Speculative article on friction between McDermott and Staff?

[DrDawkinstein]

 

"...It comes down to execution, which starts and ends with the Head Coach... I take full responsibility for the execution that wasnt where it needed to be"

 

Same thing he's said all along. What more do people want? Self-flagellation on Empire Sports Network?

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

27 minutes ago, 4_kidd_4 said:

https://www.golongtd.com/p/it-was-a-bad-bad-situation?s=r

 

“You preach accountability,” one player said. “But you don’t practice it.”

 

Yeah.  OK.  From the part that's available to the non-paying public we have this:

Quote

As players watched Super Bowl LVI, three weeks after their defeat, it was as if Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow were personally pouring salt into their wounds because the game, eh, was OK. Nothing remotely close to the epic they staged with the Chiefs. They’re confident they would’ve beat either squad. Said one player: “Everybody knew that if we just beat Kansas City, we would’ve beat any team.” And another: “We definitely would’ve won the Super Bowl.” As much as the talking heads love repeating the fact that we’ll see Allen and Mahomes duke it out in games like this forever, players know the hard truth.

 

If that represents the general attitude on the team, those players got some growin' up to do.  We celebrated after we beat KC in the regular season like it was our Superbowl "THEM BILLS A PROBLEM" then proceeded to lose to the Titans and Jaguars.

 

Just because you CAN beat any team (on paper, based on skill level) doesn't mean you WILL or you DEFINITELY WOULD'VE.  KC melted down the Bengals after barely beating us.  A big letdown the week after a big win is not uncommon.

 

I suspect one of the players Dunne spoke with is Isaiah McKenzie who 1) is butt-hurt over his benching 2) who by his own account, got on the team plane after the KC loss and loudly finger pointed the defense "I have to go home and pack...because of YOU" 3) who by his own account, missed the team meeting that following morning and came in late

 

You can see where McKenzie would be primed to feel "preach accountability but don't practice it".  I think McDermott made the decision to keep it in the position groups because he knew blabbermouths like McK would hang their teammates up to dry if they knew specific players to blame.

 

Quote

“You don’t get over,” one player said, “a game like that.”

 

Meanwhile we have 'Zo Alexander who is still plugged in with a number of the players and who says "the players most definitely know" and "the players will handle it".

 

And Siran Neal, who says

Quote

“It’s in the past and there’s a lot of things that we can go back and re-correct or whatever and restructure,” he said. “But it’s something in the past. It something we’re not going to get into. There’s a lot of things from that game that we could correct and have the outcome of that game to win the game.”

 

Maybe the players like McKenzie that Dunne talked to have a different idea of what accountability means.

[CountDorkula]

Just now, Estro said:

He includes himself without ruling anyone else. To me if it was 199% on hin he should've come out within 48 hours if the game and owned it. By leaving it to everyone's imaginations he's doing the coaching staff and team a great disservice.

 

It got to the point where eiur kicker reposted videos of hin squib kicking a day after the game because so many people started speculating that he messed up.  McDermott talks the talk, but if it was his fault and he's hiding from it, than hiw can anyone on the team take him serious. If a player fumbles, McDermott will bench them and ridicule them......but if he's responsible for some truly bone headed decisions he seems to protect himself behind "organizational communication & execution".  That's weak, really weak.

 

 

This thread has gone about how i expected it to go.

 

Reports paint Bills in somewhat negative light, TBD comes to defense of team and tries to discount reporters because they wont name sources.

 

If this was another team say the Chiefs that this happened to, this board would be eating it up.

 

sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade. 

[GunnerBill]

Just now, RalphWilson'sNewWar said:

Favorable breaks in scheduling have also played a key role at keeping the team together and allowing bounce backs.

 

Meh, maybe. I'm not sure how favourable a scheduling break it was being sent to Kansas City with the season on the line in 2017 after the Chargers debacle. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

1 minute ago, ScottLaw said:

ExCtly what I said after his bull ***** post game presser… dude blamed execution and should of just owned it as a gigantic coaching blunder. 

I do agree his wording was poor. He should've just said he needs to be better. You  can see a little change at the combine. He said execution starts and ends with the head coach.

 

[Don Otreply]

Like sands through the hour glass goes the days of our lives…, 

 

 Don’t give a rats azs about the soap opera gossip, it’s made up drama for clicks. 

[GunnerBill]

3 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

"...It comes down to execution, which starts and ends with the Head Coach... I take full responsibility for the execution that wasnt where it needed to be"

 

Same thing he's said all along. What more do people want? Self-flagellation on Empire Sports Network?

 

 

The word "accountability" is one of the most misused words in current pro sports fandom. Fans think unless someone is fired or publicly humiliated they have not been held accountable. Unfortunately it is the way our twisted, social media obsessed society has gone. 

[Andrew Son]

Just now, ScottLaw said:

I think the combine was the first time he actually did take accountability…. But had to blame execution… dude was passing the buck after the game like a coward though. 

I think coaching is clearly included in "execution"

 

lol, passing the buck while never once naming anyone to blame...  It all stops with him, and he knows it.  People are butt hurt because they didn't get the explanations they "deserve"

[DrDawkinstein]

3 minutes ago, CountDorkula said:

This thread has gone about how i expected it to go.

 

Reports paint Bills in somewhat negative light, TBD comes to defense of team and tries to discount reporters because they wont name sources.

