Hall of Famer Bill Polian drew an interesting parallel between Sean McDermott and another Hall of Famer and Anthony Lynn still thinks Tyrod Taylor can be special.
Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
Here’s the Bills news of note for March 3.
1 – Polian: Coaching parallels between McDermott and Levy
He was hesitant to draw the comparison, but Hall of Famer and ESPN NFL analyst Bill Polian has seen some similarities between Bills new head coach Sean McDermott and Bills Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy.
“I hate almost to say this because it’s unfair to Sean, but in many ways he’s Marv-like,” said Polian in an appearance on the John Murphy Show. “It’s a very high bar and I don’t want to put it there, but the qualities are similar. He’s cerebral. He’s low key. He’s on the money.
“He speaks about things that are important and dismisses things that are not important. He’s a very good teacher. He stands the gaffe when things are tough. He’s able to weather the storm and keep the team focused.”
Polian said proof of that came last year in Carolina, when after losing his top cornerback in Josh Norman, who signed with Washington in free agency had to coach up a pair of rookie corners to fill major roles in the Panthers defense.
“Witness what he did with the secondary in Carolina last year. They lose their linchpin player and they’ve got to play two rookies who aren’t ready to play,” said Polian. “By the end of the year they were performing at a maximum level and he never uttered a negative or cross word through the whole situation. That tells you a lot about what a guy is going to be as a head coach.”
2 – Lynn: Sky is the limit for Taylor
The Bills still have about a week to determine whether or not they will pick up the contract option on Tyrod Taylor, and gave every indication they’ll make use of all of that time. Bills former offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn, now head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, doesn’t know if Taylor is a franchise quarterback, but he did express his opinion of what he believes Taylor can be.
“I think he’s definitely a starting quarterback in this league, and he won a few games with the Bills that we could not have won without him,” Lynn said. “And, working with him one-on-one, I understand his upside maybe better than others. But, I think the sky is the limit for Tyrod Taylor. He’s a very smart, hard-working professional.”
With Lynn as his offensive coordinator last season, Taylor made 13 starts and went 7-6. He completed 61.5 percent of his passes averaging 6.81 yards per attempt with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions and an 88.4 passer rating.
3 – Rivera on best move McDermott has made thus far
Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera, who had Sean McDermott as his defensive coordinator the past four years commended his former assistant for making a very good decision in assembling his coaching staff.
“I think he’s done a great job in terms of the staff he’s put together,” said Rivera at the NFL Combine. “One of the things he and I talked about was making sure on your first staff – and I didn’t do this – I learned that you need to have a former head coach on your staff that you can lean on and go to. Well, he hired Leslie Frazier, who was with us in Philadelphia (on Andy Reid’s staff). So he has a working relationship with Leslie as well.”
McDermott announced at the Combine this week that Frazier will be calling the defensive plays for Buffalo on game days. He admitted that he has already leaned on Frazier for some of the head coaching decisions he has to make too.
“I’ve utilized Leslie in a lot of different areas and he gives me great perspective on a lot of things as a head coach,” said McDermott. “And from a defensive standpoint I’ve got a lot of confidence in Leslie.”