Dorsey’s preparation…

[hondo in seattle]

14 hours ago, eball said:

Great article on the front page this morning, detailing how Dorsey spends his week during the season.  Wow.  The amount of preparation, collaboration, and attention to detail is amazing.  I love reading things like this because most fans don’t understand the effort and dedication some guys put in.  Joe 6-pack who works maybe 40 hours a week sits on his couch and critiques the play-calling.  It’s absurd.

 

Not every play works.  Not every game plan is perfect.  Players make mistakes, and other teams make great plays.  But I will never claim that Dorsey “doesn’t have a clue” or hasn’t done his homework.

 

 

 

Critiquing coaches is part of the joy of being a fan.  But I get what you're saying.

 

I fought in Desert Storm and read some of the analyses written both before and after the war.   Much of the stuff published was amusing, to put it mildly.  Many so-called analysts that people relied on for accurate information & insight were downright clueless.   

 

Most amateurs overrate their own opinions and underrate the expertise of the professionals.  

 

But knowing that, I'm still going to b*tch and moan if Dorsey doesn't get the RBs involved in the passing game and call more quick-hitting passes.  

[Mike in Horseheads]

Is this similar to Preparation H?

Edited September 4, 2023 by Mike in Horseheads

[EmotionallyUnstable]

11 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

It's in the Buffalo News, if you get it.  

 

It's a good review of the week.  Amazing workload.  

 

My reaction was that the week is about trees, and I wonder when they sit down and look at the forest.   What I mean is that the week goes like this:   Critique the plays on Sunday, review film of next opponent and develop game plan, install plan, tweak it, play the next game.   

 

The article didn't say anything about looking at the bigger picture.  For example, last season something was wrong in the red zone.  If all they do is what's described in the article, they're just correcting the plays they called last week and picking some plays for next week based on what they see in the defense.   Where's the big-picture scouting of the Bills' red zone philosophy?  How do defenses know how to stuff the red zone plays?   I can't believe that they wait until the off-season to think about that problem.   I mean, at some point McDermott must be looking Dorsey in the eye and asking for something more than "do better."   

 

I suppose that's part of the process, but it's not described anywhere in the article.  I hope so, because it's not enough to be looking at the trees all day, or worse yet, the leaves.  

 

McDermott is on record stating that they generally spend a good chunk of their bye week to self-scout and hone in on certain issues, but this is only once throughout the season.

 

I can only paraphrase this because I don’t remember when I read this, but I believe teams generally get “tendency reports” after 4 games, which I imagine they have their analytics department dissect and present. 
 

In todays game, I’d be shocked if this isn’t even more frequent than on a monthly basis. The problem is that with the next opponent on the docket week in and week out, there just isn’t time to make major revisions in philosophy or scheme. 
 

I’m hopeful Dorsey’s second year will provide him with the familiarity to allow streamlining some of these processes described in the article, so he can spend more congitive processing towards such items.

[MRW]

1 hour ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

McDermott is on record stating that they generally spend a good chunk of their bye week to self-scout and hone in on certain issues, but this is only once throughout the season.

 

I can only paraphrase this because I don’t remember when I read this, but I believe teams generally get “tendency reports” after 4 games, which I imagine they have their analytics department dissect and present. 
 

In todays game, I’d be shocked if this isn’t even more frequent than on a monthly basis. The problem is that with the next opponent on the docket week in and week out, there just isn’t time to make major revisions in philosophy or scheme. 
 

I’m hopeful Dorsey’s second year will provide him with the familiarity to allow streamlining some of these processes described in the article, so he can spend more congitive processing towards such items.

 

I would imagine there's also an element of, are you better off trying to adapt your philosophy mid-season if it means working in plays you haven't practiced/prepped as much, or should you go with what your players are familiar with and can execute as opposed to trying to show opponents new wrinkles? That's got to be a tough one to answer.

[BADOLBILZ]

6 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

Here's an excerpted/shortened version of  Dorsey's weekly regimen based on the Buffalo News article linked below:

 

Sunday: After the game Dorsey walks over to his office and watches the All 22 to do a post mortem of the game just completed. He takes notes of course.

