First Things First - HIGHLIGHT: Josh Allen or Sean McDermott under more pressure?

Episode Date: July 30, 2025

Watch clips on YouTube! Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FIRST THINGS FIRST YOUTUBE CHANNEL⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Bills head into another season as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl. Who is under more pressure to perform: HC Sean McDermott or MVP winner Josh Allen? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Right now, Jeffrey Chidiah of NFL.com released an article outlining each team's number one challenge. We're going to start with Buffalo. Where Tudia writes that the bill's challenge is, quote, being reliable on defense when it matters most, noting that the team gives up 33 points in their last five playoff losses. So who's under more pressure here, Alan or McDermott, Brew? Look, Josh Allen, like I said, about Lamar, every year he's facing a ton of pressure now. Now, the difference is he has played some of his best football in the playoffs. So that's different from Lamar.

So I'm going to go with McDermott because if they, let's say they have a next season ends almost exactly like this past season did. You're not getting rid of Josh Allen. You stick with Josh Allen. But at some point, they may feel like even if your coach is good and McDermott is good. Sometimes it's like when we keep getting close but we can't get over the hump, we just saw it with the Knicks and Tom Tibida. Whether you agree with it or not.

Like this is what happened. Andy Reid, now I know his last year there in Philly was bad. Tony Dungee in Tampa. Yes. Like, I mean, even go to John Elway, Dan Reeves was a really good coach. And they got moved on from him at Wade Phillips.

And then Mike Shanahan comes in. So you're never getting rid of your franchise quarterback if he's that good. So the coach, even if he's good, and McDermy's done a very good job. But at some point, they may be like, we got to look at the culture. We got to look at the, we need a new voice or we just, or and this is the cruelty of the, of the gig, or we just can't keep doing the same thing.

And so to Chediah's point, here's the numbers, because this is kind of, the bill's defense has been the opposite of the early Spag's Chiefs defenses where they were bad in the regular season and then stepped up in the playoffs. The Bill's defense is excellent every regular season. And then every playoff loss, they give up a 30 piece basically. You know, 29 or 20 is a big number. And it's always against an elite quarterback that saw usually Patrick, but it was also Burrow once. And was it Lamar once as well? No. And that solves them to a degree.

So like that just that that's what it's been. And then there is, I don't, I brought this stat up a number of times over the years. Scott Casimir, it's kind of his stat. He's the only person I've ever seen, like publicize it. But there is no coach quarterback combo in the history of professional football that went on to win a Super Bowl together. That did not win their first one together in their first five years. So every coach quarterback combo ever that has won any Super Bowl, together at one at least one in their first five years. This is year eight for Josh and McDermott

and Lamar and Marball. I was going to say that. I'm wondering why Marlowe always. Yeah, no, Lamar and Harbaugh as well. I mean, we've got to put in a little bit of context. That stat may be true, but you also look at the coach and quarterback that have won three Super Bowls in that realm. And that that's the issue. That's the issue here. It's four out of the five games have been against Kansas City. So it's not necessarily solving the defensive problem. It's solving the defensive problem against the Kansas City Chiefs, which a lot of people have had a hard time dealing with.

And you could say, yeah, maybe they're playing poorly in the playoffs, or maybe Kansas City plays better in the playoffs than, you know, so it's a little bit of both. Well, look, it's a problem. When you have one of the greatest all-time players on a team that's in your

conference and you've got to deal with them, you've got to keep trying new things. And you're, to some degree, you've got to draft and build your free agency based on how are we going to beat Kansas City. They tried that. That was like the Von Miller thing. Which I totally get.

But just because you tried it once and didn't work, the problem hasn't gone away. They're still there. You've got to try some other things because until you solve that problem, it's four out of five games against the Chiefs. But so I mean, I don't, I agree with almost everything Bruce said. I do think Sean McDermott's a good coach. I think he's proven that. And I don't think you would necessarily even be likely.

So this might sound dumb to get better at head coach if you fired. But if they play the Chiefs in the playoffs again, and they lose to the Chiefs again, I don't know how you can go into 2026 and be like keeping it the same boys. I don't know. You know what? Like it just seems like you would, you almost to give your team a sense. a reason to believe this year will be different. Like the Ravens did that last year, in my opinion, by adding Derek Henry.

You know what I mean? Like it was a significant enough addition where it's like, you know what? We're going to have something. We lost in the playoffs because we didn't run the ball. What if we had this badass running back and whatever. But to some degree they did do that. And then because they did do that, then you've got to take a step back because when you spend like that. Oh, when they went and got on Miller.

Yeah, you go and get some players and you take that swing, you know, that for the fences, and then eventually got to pay that bill, and they paid the bill and still had success, it's easy to get rid of guys, and it's easy to put it into one context. But without looking at it in relationship to how successful Kansas City has been, I don't think it's a fair evaluation. I don't think it's fair either. I just think there's a weird thing psychologically, like McDermott got fired by Reed. Josh has always been measured against Patrick.

They clearly, there's one other thing I want to say. about this specific matchup. I think Buffalo makes a mistake by caring as much as they do about the regular season matchup with the Chiefs when the Chiefs clearly are going a different way and they haven't learned from it. I think that because they're seating on the line

and because of all these things, I think the Chiefs and their coaching staff get every year an honest blueprint of how Buffalo thinks they can beat us. And the bills go into the playoff game, totally blind on what the chiefs actually think can beat Buffalo because the chiefs don't treat the regular season matchup the way Buffalo does. And I think it's a risky thing, you know what I mean, to not give it your best tactical effort in the regular season.

But when it has been every year the bills beat the chiefs in the regular season, every year the chiefs beat the bills in the playoffs, the sample size is getting big enough to where you think maybe they need to change that up. Do you buy that? Coach, what are you supposed to do? I just don't think that you can go through the regular season. Kansas City may be able to. Right. Go through the regular season and assume we're going to be deep into the playoffs.

I don't know if Buffalo has that luxury. And especially last year, when you look at last year, and I was as guilty of this as anybody, I thought that was going to be a rebuilding year. I thought the loss that they had at wide receiver was going to set them back. And they overachieved, in my mind, as to where they were. So when you play a team like Kansas City and you have an opportunity to win that game, you're going to take that opportunity because they're not like Kansas City. They can't guarantee that they're necessarily going to be in the spot.

It's an interesting concept. I just think that's a benefit you have when you've won Super Bowls. Sure. But you know, every regular season game doesn't matter. There was just that Kelsey little golf clap after they beat them in the regular season, even though that ended the Chief's undefeated season. You know what I mean? They were undefeated going into that game.

And if they had a chance, like they were thinking three beat them, undefeated and Kelsey's reaction was good for you guys and it just felt like a very different kind of stakes on that game for those two teams