yesterday may have been a turning point but future games will answer that. 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Night Train

[JujuFish]

14 hours ago, nfreeman said:

I'll say it again:  McD is a great coach.

I think my posts have shown I'm closer to your viewpoint than the general consensus on this board, but I think that's a tad far for me. I'll call him a good to very good coach. I do need to see extended playoff success (preferably in the form of a Super Bowl victory, but ideally at least an appearance) before I'll say great.

[JujuFish]

14 minutes ago, Night Train said:

Marty had 200 wins and a .613 win % in the regular season. Then 5-13 (.278) in the playoffs.

For what it's worth, McDermott is better than both of those marks, at .631 % and 4-5 (.444). He does still need to improve his playoff performance.

[That Aud Smell]

15 hours ago, Taro T said:

Need to keep it up against an LA team that will be feeling its oats having finally been unshackled from the worst late game coach this kid has ever seen.  The timing of when the Bills have been playing teams for the most part has been far from ideal this year.

Oh gotdammit - are the Chargers in line for a fired HC dead cat bounce?

[nfreeman]

1 hour ago, Crusader1969 said:

Great ??? There is now way he is great. I'll give him pretty good for the first 58 mins of a game.   In close games in the last 2 mins he is down right awful 

If hes great what are the guys that recently out coached him in playoff games. -Reid  (KC) and Taylor (CIN)?

Well, I think most NFL observers would say Reid is a great coach.  He's accomplished more as a HC than McD has, but Reid's been a HC for 25 years, while McD has been one for 7.

Taylor is pretty well regarded too, although he has a career losing record.  It's not crazy to say he outcoached McD in the playoffs last year, but I don't think that it's inarguable either.  The Bills had a very difficult year last year, with a number of very unusual events hanging over them.  Could a different coach have righted the ship and beaten Cincy in the playoffs?  Possibly, but I don't think we can be sure either way.

I too would like to see better and sharper end-of-game execution, and it's fair to hold McD accountable (although several of the end-of-game debacles have been freak occurrences that I don't think it's fair to blame him for -- the Kyler Murray hail mary, JA's fumble in the end zone vs Minny, etc.).  I just think that that is one of many elements that a coach should be evaluated on, and that he shines in most of them.

Let's see what happens this year.

[carpandean]

On paper, I would expect the last game to be for the division.  The Bills should win both of their games before that, and I would expect Miami to go 1-1 in theirs.  That said, too much potential for any given Sunday or "Billsy" losses to mess that up.

[MattPie]

56 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Well, I think most NFL observers would say Reid is a great coach.  He's accomplished more as a HC than McD has, but Reid's been a HC for 25 years, while McD has been one for 7.

Taylor is pretty well regarded too, although he has a career losing record.  It's not crazy to say he outcoached McD in the playoffs last year, but I don't think that it's inarguable either.  The Bills had a very difficult year last year, with a number of very unusual events hanging over them.  Could a different coach have righted the ship and beaten Cincy in the playoffs?  Possibly, but I don't think we can be sure either way.

I too would like to see better and sharper end-of-game execution, and it's fair to hold McD accountable (although several of the end-of-game debacles have been freak occurrences that I don't think it's fair to blame him for -- the Kyler Murray hail mary, JA's fumble in the end zone vs Minny, etc.).  I just think that that is one of many elements that a coach should be evaluated on, and that he shines in most of them.

Let's see what happens this year.

It's early to call McD great. As someone else said, good to very good right now. Few people outside Buffalo would remember McD for his work to date; that's not the sign of a great coach. Right now, McD's legacy *is* late-game bad decisions. Frankly, so was Andy Reid's until KC (from my memory of him in Philly).

The 7 vs 25 argument is, well, unconvincing. There are far more coaches that had 7 good years and disappeared than the few that won it 18 years later. Maybe McD gets there someday, but the odds are not in his favor.

Edited December 18, 2023 by MattPie
softened my opinion up a bit, lol

[steveoat87]

Kevin Adams pay attention.  McDermott correctly fired the offensive coordinator and this led to significant improvement in the Bills.  Figure out where changes need to be made on the coaching side and please enact them.

[irregularly irregular]

I think most of us could agree that McD is the best coach since Marv. To call him great (at this point) is a stretch. That sums it up. 

[JujuFish]

50 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Oh gotdammit - are the Chargers in line for a fired HC dead cat bounce?

Big trap game vibes. The Chargers, without their starting QB and having just fired their GM and HC, have to play Buffalo, who just thoroughly dominated one of the (presumably) best teams in the league.

 

That said, I expect everyone in the organization knows this and they will be well prepared.

Edited December 18, 2023 by JujuFish

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, carpandean said:

On paper, I would expect the last game to be for the division.  The Bills should win both of their games before that, and I would expect Miami to go 1-1 in theirs.  That said, too much potential for any given Sunday or "Billsy" losses to mess that up.

You expect Miami to finally win a game against an opponent that's above 0.500 for the 1st time since the heat stroke/Tua "ankle" injury game?  Why?

[Doohicksie]

46 minutes ago, JujuFish said:

Big trap game vibes. The Chargers, without their starting QB and having just fired their GM and HC, have to play Buffalo, who just thoroughly dominated one of the (presumably) best teams in the league.

 

That said, these are the Bills not the Sabres, and they will be well prepared.

fify

[LGR4GM]

I remember how during the draught Josh Allen really struggled... wait I am being told that Josh Allen was in fact not on the Buffalo Bills before McDermott was here. Huh, neat. 

Josh Allen is the reason the Bills are good. It starts with him, not McDermott who couldn't even keep a team out of field goal range with 13 seconds left in a ***** game. 

1 hour ago, irregularly irregular said:

I think most of us could agree that McD is the best coach since Marv. To call him great (at this point) is a stretch. That sums it up. 

Josh Allen is the best QB to ever play for Buffalo.