Diggs NOT at mandatory minicamp, McDermott "very concerned" DAY 2 UPDATE: He's back

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Super annoyed with Diggs. How selfish and lacking in self-awareness can you be to Disrupt an entire team like this? 

[BillsFanSD]

Obviously Diggs should chill out, return to practice, and focus on making the 2023 Buffalo Bills the best team they can be.

 

That said, if he's bitter about his role in the offense, he's right. 

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, Doc said:

 

It should have gotten Frazier demoted/fired.  Now McD is calling the shots.  If nothing improves, then the hot seat talk should start.

This is really all I'm saying. Thank you.

5 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

Or he could Reid with the Eagles.

 

Considering that's where he started his career, the analogy aint half bad...

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Just now, BillsFanSD said:

Obviously Diggs should chill out, return to practice, and focus on making the 2023 Buffalo Bills the best team they can be.

 

That said, if he's bitter about his role in the offense, he's right. 

He caught 108 passes last year.  That is 4th most in the league. And he has a problem with that? 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

8 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Agree. He isn't Lewis with the Bengals. He might be Schotty with the Chiefs, but we don't know that yet either. 

Good example.  He isn't even Reeves with Denver as Reeves made two SB appearances with his strong armed QB.  

[The Wiz]

1 minute ago, John from Riverside said:

What exactly do you expect McDermott to say?

He would have been better off saying that diggs was excused instead of saying he wasn't there.  

 

Instead, now it looks like he lied about Diggs being there with all the reports flying back and forth and had to recant that he was there but then left before practice.  It's just a much worse look.

[VW82]

Not gonna sugarcoat it - this sucks. The fact that McD is "very concerned" after supposedly having meetings with Steph the last couple days is troublesome to say the least.

 

Him and Josh going from besties to whatever they are now isn't great either. You don't have to be best friends to play well together, but if there's been a relationship breakdown that can absolutely impact performance. Those guys need to be able to trust each other on the field and not let emotions get in the way. 

[BillsFanSD]

2 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Same amount of Super Bowls

Similar MO of melting down in the playoffs.

 

No comparison is 1:1. You either understand the point I was using Lewis to (loosely) illustrate, or you end up on @Einstein's homer list!

"Melting down in the playoffs" apparently means:

• Losing a very tight WC game to a clearly superior opponent.
• Losing the AFCCG to a clearly superior opponent.
• Coming up on the losing end of arguably the greatest playoff game ever played.
• Getting rolled by a top-3 team on a day when the team was clearly flat and emotionally uninvested.

Obviously I'd like to win the SB every year, but 11/12 playoff teams lose their final game of the season, and I can live with this track record.  I'm not seeing a consistent pattern of anything resembling a "meltdown" here.  I mean, maybe the HOU game qualifies, but we were just happy to be there that year.

[PromoTheRobot]

1 minute ago, The Wiz said:

He would have been better off saying that diggs was excused instead of saying he wasn't there.  

 

Instead, now it looks like he lied about Diggs being there with all the reports flying back and forth and had to recant that he was there but then left before practice.  It's just a much worse look.

 

 

That would make McDermott a liar...a liar for a player who is jerking his chain. 

 

[BillsFanSD]

3 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

He caught 108 passes last year.  That is 4th most in the league. And he has a problem with that? 

I don't know about Diggs, but I have a problem with it.  I know the stats, but he really did disappear at key moments last year, and I'm positive that's not on him.

[Kmart128]

I feel so bad for Josh after watching that press conference... what kind of person put their friend and teammate in that position. Pretty selfish. Josh was just at mercy of media and seemed to handle it the best he could but the answers were so vague and caused a lot of confusion 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Just now, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

He caught 108 passes last year.  That is 4th most in the league. And he has a problem with that? 

He had a career high in TDs as well in 2022.  The odd thing is he is probably right. Diggs caught 127 balls in 2020 in 16 games.  And that was with Beasley getting 82 receptions. He probably correctly believes that without a credible slot threat in 2022 he should have had 3-5 more targets a game and thus somewhere around 120-130 receptions.  So yes in the correct context, wanting more receptions than 108 makes sense.  

