Jeremy Fowler - The Bills believe they have the Diggs situation resolved

[Mikie2times]

https://thevikingage.com/2020/12/14/stefon-diggs-admits-minnesota-vikings/

 

If you replaced the team names, it's basically the exact same story. 

[HappyDays]

36 minutes ago, gobills404 said:

It’s weird how people keep bending over backwards to blame everybody except Diggs himself.

 

Diggs has been acting extremely immature since the 2nd half of the Bengals game. Whatever he is angry about, he hasn't gone about it the right way. But the primary reason for the bad PR around the Bills at minicamp was McDermott's poor handling of the situation. I think he let his emotions of the situation get the best of him and said the wrong thing. He had to contradict himself in front of the media the next day just to bring some kind of closure to the situation.

[TSOL]

If we don't win the Superbowl this year he's gonna quit... 

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, HappyDays said:

 

Diggs has been acting extremely immature since the 2nd half of the Bengals game. Whatever he is angry about, he hasn't gone about it the right way. But the primary reason for the bad PR around the Bills at minicamp was McDermott's poor handling of the situation. I think he let his emotions of the situation get the best of him and said the wrong thing. He had to contradict himself in front of the media the next day just to bring some kind of closure to the situation.

Sean screwed up. And yes Diggs deserves blame too. I'm over diva wrs. You're getting paid a little under 100 million.  Do your damn job. Everyone wants the same goal.  You pulled this stunt in Minnesota.  Please don't bring that shi+ here.

[JoPoy88]

20 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Sean screwed up. And yes Diggs deserves blame too. I'm over diva wrs. You're getting paid a little under 100 million.  Do your damn job. Everyone wants the same goal.  You pulled this stunt in Minnesota.  Please don't bring that shi+ here.

Thing is though, he does do his job. He’s proven that again and again. His preparation and performance has never been questioned between the sidelines. 
 

Diggs is a different guy. He’s outwardly emotional. Mercurial. He is never going to be the guy to just put his head down and shut up if things aren’t going well or if he perceives others around him are not as focused on the goal as he is, which is winning. I don’t think he cares much about people’s feelings or perceptions of him. Which is perfectly fine with me, so long as he keeps doing his bit. 
 

Yes, if his performance starts going downhill his attitude will get old real quick. But they’re not there yet. 

[eball]

10 hours ago, HappyDays said:

No, the drama was created by McDermott saying he was "very concerned" about Diggs' absence at day one of minicamp

 

Bingo.  McD screwed the pooch with that press conference.  If he says “Diggs is here, but won’t be at practice today and we are mutually working through some things and we expect him to continue to be a huge part of our team” then the story doesn’t get nearly as much attention.

 

I really don’t know what he was thinking.  He likely regrets it himself.

 

[transient]

13 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

He's not an idiot.  He knew that being the only Bills player to miss the first practice of mandatory mini camp would send a message to the outside world that there was a rift he had with the team.

He’s not the one who threw a big ol’ can of gasoline on the fire, though. McDermott is to blame for that fiasco. He could have easily taken some attention away from it by making is seem like a nothingburger, but he chose to escalate it instead. 

[oldmanfan]

So at the same time people emphasize that Josh needs to get the ball out quicker and that we need to run the ball more and that Kincaid needs to open the middle of the field, we also want Diggs to get more touches no matter what.  The only way I can see to balance all that is to have 2 footballs involved in every play.

[Chaos]

8 hours ago, gobills404 said:

You’re best players should catch the ball more than 4 times when they get 10 targets

It’s weird how people keep bending over backwards to blame everybody except Diggs himself.

I think you completely miss the point.  The problem is the false narrative that Diggs did something wrong by missing an optional day.  There is nothing to blame Diggs for. 

[oldmanfan]

Just now, Chaos said:

I think you completely miss the point.  The problem is the false narrative that Diggs did something wrong by missing an optional day.  There is nothing to blame Diggs for. 

Nothing to blame Diggs for.  Right.  Sure. OK.

[Andy1]

Diggs could have solved all this crap with one simple team affirmative public statement. He chose not to. Dude needs to grow up. Andre Reed is still my favorite WR. Despite all the pain of losing big games he never was a me first player. 

[Thurman#1]

15 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Agree with most of this, but he did handle it in house, Diggs didn’t go to the media and air any dirty laundry or grievances.  
 

This outside drama has been created by the media over speculation because of frustrations he showed during and after the Bengals loss.  
 

He kept what the issue was, and all he he dialogue with the issue between him and the team.  

 

 

Oh, come on, man. 

 

He screamed at Allen on the sidelines. He left the locker room, had to be dragged back in and left again. He took the Bills off of whatever social media like list that people who care about social media take people they aren't happy with off of. He didn't come to the offseason workouts. And then when he finally did come he didn't go on the field. He didn't answer questions and address it. One "it's no problem. I had some stuff to do and it's not mandatory," and the whole thing blows over. He sends out all these cryptic tweets. It went on and on, and that's just exactly what he knew would happen.

 

This isn't a media thing. It's Diggs stirring the pot (lightly, but he's stirring) and the media reporting it, which is their job. Fans were all over it too, why wouldn't the media be? This is news. 

 

Oh, and sending those tweets and taking the Bills off of his social media thingamajig wasn't handling it in house.

