Down 28-6 at halftime with an 0-2 start staring the Buffalo Bills and head coach Sean McDermott in the face, the second-year coach made a bold move.
After allowing 75 points through the first six quarters of the season and hearing linebacker Vontae Davis controversially announce his retirement at the two-minute warning of the first half on Sunday, McDermott stripped former Vikings head coach and current Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier of his defensive play-calling duties.
The results were better under McDermott’s watch as Buffalo forced three 3-and-outs to start the second half and allowed just three points after halftime in their 31-20 loss.
“I thought the players did a good job of freeing up, making some plays and flying around,” McDermott told Twin Cities reporters on a conference call.
The Bills trailed 26-0 at halftime in Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens and saw the deficit balloon to 40-0 before scoring their first points of the season. During that game, McDermott made a quarterback switch from struggling Nathan Peterman to rookie first-round pick Josh Allen, who he named the starter moving forward — big decision No. 1.
Big decision No. 2 will be whether or not McDermott hangs onto play-calling responsibilities, which he held with the Carolina Panthers when they reached the Super Bowl in the 2015 season.
“Leslie and I are going to work on things together like we’ve done before,” McDermott said, not committing to an official role for Sunday’s game at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Frazier coached the Vikings for three full seasons from 2011-13, but his defenses never finished above 16th in yards allowed, bottoming out at 31st in 2013 which led to Frazier’s departure.
The Bills were a playoff team last season despite allowing the seventh-most yards in football. Needing a spark amidst an 0-2 start, McDermott shook things up.
Could a new voice calling the plays bolster the Bills defense when it takes on the Vikings and John DeFilippo’s offense?
“Putting myself in that situation,” said DeFilippo, “there’s only so much wholesale change you can do in one week. Now that doesn’t mean that their pressure numbers aren’t going to change. Instead of pressuring 14 percent of the time on third down, it may go up to 25. There’s only so much you can do when you’ve had OTAs, training camp, two games in the season so far. You can’t just wholesale change and say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna go from a 4-3 to a 3-4 or yada, yada, yada.”
While the Bills appear unsettled in their defensive play-calling, the Vikings remain steady with head coach Mike Zimmer calling the plays despite numerous discussions over the years about letting defensive coordinator George Edwards take over.
“I don’t want to be a second-guesser,” Zimmer said Wednesday. “If I make the call, and it’s the wrong call, then it’s my fault. I don’t want to sit there and complain to George that, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t have made that call.’ I don’t think that’s right. Everybody does it their own way. I know he’s going to find out, if he’s doing the things I’m doing, it’s a lot harder than just being the head coach.”
Edwards was the Bills defensive coordinator in 2011, and he’s been in the same position with the Vikings since 2014. He was asked to call plays once in 2016 when Zimmer missed a game after undergoing emergency eye surgery. Minnesota’s defense held the Dallas Cowboys — at the time, one of the league’s top offenses — to just 17 points.
“[W]e do a good job of planning and preparing,” said Edwards, “and we’re all on the same page no matter what ends up getting called and what we have to adjust to throughout the course of the game.”
Both head coaches could be calling the defensive plays on Sunday. For Zimmer, it will be old hat. For McDermott, it may be an urgent attempt to rescue a fading season.
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