Bills HC Sean McDermott criticize On San Francisco 49ers Team That….
Ever since Josh Allen became the Buffalo Bills starting quarterback they have been one of the best teams in the NFL and a top Super Bowl contender every season. They just haven’t actually won it yet. Or been to one. Those two facts have led to some outside criticism of both the team and head coach Sean McDermott.
McDermott thinks that criticism is “narrow-minded” and explained why this weekend.”I think like anything, when you talk about the Bills, whether it’s (quarterback) Josh (Allen), myself, our team, we’ve had so much success,” McDermott said, via NFL.com. “What’s left for Josh and for all of us is to take that one more step that we need to take.” “To say we haven’t had success or Josh hasn’t had success, I think would be kind of narrow-minded. It’s hard to win in the NFL, so you kind of regroup every year, and you take it one game at a time,” McDermott argued. “But we’re all looking for Josh to really be that face of the franchise, like he’s been, and continuing to evolve, like he’s always done.”
McDermott is correct that is hard to win in the NFL, especially playing in a conference that has Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson playing quarterback in it. There is also no shame in failing to win a Super Bowl over any five-year stretch because Super Bowls are rare and special events.
Teams like the Mahomes-led Chiefs and the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots that win multiple titles in a short period of time are the exception, not the rule. And they have a tendency to wreck the grading curve for everybody else in the NFL.
Even with that being the case, it is fair to wonder if the Bills have completely maximized their window with Allen. It is not just the fact that the team has not been to – or won – a Super Bowl. They have only been to one AFC Championship game (four years ago) and have lost home games in the divisional round each of the past two seasons. Including one in which they were completely dominated by the Cincinnati Bengals.
With Allen’s contract eating up a signifiant portion of their salary cap space the Bills are now facing a yearly cap-crunch that resulted in some major changes this offseason. It is entirely possible their best opportunity to win has already passed them by.
The Bills are still an outstanding team. Easily one of the best in the NFL. But they have just enough small flaws that keep adding up and hold them back against the small handful of teams on their level. They have accomplished a lot. But only one AFC Championship game and no Super Bowl appearances with this core over the past five years does seem at least a little underwhelming.
There has been plenty of recent speculation surrounding 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and whether or not he’ll be back with San Francisco next season, and now former Philadelphia Eagles star DeSean Jackson is the latest to weigh in.
With Aiyuk due for a lucrative payday following his second consecutive 1,000-yard campaign in 2023, Jackson recently predicted the 49ers wideout will seek a trade out of the Bay
“I think it’s going to be hard for him to stay in San Francisco, obviously, with him going on his fifth year,” Jackson told Kay Adams on the “Up & Adams” show Friday. “I don’t think they’ll be able to get a deal [done]. … Yeah, let that man be free and go get another deal somewhere else, because in your fifth year, you’re really supposed to get that extension.
“I don’t think he wants to go play a whole other season and wait to go get another bag or go secure his bag. So, in this perspective, I definitely see him trying to reach to get up out of there.”
Aiyuk, who is entering the fifth and final year of his rookie deal, left his future with San Francisco open as he answered questions from local reporters during locker clean-out day two days after the 49ers’ Super Bowl LVIII loss. Additionally, the receiver fanned trade-rumor flames last week with a cryptic post aimed at Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.
And with multiple high-paid players already on the 49ers’ roster, Jackson believes Aiyuk very well could end up being the odd man out.
But general manager John Lynch and Co. have a reputation for paying their stars, including George Kittle, Fred Warner, Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa — all of whom signed their new contracts close to or after the start of training camp.
Samuel even requested a trade himself before he worked out an extension before the 2022 NFL season, showing that even though contract negotiations can be tricky, a player saying he wants out doesn’t mean all is lost.
“I think we’ve got a nice track record of extending the players that are important to us, and Brandon’s a guy we want to keep around for a long time,” Lynch said earlier this month at the NFL Scouting Combine.
If and when the GM is able to make that happen remains to be seen.
