I keep seeing this take all over the place, so I’ll go first.
To be short - no, I don’t. McDermott has faced criticism for his situational decision making in crucial moments for multiple seasons when he was solely the HC. It’s not as if we’ve seen a dropoff - this is how he’s always been. He’s still calling the exact same conservative, play-not-to-lose style that has become a hallmark of his tenure in Buffalo. Nothing in his past as our HC tells me these decisions would be better if he delegated DC responsibilities back to someone else.
Alas - I’m curious to hear thoughts from a wider audience, so let’s hear it!
No I don’t. Even if we didn’t have any injuries on defense, the fact that he is both HC and DC doesn’t address that he doesn’t call the right defensive schemes when the game is on the line.
He let “13 Seconds” happen to us all over again. Apparently he never learned from his mistake that potentially cost us a Super Bowl.
At this point I think a lot of it is his ego. Yeah he’s a below average game clock manager but he runs the same exact defensive scheme at the end of every game where the record clearly shows it doesn’t work.
I was about to essentially say the same thing you did but with a “yes,” in that he was already not handling the work load of being a HC very well so adding D was a mistake.