First-year head coach
With these losses comes some heat on the head coach, even if it’s in their first season. Vic Fangio doesn’t appear to be on the hot seat as a first-year bench both, but there’s some rumblings of discontent throughout the season. As mentioned, quarterback Josh Flacco doesn’t like the offense, so there’s that. Then CBS Sports ran an article that said Fangio has had a “difficult time connecting with players and coaches.”
Fangio is a bit of an outlier. He’s a defensive-minded head coach. The Bills have one of those in Sean McDermott, but it’s the offensive gurus that are a hot commodity. So when he signed on the dotted line, he had that going against him.
But Fangio is also 61. We’re not here to age-shame, but in recent years the NFL has gone on a youth-movement for head coaches. McDermott is 44, but there’s guys like Sean McVay, who’s a mere 32, and then like Fangio, Kliff Kingsbury, 39, and Matt LaFleur, 39, were both hired this offseason, too. The thought is that those guys can connect better with players because of their age, which fits into the recent report.
But don’t expect to hear Fangio’s name as a fired one any time soon. The defense is great, after all.
Vic Fangio was asked “after the La Canfora piece, do you feel the need to get your coaches together to make sure you’re all on the same page?”
Here is his answer. pic.twitter.com/ud5Uh6tsnx
— Ryan Koenigsberg (@RyanKoenigsberg) November 18, 2019