If the Chicago Bears are interested in interviewing Leslie Frazier for their head-coaching vacancy, it’s news to the Buffalo Bills’ defensive coordinator.
“I really don't know anything about it,” Frazier said Monday, a day after the Bills wrapped up the regular season with a 27-10 victory over the New York Jets at Highmark Stadium, a win that secured a second straight AFC East title. “We've been in meetings all day and you can imagine on a short week, just finished a ballgame yesterday. It's almost like you're in a cave working as hard as you can to get up to speed on whatever changes you want to make, and with the team that we're facing. I have not really followed any news reports or really don't know a whole lot about what's going on around the league right now.”
“It's just a blessing to be a part of this defense, honestly,” safety Micah Hyde said. “We show up each and every week of practice, we try to get better.”
What’s going on is this: The Bears fired general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy, and NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that the team had requested an interview with Frazier.
Later Monday evening, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that the Bears also requested permission to interview Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll for their head-coaching job. The Miami Dolphins also requested permission to talk to Daboll, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported.
Additionally, Schefter reported that the New York Giants had requested an interview with Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen for their vacant general manager job, which opened when Dave Gettleman retired.
“This is the time of year for things like that and some of the organizations out there that made some moves whether during the year or today are looking to get going and find their head coach,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said before the report of Daboll also being requested had come out. “With respect to Joe, I won’t get into Joe’s situation. I’ll get into Leslie’s situation because he’s on my staff here. Nothing official yet at this point, but would certainly be very happy for Leslie if he had that opportunity. I think he’s earned it.”
Here are four more observations from the news conferences with McDermott, Frazier and Daboll:
As for the goalpost-storming day in 1988, Bills fans can thank one Frederic Charles Smerlas that the game got to overtime at all.
1. McDermott was in full postseason mode when it came to injury updates. The coach said the team came out of Sunday’s game healthy, but didn’t have much to add when asked about wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders (knee) and defensive end Efe Obada (ankle), who missed the win over the Jets.
“We’ll just take it one day at a time,” the coach said. “They’re both progressing, but we’ll see.”
2. Frazier said the foundation for the No. 1 defense was laid after last year’s loss in the AFC championship game. The Bills finished the season leading the league in yards and points against, as well as passing yards allowed per game.
“It speaks to all the hard work that the players and the coaches put in throughout the entire offseason, going all the way back to after the Kansas City game, the championship game a year ago,” Frazier said. “Our coaches came back and began the work to put together a system for the 2021 defense. They laid a really good foundation. Our players bought in throughout the offseason. And it just speaks to the buy-in by our players and the hard work that coaches and players put into it.
“That being said, now we enter a new season, the postseason, where there'll be some other challenges, other than what we've faced during the regular season, and we'll have to step up and rise to those challenges that come with being a part of the postseason. It doesn't get any easier. We'll play some really good offenses, starting with the offense that we're going to face this weekend. It really emboldens you to want to work as hard as you can to put your best foot forward on the biggest stage when you get to the postseason.”
As a result, some of the snap counts for defensive players look pretty low, which isn’t a bad thing with the playoffs approaching.
3. The coaching staff is looking forward to a full house. Last year’s two home playoff games were played with fewer than 7,000 fans in attendance because of Covid-19 protocols. This year, there has been no capacity limit, thus a sellout crowd is expected at Highmark Stadium.
“Oh man, it's going to be be so nice,” Frazier said. “We're looking forward to it, the noise that our fans are going to create. It's just going to be an electric atmosphere. … It makes it hard on the opposing team, so we're going to try to do our best to give them something to cheer about. Just looking forward to seeing all our fans and the noise it's going to create. It's going to be a great atmosphere, a good time.”
The use of the heavy personnel coincides with an increased effort by the Bills to improve the running game. The last five weeks, staring with the loss at Tampa Bay, the Bills have averaged 162 yards a game on the ground.
4. Daboll didn’t put much into playing the New England Patriots three times in such a short time span. Buffalo and New England will meet for the third time in just seven weeks.
It’s tough to say whether that’s more of a benefit for either side, or simply a wash.
“There's some good familiarity with the players and the matchups and things like that, but, you know, schemes change,” Daboll said. “Each game is its own game, particularly against a team like this. That couldn't be more true.”