 

Monday: In the office by 6:45 am. Offensive Coaches meeting at 8 am where his assistants present their player grades from yesterday's game. "Later" Monday is a full offensive meeting with players and coaches. Dorsey goes over the good and the bad. Afterwards he "pops into" the positional group meetings spending most of his time in the QB meeting. After that he attends a team meeting run by McDermott. After this meeting the entire staff is now focused on the upcoming opponent. Dorsey then has his weekly media availability at 3 pm. "Monday night" the staff is working on 1st and 2nd downs and which base run and pass plays might work. Dorsey oversees the pass game and OL Coach Aaron Kromer oversees the run game.

 

Early in the week: Dorsey receives analytics reports from senior director of football research Dennis Lock, and talks game situations with assistant quarterbacks/game management coach Marc Lubick. Completes watching every game the upcoming opponent has played this season.

 

Tuesday: Most of the players are off but the coaches and quarterbacks are at the facility. Dorsey spends time talking with McDermott to get a defensive perspective on the opponents D and also with Josh Allen about what plays they like and dislike for the week's opponent. He also has conversations with his coaches about what they feel will work. By mid-afternoon 1st and 2nd down play calls are finalized and the staff turns its focus to 3rd down planning.

 

Wednesday: 8 am coaches meeting to finalize points of emphasis for upcoming practices and review the practice script of plays with the emphasis on red-zone plays. The opponents personnel and general schemes are presented. The meeting breaks and positional group meetings commence. This is followed by an on-field "walk-through period" and then another meeting, and then a 12:30 practice, another coach’s meeting, another full-offense meeting and then individual position meetings. Afterwards the coaches watch the practice video together to finalize the playlist. The players are excused in the late afternoon but the coaches continue by reviewing “What if?” scenarios – if the opponent does this, how will the Bills block it, where will Allen go with the football, how will the receivers and tight ends adjust their routes? They call them their “rules.” Next up is the red zone. Says Dorsey “There is the element of never feeling like there is enough time in the day.”

 

Thursday: In the 90 minutes before the 8 am offensive staff meeting, Dorsey double-checks the Thursday practice script to make sure the right things are being emphasized during individual drills, and uses highlighters to mark plays already practiced and those still on the docket. Then there is an offensive team meeting focusing on blitzes, and then another meeting devoted to the red-zone package. From late afternoon into the night, the coaches script the Friday practice, make sure the red-zone plan is finished and go over two- and four-minute drills, short-yardage, goal-line, and back-up-to-their-own-end-zone situations. Late Thursday night, Dorsey is back in his office organizing his play-call sheets for the game: which first-and-10 play he prefers in the red zone, go-to calls on second-and-long, the plays in third-and-short, -medium and-long.

 

Friday: The team has a morning walk-through before staying on the field and starting practice at 11 a.m. The aforementioned specialized situations are installed and practiced. Post-practice, there are no meetings with the players. The coaches do meet and "you’re trying to subtract plays (from the game plan), instead of adding plays because there are no more practices to work on it.” Dorsey tries to leave the facility by 6 p.m. Friday and spend time with his wife and two daughters.

 

Saturday: Dorsey starts with another offensive staff meeting in the morning to go over the play-calling script. He continues to stress collaboration. The Bills usually have an 11 a.m. walk-through that Dorsey said centers on “true situational stuff,” like two-minute and short-yardage. After the walk-through, if it’s a home game, the players are off for several hours until reporting to their team hotel. The position coaches use Saturday afternoon to work ahead on the next opponent, and Dorsey will take one last look at how he constructed his game-calling sheets for “final touches on the plan.”

 

https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/ken-dorsey-buffalo-bills-game-preparations-nfl/article_73640ee6-444f-11ee-bb15-5b2c7e37403b.html

 

 

 

Umm........yeah, that's just what NFL coaches do.