 

This is news. If only one had happened, maybe not. But all of them? It's a guy who to some degree is unhappy, a guy who when previously unhappy forced himself out of one team. It's news. Most likely news that will disappear but that could have happened months ago with one "It ain't no thing" tweet, a tweet which never came.

 

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Thurman#1

[Thurman#1]

1 hour ago, eball said:

 

Bingo.  McD screwed the pooch with that press conference.  If he says “Diggs is here, but won’t be at practice today and we are mutually working through some things and we expect him to continue to be a huge part of our team” then the story doesn’t get nearly as much attention.

 

I really don’t know what he was thinking.  He likely regrets it himself.

 

 

 

That's one way to look at it. May be the correct way.

 

But maybe not. Maybe he was sick and tired and felt Diggs needed a slap on the ass which then brought him back to the table and moved things in the right direction.

 

No way to know for those of us not inside. But either one could be correct.

 

 

[eball]

3 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

That's one way to look at it. May be the correct way.

 

But maybe not. Maybe he was sick and tired and felt Diggs needed a slap on the ass which then brought him back to the table and moved things in the right direction.

 

No way to know for those of us not inside. But either one could be correct.

 

 

 

Good thoughts.  You're right, it's possible.

 

[SoCal Deek]

Diggs simply wants to win. I don’t see him as the kind of guy who’s going to complain if he’s sharing touches so long as the Bills win playoff games. In fact, I can’t recall him doing so after victories. Has he? Now…do I agree with his quasi-public displays of frustration…no. I’m going to hope that they’re coming out only after he’s expressed them in private to no avail. It’s a fine line, and in my opinion he’s crossed it a few times now. He’s getting dangerously close to ruining his legacy. So I hope he has good people around him that will talk to him. 

[Don Otreply]

13 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

His approach to managing his concerns is either being passive aggressive on social media or losing emotional control on the sidelines. His behavior encourages the drama which would make me inclined to think he is ok with it. It was the same thing in Minnesota. Sort of this, well, he wasn't an outright bad teammate but something just wasn't right. Well this, what we are seeing, is what wasn't right.   

 

Consider the numbers that have made him feel this way. 1st in targets in 2020, 4th in 2021, and 5th in 2022. Also consider how this all started off as him just being a "competitor". Just wanting to win.

 

This isn't about that. He is unquestionably the best WR on this team. We need him. But if I was to put money on it, he has just as much chance of forcing himself off the team by next year as he does being on the team and almost no chance we can make it a whole year without one of his "competitive" episodes. I wish I didn't feel this way, but his actions don't exactly inspire trust. 

Diggs is who he is, his actions here are no different than his actions in Minnesota, he is a bit of a diva queen when he feels wronged, to me it’s just being a whiny little itch, I feel that way about any multi millionaire whining about his job circumstances when he plays a game for a living. 
 

GO BILLS!!!

[2003Contenders]

1 hour ago, Andy1 said:

Diggs could have solved all this crap with one simple team affirmative public statement. He chose not to. Dude needs to grow up. Andre Reed is still my favorite WR. Despite all the pain of losing big games he never was a me first player. 

 

I love Andre too -- but he without a doubt also had some of that diva in him (Like all the great ones do).

 

Just a few reflections:

 

1. Throwing the fit in Super Bowl XXVI that cost the team valuable field position when they were finally putting together a great drive.
 

2. Similar to Diggs' meltdown against Allen in the Bengals game, Andre did the same thing to Kelly in a Monday night game (against Pittsburgh, I believe). The two responded the following week with Andre setting an all time record (at the time) for receptions in a game against Favre's Packers.

 

3. After the 1995 season, when he was a free agent, he sulked and felt "disrespected". Kelly and other players had to appeal to him and massage his ego to convince him to come back.

 

4. In the wild card game at the end of the season, trailing by 10 points and in desperation mode on a 3rd down play, he catches a pass and is downed inside the 1-yard line. Believing he got into the end zone, he throws a fit and the team takes a 15-yard penalty, which sets them up at 4th and goal from outside the 15. Wade elects to kick the field goal and try for the on sides kick -- which the Bills recover (but now need a game-tying TD rather than a game-tying FG). The game ends with Miami stopping the Bills goal-to-go.

 

There is plenty more -- and (like I said) I will always love Andre and believe that he is one of the greatest WRs of all time. I think the diva mindset simply goes hand-in-hand with being a great receiver. Rice, Moss, TO, Carter, Reed...  Now Diggs.

[4merper4mer]

3 hours ago, eball said:

 

If he says “Diggs is here, but won’t be at practice today and we are mutually working through some things and we expect him to continue to be a huge part of our team” then the story doesn’t get nearly as much attention.

 

 

 

Shirley you don’t think that reporters wouldn’t have kept pulling at that thread regardless of what McD said or didn’t say.

[Fleezoid]

4 hours ago, eball said:

 

Bingo.  McD screwed the pooch with that press conference.  If he says “Diggs is here, but won’t be at practice today and we are mutually working through some things and we expect him to continue to be a huge part of our team” then the story doesn’t get nearly as much attention.

 

I really don’t know what he was thinking.  He likely regrets it himself.

 

 

Agree. McDermott was obviously reacting emotionally to whatever happened a short time earlier. I believe he was pissed, and had to walk it back once he cooled off.

[RoyBatty is alive]

17 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Thank God for Jeremy Fowler!! Now maybe this can be put to bed!! 

i hope you were being facetious, this is NEVER going away.