The Bills wrapped up the Head Coaching search and finding their man in Sean McDermott. Unlike last time, the Bills avoided the splashy hire that would sell tickets and got a good football coach who isn’t only good at making bold promises he can never keep. This will be a controversial hire because some wanted the Bills to keep Anthony Lynn and some wanted someone flashy like Kyle Shannahan Jr but for what the Bills were looking for, McDermott was one of the two best options out there and he isn’t Vance Joseph.
The Defense Fits the Personnel (For the Most Part)
In the two years of Rex being here he didn’t do a good job adapting to the personnel. In year one he tried to run an awkward hybrid which mixed the bad things of both his defense and Schwartz defense to make a defense that was pretty bad. Last year he went full Rex defense which once they got a bunch of Rex players, did better but his inability to adapt to the injuries at safety and letting his brother run the show let to his ultimate demise in Buffalo and hopefully going to Miami.
With McDermott the Bills will be running primarily a 4-3, that’s what they ran with Schwartz and what the front seven is built for. This means no more using Dareus as a nose tackle taking up double teams. Hughes will be back at the DE position he is more comfortable in and Shaq Lawson will be moved to DE where he better fits (why Rex thought he could play OLB is beyond me) which means the Bills will have a solid pass rushing front four like the Panthers have had in recent years. The only real need in this defense is a true WLB similar to Kuechly or Kiko who can help in the pass and run game. The secondary is where it will be the most difficult to see what happens. McDermott comes from the Jim Johnson line of defense which is primarily zone coverage and blitzes to attack weak points in the offense. The Bills corners aren’t zone guys, they’re both press man guys which means Gilmore leaving is a very good possibility (especially if he wants Josh Norman money) and the secondary might still struggle if he doesn’t run primarily man like Schwartz eventually did. The safeties however is where the switch benefits the most as they won’t be as super relied upon like Rex’s defense did. Now this means safety isn’t a lock with the first pick and they can go LB instead with Reuben Foster or even WR in Corey Davis.
Question Marks On Offense (A Return to 2015 Offseason)
The Bills offense last two years has been quote a surprise. The offense designed by Greg Roman was the top rushing team the past two years and the points per game significantly improved over the offense of the Nathaniel Hackett era. Even when Rex fired Greg Roman because he couldn’t fire his brother, the offense with Anthony Lynn had no dropoff as the offense did just as well as it did in 2015. Now with a new coach means a new offensive coordinator as Anthony Lynn hopefully leaves and Greg Roman won’t be coming back (thanks a lot Rex). Right now that choice is not yet determined but we know of two names connected to McDermott who at the very least won’t make the offense Hackett level bad.
The name getting the most attention is Mike McCoy. McCoy was recently the Head Coach of the San Diego Super Chargers and before that the offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos. What he is most famous for is making people think Tebow is a NFL QB by adapting the Broncos offense to the Chosen One and making the playoffs. McCoy has been adaptive on offense with the talent he has and I’m pretty sure he can move Tyrod from middle of the pack QB to a top 10 QB. With Shady at RB and a top 10 OL, the Bills offense will be just as good as last year and McCoy can help Tyrod develop his passing abilities to be the QB the Bills so desperately want. The other name I’ve been hearing is Norv Turner. Turner is a great OC, not good HC and has worked well with all types of QBs. He likes to use the TEs deep and his work with Teddy B makes me believe he can get Tyrod to go the next step as a passer. Also he would probably bring his son as QB coach who unlike David Lee can develop a QB. If the Bills get one of those two, I will be very happy with this team going forward.
In conclusion I like the McDermott hire. He wasn’t my #1 choice (Kris Richards the Seattle DC was) but I like the type of coach he is and his defense has for the most part been pretty dominant. This offseason will be critical as the Bills will definitely have to address the linebacker position as McDermott’s defense relies heavily on linebackers to cover the deep zones and right now the Bills don’t have those. Overall I think the Bills will be like the Dolphins last year, not there yet but are trending in the right direction.
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