 

It's not 1980's and early 1990's Joe Gibbs being the best HC in the NFL, being able to win SB's with several different non-HOF QB's by basically never going home, sleeping just a few hours each night in his office and not having any idea what else is going on in the world around him...........but the job still absolutely requires a lot of work.........it's an ultra-competitive labor of love industry.    

 

If you've ever had the pleasure of loving the job you have and not wanting to be somewhere else instead.........then you'd understand that it's not even work.

[Sierra Foothills]

44 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

Umm........yeah, that's just what NFL coaches do.

 

It's not 1980's and early 1990's Joe Gibbs being the best HC in the NFL, being able to win SB's with several different non-HOF QB's by basically never going home, sleeping just a few hours each night in his office and not having any idea what else is going on in the world around him...........but the job still absolutely requires a lot of work.........it's an ultra-competitive labor of love industry.    

 

If you've ever had the pleasure of loving the job you have and not wanting to be somewhere else instead.........then you'd understand that it's not even work.

 

I was giving a synopsis of the article... not sure what you're getting at.

 

[Shaw66]

10 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

McDermott is on record stating that they generally spend a good chunk of their bye week to self-scout and hone in on certain issues, but this is only once throughout the season.

 

I can only paraphrase this because I don’t remember when I read this, but I believe teams generally get “tendency reports” after 4 games, which I imagine they have their analytics department dissect and present. 
 

In todays game, I’d be shocked if this isn’t even more frequent than on a monthly basis. The problem is that with the next opponent on the docket week in and week out, there just isn’t time to make major revisions in philosophy or scheme. 
 

I’m hopeful Dorsey’s second year will provide him with the familiarity to allow streamlining some of these processes described in the article, so he can spend more congitive processing towards such items.

This is great.  Thank you.   It fills in the blanks.

 

I recall having heard McDermott talk about the bye week that way. 

 

But the real answer is analytics.  They have people (soon to be just AI) analyzing formations, plays, defenses, results, etc. on a regular basis and generating reports about tendencies, success rates, defensive trends, etc.   That's the piece that's missing from the article, or just lost in the details of the week.   I'm sure Dorsey is a getting a weekly report about last week's game, monthly and year-to-date trends in all of that stuff.   He knows what has worked, what hasn't worked, and what defenses are doing to the Bills.  And if he's any good, when he sees what's working, he'll ask himself and McDermott what defenses are likely to do to stop it, so Dorsey can try to create something that will keep him ahead of the defenses.  (That's what drives you nuts about the Chief's red zone offense.  As defenses begin to plan for whatever wrinkle they're using, like that shovel pass to Kelce, Reid is planning what play will work to confound the defensive adjustment.)

 

The complexity these guys are mired in as they plan week-to-week is amazing.

 

Thanks.  

 

It's all just information that's in the mix as the coaches develop their plans from week to week.  

8 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

I was giving a synopsis of the article... not sure what you're getting at.

 

lt's just Bado telling you that he already knew what the article said.  He's really smart. 

 

But his final point is correct.  It's an ultra-competitive labor of love industry.

[ColoradoBills]

Sorry, I just had to post this.

 

 

[GrimboG]

This prep is the kind of stuff I imagine our backroom really missed last season during the snow weeks, detroit game and Hamlin aftermath etc. Some weeks it seemed like the players couldnt even get in the building, so would have been improvising alot more

 

 

[Meatloaf63]

16 hours ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

Critiquing coaches is part of the joy of being a fan.  But I get what you're saying.

 

I fought in Desert Storm and read some of the analyses written both before and after the war.   Much of the stuff published was amusing, to put it mildly.  Many so-called analysts that people relied on for accurate information & insight were downright clueless.   

 

Most amateurs overrate their own opinions and underrate the expertise of the professionals.  

 

But knowing that, I'm still going to b*tch and moan if Dorsey doesn't get the RBs involved in the passing game and call more quick-hitting passes.  

Wow, thank you for your service!!!  Glad you made it back. Good post👍

[K-9]

What does Jason Whitlock have to say about Dorsey’s preparation? 

