We are just two days away from the start of the preseason for the Buffalo Bills and the excitement for the season is starting to build up. Highmark Stadium will be packed with passionate Bills fans as they will watch the Bills take the field for the first time since the playoffs, when Buffalo’s season went up in smoke after yet another heartbreaking loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Bills kickoff their preseason schedule by hosting the hyped-up Chicago Bears who are looking to turn things around for their franchise. As Buffalo prepares for this matchup, head coach Sean McDermott made an important decision for his preferred side of the ball and who will be calling the defensive plays.
The Bills promoted Bobby Babich to defensive coordinator from just coaching the linebackers. Babich has earned a ton of respect from both the players and coaches through his time working with the linebackers. He now gets the chance to take the lead on taking control of the defense to take some pressure off of McDermott, who called the plays last year with the departure of Leslie Frazier.
At the beginning of training camp, McDermott was asked about how the defense was going to be called between him and Babich. At first, McDermott had noted that there would be a mixture of him and Babich calling the plays which was a bit concerning.
However, we have just learned that McDermott will be backing off of play calling duties for atleast this Saturday’s preseason game against the Bears. Babich will be calling the plays according to Joe Buscaglia. However, Buscaglia noted that McDermott would not commit to Babich calling the plays beyond Saturday.
Bills HC Sean McDermott said new DC Bobby Babich will call the plays on defense Saturday against the Bears, but did not commit to anything past that.
— Joe Buscaglia (@JoeBuscaglia) August 8, 2024
Sean McDermott is showing trust with Bobby Babich
McDermott made the right decision to put Babich in charge of calling the defense. There needs to be trust between the two and McDermott needs to let go of the control just a bit to allow Babich to utilize this defense as much as possible. For the past two seasons, Babich has turned linebackers Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard into premier players. Now it is time to give him the opportunity to do it with the rest of the defense.
This will be a great test for Babich in a game where it doesn't count against the Bills at all. Babich will have some shining moments and have areas that he needs to improve on. Unless Buffalo’s defensive absolutely collapses against the Bears starters and backups, Bills fans should expect Babich to keep calling the plays after Saturday.