Is the media permitted to practices during the regular season?

[ChasBB]

I found it interesting that the opening question in today's Doug Marrone press conference (http://www.buffalobills.com/video/videos/Doug_Marrone_Wednesday_Press_Conference/2dc72eb3-6644-45e4-999e-f091f529bd7a) was someone who appeared to have some insight as to what position Aaron Williams was practicing at today. Here was the question:

 

"Aaron Williams was at safety today. Is that the plan this week in terms of where he'll be ... ?"

 

To me, it didn't look like Marrone was too thrilled about the question and tried to answer it as vaguely as he could. I don't know what the policy is, but if I'm the coach, no effin way am I letting the general media in to watch practices. What the hell is wrong with this organization when it comes to stuff like this? All regular season practices should be fully and completely CLOSED to the media.

[Chandemonium]

I'm pretty sure there are league rules that require a certain portion of the Wednesday practice to be open to the media.

 

Edit: Just found this from 2012, which states under number 3 that the first 30 minutes of all practices are required to be open to the media, so that's actually a little more than I thought they were required to do.

 

http://www.pfwa.org/2012MP.pdf

Edited October 24, 2013 by Chandemonium

[ChasBB]

I'm pretty sure there are league rules that require a certain portion of the Wednesday practice to be open to the media.

 

Edit: Just found this from 2012, which states under number 3 that the first 30 minutes of all practices are required to be open to the media, so that's actually a little more than I thought they were required to do.

 

http://www.pfwa.org/2012MP.pdf

Ok, thanks for that information. I did not know that. I would hope the team is paying attention to when this portion is and is being pretty generic during this time period -- or even knowingly doing something different than they will do in the game to throw people off. That's just the way I'd approach. No way I'm tipping my hand to anyone about any aspect of the game plan or personnel decisions no matter how minor they may seem. Sure, nothing earth-shattering about Williams going back to safety, but that's one less thing the opponent has to guess about. Yeah, I'm probably making too big a deal of this, but I have more of a Belichick mentality with stuff like this. Less is better.

 

Very interesting about all practices being open for 30 minutes. If I'm Marrone, my team is doing stretches for 30 minutes. No way I'm running plays in front of a bunch of media types.

 

I recall Jim Kelly lamenting the fact that they practiced the shovel pass in front of cameras in preparation for one of the Dallas Super Bowls and Jimmy Johnson just happened to see the clip and so prepared his defense for the shovel pass. This type of stuff seriously impacts wins and losses.

Edited October 24, 2013 by ChasBB

[Kkspike]

They let the media watch the first 15 -20 minutes of practice.The players stretch out and listen to what the coaches talk.Then a horn goes off and that means the buffet is on the table and the media heads to the lunch room.Then the real work for the players start.

[ChasBB]

Oh, and here is the key excerpt from the shovel pass story (http://sports.espn.g...10122-article35):

 

"The Bills had a surprise for the Dallas Cowboys that Sunday in Atlanta in 1994, but the camera had an even bigger surprise for the Bills. Scouting and film study had told the Bills the favored Cowboys were vulnerable to the shovel pass, so Buffalo amended its usual game plan to include it. The idea was perfect: Thurman Thomas would sneak inside to exploit the hard rush employed by the Cowboys' defensive line. Buffalo planned to use it three or four times, to rip off chunks of yardage and keep the pass rush honest. One play, many uses. It could have been Levy's masterstroke.

 

"This camera, however, recorded the Bills on a Saturday afternoon, practicing the shovel pass. It was shot for background footage for an Atlanta TV station, meant to convey nothing. But the Cowboys caught a glimpse of the Bills practicing the play, and they got ready for it. So ready that the Bills, of all rotten luck, could do little more than suffer their fourth and final Super Bowl loss of the '90s. "I still don't know where that camera came from," Kelly says now. "The play was our surprise, and instead we got surprised.""

 

They let the media watch the first 15 -20 minutes of practice.The players stretch out and listen to what the coaches talk.Then a horn goes off and that means the buffet is on the table and the media heads to the lunch room.Then the real work for the players start.

Glad to hear this, but I'm still curious as to how this reporter knew Williams was playing at safety if this is true. Seems they might be a bit lax with their enforcement. If I'm the Bills, I'm personally escorting these guys OUT of the facility.