 

If this was another team say the Chiefs that this happened to, this board would be eating it up.

 

sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade. 

 

In that same vein...

 

It is mentioned that there is friction among a bunch of arrogant, stubborn, driven men in a high-pressure, high-profile environment and TBD immediately jumps to McDermott losing the team and not being a good leader because he didnt say something (which he has actually said over and over).

 

Lot of you are eating this up as well.

 

Sometimes you just have to call a spade no big deal.

[Dr. K]

47 minutes ago, 4_kidd_4 said:

https://www.golongtd.com/p/it-was-a-bad-bad-situation?s=r

 

“You preach accountability,” one player said. “But you don’t practice it.”

This piece is written like a Hollywood gossip column from 1956, dripping with sarcasm and innuendo. It's childish.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

4 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

"...It comes down to execution, which starts and ends with the Head Coach... I take full responsibility for the execution that wasnt where it needed to be"

 

Same thing he's said all along. What more do people want? Self-flagellation on Empire Sports Network?

 

People want him to say he made the calls and this is what I was trying to accomplish by making the calls.

 

I have said all along the kickoff and defensive play calls were McDermott, not his staff. Those are head coach decisions. No head coach is leaving those decisions up to his staff. 

 

I still have an empty space inside that needs to know what those defensive calls were. It'll always be there. 

[Tanoros]

25 minutes ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

Every time I bring it up people want to cry but this defense needs to be better. I bet there is friction because of the way Fraizer calls the defense. We had wonderful stats this season…I fully understand that. We also played against a lot of really bad Offenses. It seems like every good QB carves us. It also seems like when we truly need a big stop, we rarely get it. Physical teams push us around and we can’t stop the run. We have elite talent in the backend of this defense. I think we could be an all time defense with the right DC. I bet McDermott feels like the stats don’t tell the tale here and that they are capable of being better. Probably causes friction 

But it wasn’t just our schedule, the Bills were the number 1 defense by DVOA which takes into account how that team (the ones on our schedule) did against ALL of their other games. Which means, we did better against the bad teams than others. 
I’m not saying the Bills defense can’t get better, but just trying to put the narrative that we played a soft schedule in perspective. Soft though it may be, we did better than others who played the same soft teams. 

 

 

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

5 minutes ago, CountDorkula said:

This thread has gone about how i expected it to go.

 

Reports paint Bills in somewhat negative light, TBD comes to defense of team and tries to discount reporters because they wont name sources.

 

If this was another team say the Chiefs that this happened to, this board would be eating it up.

 

sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade. 

That’s partially accurate, but assuming a source is pure of heart, completely honest with no motive beyond transparency is sort of naive.  Additionally, some folks like to pretend they are more dialed in than they actually are. 
 

I’d think it would be highly improbable that a coaching staff operating at the highest level of professional sports wouldn’t have disagreements.  

[GunnerBill]

Just now, DrDawkinstein said:

 

In that same vein...

 

It is mentioned that there is friction among a bunch of arrogant, stubborn, driven men in a high-pressure, high-profile environment and TBD immediately jumps to McDermott losing the team and not being a good leader because he didnt say something (which he has actually said over and over).

 

Lot of you are eating this up as well.

 

Sometimes you just have to call a spade no big deal.

 

Exactly this. Nobody is saying there isn't friction, or there won't be friction, or that the coaching staff won't have to spend some time at the start of the off-season workouts and then again at the start of camp making sure that the team is over what happened, is together and is ready to focus on 2022. 

 

I don't think anyone is saying "these reporters are lying!" Just that it is a sensationalised reaction to a legitimate story. 

[Rico]

Can’t trust a total hack like Tyler Dunne to not make things up for hits to his website. Maybe Whaley was his source again.

Edited March 4, 2022 by Rico

[Don Otreply]

7 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

"...It comes down to execution, which starts and ends with the Head Coach... I take full responsibility for the execution that wasnt where it needed to be"

 

Same thing he's said all along. What more do people want? Self-flagellation on Empire Sports Network?

 

All the butt hurt drama queens gotta drama, it’s their MO. 
 

Nothing to see here, move along, 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

Yawn

[Buffalo_Stampede]

10 minutes ago, CountDorkula said:

This thread has gone about how i expected it to go.

 

Reports paint Bills in somewhat negative light, TBD comes to defense of team and tries to discount reporters because they wont name sources.

 

If this was another team say the Chiefs that this happened to, this board would be eating it up.

 

sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade. 

The Chiefs you say?

 

 

[Brand J]

McKenzie in that sit down interview days after the game said he honestly didn’t know what happened. Said he tried to find out because he’s the gossip king on the roster or something like that, but was running into dead ends. It’s very likely he’s one of Dunne’s sources and it’s also likely STers didn’t know the defensive play calls and vice versa, so no players are entirely aware what happened - unless, possibly, if they were on the kickoff coverage and played those last two defensive plays. And those are the guys that aren’t talking.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

People want him to say he made the calls and this is what I was trying to accomplish by making the calls.

 

So let's just follow this to its conclusion.  If McDermott says that, then the X's and O's squad will be breaking down role/responsibilities for that call and looking at which players did or did not execute those responsibilities.  It will end by fingering specific players - which is something McDermott seems to want to avoid.

 

And given that we know players who got key penalties or visibly missed a block or the like in a playoff loss have LITERALLY GOTTEN DEATH THREATS from fans, I'm with McD here.