If he can convince Allen to collaborate on pushing ownership to move on from McDermott, then I’m voting Allen/Diggs in 2024.

So if there’s no way he’s going to make the 60 yarder, why use the timeout? His job as coach is to use the timeouts as a tool to principally extend the time that can maximize his team’s ability to score. Calling a timeout to try to hope you scare an opponent into missing a kick is an incredible waste of a valuable tool to extend the game by offering more options for his offense to operate.

Reasoning that “my opponent is bad because my player has been bad tonight” is even worse logic. I was there, it was misty most of the night, chilly but not cold and the wind wasn’t much of a factor.

The issue isn’t coordinator vs head coaching experience: it’s offensive vs defensive philosophy. Offensive head coaches have had a recent undeniable period of success in the NFL. Look at the standings now: of the 8 division leaders, 7 are coached by former offensive coordinators or coaches. Given that the game is regulated and officiated in a way that’s easier for offenses, why are the Bills leaning into a coach that thinks and manages the game from a defensive mindset? McDermott’s inability to coach in a way that acknowledges that reality is what’s setting this team up to have to win in spite of their coach.

I’m listening to his postgame right now and the explanations behind the timeout usage is laughable. He’s arguing that he tried to “end the game” by calling a timeout attempt to disrupt the kicker “in the rain, making him think about it a little bit.” That is insane logic. Kickers are routinely hitting from over 50 yards. Elliott has a kick of 60 yards this season. Does the head coach of an NFL team think that 30 seconds is really going to have a discernible effect on his ability to make or miss the kick? What does that say of McDermott’s opinion of the tenacity and confidence of his own players.

We are watching a coach completely regress in real time. It’s quite clear that McDermott blamed their losses of the past on the inability to be multidimensional or too aggressive on offense, rather than on the fact that his decision making becomes far too predictable when the moment becomes larger. It’s time to move on.

Keith?

I heard LeBron was checking out retirement communities out near Malvern. I fully expect Keith to keep us up to speed on the latest. /s

Cop out answer, but everyone deserves blame.

One thing I haven’t really seen discussed regarding Josh’s role: at least a couple of times this season prior to his dismissal, Dorsey referenced needing to call plays that his QB is comfortable with. My recollection is that the context stemmed for questions surrounding running plays from shotgun. The insinuation was that Josh is more comfortable in shotgun than under center, despite the fact that early in the season they were absolutely deadly in play action.

I think one of Brady’s biggest challenges is in convincing Allen to do the things he’s not as comfortable with with more regularity in order to make his life as a QB easier. I’m not sure that Dorsey was ever able to do that consistently.

It should be Allen, but I’m not sure he wields that power as much as he could. McDermott would be my guess. He’s the first to arrive, helped stabilize then turnaround a flailing organization. I’d guess that he carries the most weight with Pegula.

Clearly the Texans weren’t selling tickets for future games, so the Bengals had nothing to motivate them going into the game. /s

I predict that the offense will look great, but I won’t buy it until they look that way against the NYJs and Eagles.

Also, Sean, for the love of God come up with a new cliche than “complementary football.”

I thought the word of the season was “complementary” at OBD? /s

Give us time, there will definitely be some absurd basketball takes here. /s

My guess is they realize this is really the last shot with this group, and the stress of not getting over the hump is compounding the anxiety. The weight of expectations can really ruin the fun of watching a team. Honestly, in addition to this current iteration of the Sixers, the last time this team was this fun to watch was when Ben was sitting out a couple years ago and the guys all seemed galvanized by it. Harden is an all-time player, no doubt, but as a fan you expect to win with a player like him and Embiid together, so individual wins in the regular season feel more like checking boxes that an entertaining outcome.

Morey’s philosophy is that you need at least two stars, and preferably three, to win a championship. I don’t think Caruso would be the third “star” they’re looking to acquire.

I’m not a Harden fan and I’m happy with how the trade worked out. That said, it’s nuts to assume that the Clippers were going to be able to seamlessly incorporate their new primary ball handler, who had basically no legitimate training camp and no games played up until this point, as soon as he started to play. Gotta give it a month at least before anyone can call it a failure.

I’m just dying to hear his impression of Joel.