Edited October 24, 2013 by ChasBB

[NoSaint]

It's a non issue. 32 teams handle it exactly the same. Our staff is well aware who is there, and the question revealed nothing besides a guy that's listed at and plays a lot of safety spent a few minutes at safety at the start of practice. Every snap from there out could've been corner for all the reporter knows.

 

No reason to be upset or worried. It's on par with being upset the bills open training camp practices to the public.

[ChasBB]

It's a non issue. 32 teams handle it exactly the same. Our staff is well aware who is there, and the question revealed nothing besides a guy that's listed at and plays a lot of safety spent a few minutes at safety at the start of practice. Every snap from there out could've been corner for all the reporter knows.

 

No reason to be upset or worried. It's on par with being upset the bills open training camp practices to the public.

I don't think regular season practice quite the same as training camp because now they are game planning, unlike training camp -- totally different matter, IMO. This is not something to be casual about (as evidenced with the shovel pass story above).

[NoSaint]

 

I don't think regular season practice quite the same as training camp because now they are game planning, unlike training camp -- totally different matter, IMO. This is not something to be casual about (as evidenced with the shovel pass story above).

 

And you've indicated no reason to believe they are being casual or airing secrets. For 30 minutes practice is open, they clear out reporters and then get out the "top secret" material

 

[ChasBB]

And you've indicated no reason to believe they are being casual or airing secrets. For 30 minutes practice is open, they clear out reporters and then get out the "top secret" material

You're right, I do not know that they as being casual for sure based on one reporter having one tidbit of information. I'm just saying if I'm the coach, no reporter is going to know where Aaron Williams is going to line up under my watch. I'm not giving the opponent anything -- nada, zip, zilch -- the opponent gets not one little tidbit of info from me if I'm in charge. This reporter somehow figured how where Williams was lining up. That shouldn't happen. And this is probably a small matter in this particular case, but it opens the possibility that the Bills' are not being as protective of their plans as they need to be.

 

Also, as per the media relations policy link that Chandemonium provided above (http://www.pfwa.org/2012MP.pdf), it states that only LOCAL media is permitted -- which, of course makes sense. If I'm the Bills, I'm having a little side conversation with the local reporter who made that statement about Aaron Williams appearing at safety in practice and reminding him that he can be uninvited from these press conferences. To me, Marrone was clearly a little annoyed with the question.

Edited October 24, 2013 by ChasBB

[NoSaint]

 

You're right, I do not know that they as being casual for sure based on one reporter having one tidbit of information. I'm just saying if I'm the coach, no reporter is going to know where Aaron Williams is going to line up under my watch. I'm not giving the opponent anything -- nada, zip, zilch -- the opponent gets not one little tidbit of info from me if I'm in charge. This reporter somehow figured how where Williams was lining up. That shouldn't happen. And this is probably a small matter in this particular case, but it opens the possibility that the Bills' are not being as protective of their plans as they need to be.

 

Also, as per the media relations policy link that Chandemonium provided above (http://www.pfwa.org/2012MP.pdf), it states that only LOCAL media is permitted -- which, of course makes sense. If I'm the Bills, I'm having a little side conversation with the local reporter who made that statement about Aaron Williams appearing at safety in practice and reminding him that he can be uninvited from these press conferences. To me, Marrone was clearly a little annoyed with the question.

 

But he doesn't know where he lined up the entire rest of practice. Marrone could have ej take 3 snaps before clearing out the reporters if he wants. What your saying is like watching a chess match and saying he's not playing checkers right.

 

Further, if the team kicked out reporters for reporting what they saw at the media portion - the team would be fined/sanctioned.

 

For 30 minutes you do things you are ok, or want to be reported. The rest of the session do things you don't. If something is reported from the 30 minutes the team was ok showing it to the media.

 

He would have no reason to be upset and has the simple "he's a safety and we want to keep him ready at safety too" as a vague answer even if he flubbed handling a session that 32 teams have several times a week for 17+ weeks.

Edited October 24, 2013 by NoSaint

[ChasBB]

But he doesn't know where he lined up the entire rest of practice. Marrone could have ej take 3 snaps before clearing out the reporters if he wants. What your saying is like watching a chess match and saying he's not playing checkers right.

 

Further, if the team kicked out reporters for reporting what they saw at the media portion - the team would be fined/sanctioned.

 

For 30 minutes you do things you are ok, or want to be reported. The rest of the session do things you don't. If something is reported from the 30 minutes the team was ok showing it to the media.

