Bills' swoon complicating McDermott's first season with DC duties - ESPN

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — How did Sean McDermott set expectations for the Buffalo Bills defense after adding coordinator duties to his job as head coach?

He revisited his past, showing the unit examples of a Carolina Panthers defense he coordinated from 2011-16.

«In the spring and stuff like that, he was showing us some tape from Carolina, 'This is how we gotta play X, Y, Z, bring this intensity,'» defensive back Cam Lewis recalled. "… So, I feel like we got the gist of it. We got the message early, so we just trying to go out there and perform."

In four of the six years that McDermott was defensive coordinator of the Panthers, they ranked within the top 10 in yardage allowed. Over the six-year period, the Panthers ranked second in sacks (261).

«Guys at every level just smacking s---. It was game time every practice almost,» said cornerback Josh Norman, who is currently on the Bills practice squad and played for the Panthers from 2012-15. «So, it was when we got to Sundays, it was just chill… I can feel that starting to usher and creep into this defense and everybody feels there that.»

During the combine in February, the Bills announced that defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, who had been with the team since McDermott's first year as head coach in 2017, was taking a year off from coaching. Frazier is currently working with NFL Network as an analyst.

About a month later, McDermott announced at the annual league meetings that he would take over the defensive playcaller responsibilities, adding that dimension to his plate for the first time in his seven seasons as head coach in Buffalo. While the unit always had his mark and input, this would be a big change.

Through the first seven games, the Bills defense has experienced