[BADOLBILZ]

14 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

I was giving a synopsis of the article... not sure what you're getting at.

 

 

I'm sorry you've missed the obvious point.   (sorry as in "you are an idiot" not as in apologetic, to clarify what I was getting at by the last sentence)

 

Anyone who has followed the game for any extended period of time has been told over and over that NFL coaches invest very large amounts of time into their work. 

 

In related news, most very highly sought after/desirable professions have such drawbacks.

 

 

[Sierra Foothills]

4 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

I'm sorry you've missed the obvious point.   (sorry as in "you are an idiot" not as in apologetic, to clarify what I was getting at by the last sentence)

 

Anyone who has followed the game for any extended period of time has been told over and over that NFL coaches invest very large amounts of time into their work. 

 

In related news, most very highly sought after/desirable professions have such drawbacks.

 

 

 

Let me get this right...

 

As a service to other readers who can't get behind the paywall, I provide a synopsis of the article with no editorializing or opinions... just a summary.

 

You are now calling me an idiot and alleging that I don't understand the nature of NFL coaching and other similar professions?

 

[BADOLBILZ]

3 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Let me get this right...

 

As a service to other readers who can't get behind the paywall, I provide a synopsis of the article with no editorializing or opinions... just a summary.

 

You are now calling me an idiot and alleging that I don't understand the nature of NFL coaching and other similar professions?

 

 

 

Yeah,  I suspect you knew exactly what I was getting at and are just being disingenuous........because it wasn't in the least bit subjective or complicated.

 

But since you are playing dumb about it I will give you the benefit of the doubt for just being dumb. 

 

[Augie]

19 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Let me get this right...

 

As a service to other readers who can't get behind the paywall, I provide a synopsis of the article with no editorializing or opinions... just a summary.

 

You are now calling me an idiot and alleging that I don't understand the nature of NFL coaching and other similar professions?

 

 

I think my response would have been a simple “thank you”.  But that’s just one way to handle it, apparently. 🤷‍♂️

[Sierra Foothills]

26 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Yeah,  I suspect you knew exactly what I was getting at and are just being disingenuous........because it wasn't in the least bit subjective or complicated.

 

But since you are playing dumb about it I will give you the benefit of the doubt for just being dumb. 

 

 

Wow.

 

First you call me an idiot and now you're saying I'm dumb.

 

It's weird being the target of an unprovoked attack... but I hope you feel better.

 

 

 

[Sierra Foothills]

26 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

I think my response would have been a simple “thank you”.  But that’s just one way to handle it, apparently. 🤷‍♂️

 

I'm trying to get a clear and simple explanation from @BADOLBILZwhy he feels it's necessary to question my intelligence.

 

If a person is being attacked as I am, shouldn't there be some justification from the attacker?

 

I've called him on it and he's now being evasive instead of clear.

 

[Beck Water]

On 9/3/2023 at 7:53 AM, NoSaint said:

honestly, a large volume of work does not mean he is creating the proper output

 

Just like that winning coach Doug Marrone said, eh?  "Never Confuse Effort with Results"

 

Oh Wait

[Augie]

7 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Just like that winning coach Doug Marrone said, eh?  "Never Confuse Effort with Results"

 

Oh Wait

 

A guy on my wing freshman year would sit all weekend at his desk looking out into the hallway as we were all coming and going to “college kid activities”.  George was from Portsmouth, OH, and he sat there “studying” all weekend long, every weekend. The rest of us would CLOSE the door, or go somewhere quiet for a couple hours. George did not have great grades. George was not very smart.

 

Poor grades and no fun is a complete waste of college! 

[3rdand12]

20 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

I'm trying to get a clear and simple explanation from @BADOLBILZwhy he feels it's necessary to question my intelligence.

 

If a person is being attacked as I am, shouldn't there be some justification from the attacker?

 

I've called him on it and he's now being evasive instead of clear.

 

Your gonna have that.
  Sniping from the balcony has become our Badol's mo. never take it to heart. Part of the territory regardless of poster or subject