 

He would have no reason to be upset and has the simple "he's a safety and we want to keep him ready at safety too" as a vague answer even if he flubbed handling a session that 32 teams have several times a week for 17+ weeks.

Maybe you are right. I just hope the Bills organization is always being vigilant about protecting themselves is all. Thanks for your reply -- good points.

[Delete This Account]

This is all silly. This board light's up the moment anyone tweets from practice that someone's not practicing or is practicing, and yet now there's someone who wants all practices closed because something might be revealed. There's not much that happens while we're out there during the open-media period that reveals much of anything. We take a head count to see who's practicing. Occassionally, we notice someone's working with the starters or at a different position.

 

Not entirely sure how this makes it for a competitive advantage unless of course, C.J. Spiller is suddenly working out at linebacker.

 

It's been common knowledge that Aaron Williams will be making the switch back to safety once it's clear that Gilmore and McKelvin are ready to go full-time.

 

In fact, one of the things that really ticked off the Bills back in Gregg's days is something that didn't happen in practice, but when Antoine Winfield, I believe it was, informed The Associated Press that he was likely going to miss a few weeks with some kind of injury. The next weekend, the New England Patriots burned the Bills on a whole series of screen passes, and the media got the blame for the loss because we had somehow spilled the beans on what Winfield had said on the record.

 

The other most useful event that occured during this window, is when Shawne Merriman came up lame 15 minutes into his first practice in Buffalo.

 

Jeepers. Every Fantasy Football owner relies on those 30 minutes to figure out whether to start someone or bench him. And even then it's not clear, particularly when it comes to someone being listed doubtful or questionable on Friday.

 

Yes, close the practices. Why not?

 

Every team is required to open practice for 30 minutes. Oddly enough, come Sunday, half of those teams that do so win. The other half lose.

 

jw

[ChasBB]

This is all silly. This board light's up the moment anyone tweets from practice that someone's not practicing or is practicing, and yet now there's someone who wants all practices closed because something might be revealed. There's not much that happens while we're out there during the open-media period that reveals much of anything. We take a head count to see who's practicing. Occassionally, we notice someone's working with the starters or at a different position.

 

Not entirely sure how this makes it for a competitive advantage unless of course, C.J. Spiller is suddenly working out at linebacker.

 

It's been common knowledge that Aaron Williams will be making the switch back to safety once it's clear that Gilmore and McKelvin are ready to go full-time.

 

In fact, one of the things that really ticked off the Bills back in Gregg's days is something that didn't happen in practice, but when Antoine Winfield, I believe it was, informed The Associated Press that he was likely going to miss a few weeks with some kind of injury. The next weekend, the New England Patriots burned the Bills on a whole series of screen passes, and the media got the blame for the loss because we had somehow spilled the beans on what Winfield had said on the record.

 

The other most useful event that occured during this window, is when Shawne Merriman came up lame 15 minutes into his first practice in Buffalo.

 

Jeepers. Every Fantasy Football owner relies on those 30 minutes to figure out whether to start someone or bench him. And even then it's not clear, particularly when it comes to someone being listed doubtful or questionable on Friday.

 

Yes, close the practices. Why not?

 

Every team is required to open practice for 30 minutes. Oddly enough, come Sunday, half of those teams that do so win. The other half lose.

 

jw

JW - I appreciate your input. This is precisely why I asked the question -- reporters, such as yourself, have insights on these matters that I do not. And, I agree with you -- as I've alluded to a couple of times above, already, that there is nothing earth-shattering in this particular incident of Williams returning to safety -- anyone who remotely follows the team could've figured out that was about to happen. That said, I do not think that my concerns should be entirely dismissed -- as evidenced by the Super Bowl shovel pass story above. And the Antoine Winfield story you share just underscores my concerns (albeit not due to open practices) that I hope the Bills are coaching-up their players properly on what to share and what not to share with the media. Yes, the case I used to highlight the closed-practice argument regarding Williams is a weak one, but I still believe my overall concern about limiting information as much as feasibly possible is a legitimate concern. Most games are decided by only a small handful of plays. And it only takes one little tidbit of carelessly-guarded information to tip-off the opponent about one (or more) of these plays and to possibly play a factor in determining the outcome of a game (and, again, I reference the Super Bowl shovel pass story). If there's one Bilichick out there who will tape the opponent's signal calls, then you have to figure there are more Bilichick-types out there. Furthermore, if a Bilichick-type will tape the opponent's signal calls, where will they stop?