[BillsFanForever19]

17 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

This Diggs situation needs resolving quickly. It doesn't sound like Stef wants out or is hankering for a trade or anything like that at this stage but there is clearly some disconnect between him and someone in the organisation. They need to get it sorted asap. Stef needs to apologise for his behaviour after the playoff game and the team and its key players - McD, Beane, Josh, Dorsey - need to make sure Stef feels the love and that he is all in. 

 

I think this could be what it's all about. McDermott wants him to apologize for what he did and he feels that the reason behind his actions were justified. And honestly, I agree with him.

 

Ultimately, I think both were right. Stefon could have handled it better. But he wasn't wrong in his frustration. In both Playoff exits in back to back years, the game plan was use Diggs as a Decoy. And in the Cinci game in particular, it clearly wasn't working and both Allen and Dorsey refused to change the game plan when it wasn't working. 

 

Was it unacceptable how he acted? Yes. But was it also unacceptable that we were getting absolutely TROUNCED by Cinci with the game plan we had and then didn't make changes. Absolutely!

[Doc]

6 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

He would have been better off saying that diggs was excused instead of saying he wasn't there.  

 

Instead, now it looks like he lied about Diggs being there with all the reports flying back and forth and had to recant that he was there but then left before practice.  It's just a much worse look.

 

Yeah but just showing up isn't the point of minicamp: it's practicing.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Doc

[Malazan]

8 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

No comparison is 1:1. You either understand the point I was using Lewis to (loosely) illustrate, or you end up on @Einstein's homer list!

 

Everyone is on Einstein's homer list even Einstein himself. 

[The Wiz]

Just now, PromoTheRobot said:

 

 

That would make McDermott a liar...a liar for a player who is jerking his chain. 

 

Not necessarily.  McD could very well have told Diggs to leave before practice.  Maybe not so nicely if there was any conflict going on between him and Diggs or Dorsey or whoever.

 

Either way, McD does the "coach speak" all the time which is basically omitting all the details which is basically lying anyways.

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, BillsFanSD said:

"Melting down in the playoffs" apparently means:

• Losing a very tight WC game to a clearly superior opponent.
• Losing the AFCCG to a clearly superior opponent.
• Coming up on the losing end of arguably the greatest playoff game ever played.
• Getting rolled by a top-3 team on a day when the team was clearly flat and emotionally uninvested.

Obviously I'd like to win the SB every year, but 11/12 playoff teams lose their final game of the season, and I can live with this track record.  I'm not seeing a consistent pattern of anything resembling a "meltdown" here.  I mean, maybe the HOU game qualifies, but we were just happy to be there that year.

 

The first 2 are not meltdowns. Although we could probably nitpick through that Texans game.

 

The amount of non-communication and non-coaching that lead to the 13 seconds loss is a coaching meltdown.

Allowing your team to show up and play so uninvested and disinterested is a coaching meltdown.

 

While I understand, and even defended all the reasons, for the team to be exhausted in that Cincy game, it is still a coaching failure. As was the way the team was playing during the last 2/3rds of last season. Skating by on talent, in spite of subpar coaching.

[The Wiz]

1 minute ago, Doc said:

 

Yeah but just showing up isn't the point of minicamp.  It's practicing.

Everyone knows that.  But this would at least allow everyone to save face and keep it behind closed doors.  Now it's the same as your gf throwing your laundry out the 6th floor window while you both screen back and forth at each other.

[John from Riverside]

3 minutes ago, Kmart128 said:

I feel so bad for Josh after watching that press conference... what kind of person put their friend and teammate in that position. Pretty selfish. Josh was just at mercy of media and seemed to handle it the best he could but the answers were so vague and caused a lot of confusion 

Putting Josh in that position is definitely not some thing a leader would do

[Ethan in Cleveland]

10 minutes ago, John from Riverside said:

What exactly do you expect McDermott to say?

Same thing Allen said.  He should have said it's on me to figure out how what is going on with Diggs and work through it.  He shoudl have said I will keep spwkaing wiht him like the adult that he is.  McD just inflamed whatever the situation is with his "very concerning comment". There is absolutely nothing that is very concerning about OTA's.  Allen said it.  4 reps in June mean nothing.  He said nothing they are doing now means anything during the season.   McD made a fiery situation worse and then just said no more questions. Allen stood in there and took the bullets.