Tyler Dunne story on McDermott - 3 parts, 25 interviews, one damning conclusion

[TheyCallMeAndy]

4 minutes ago, TheFunPolice said:

These quotes from Deadpsin make the 9/11 story sound even more legit, because they try to explain why McDermott might have tried to use that example. Not the type of thing you would include in a totally made-up hit piece: 

 

Players who spoke anonymously to Dunne were taken aback by the “horrible, horrible reference.” One coach added that McDermott “doesn’t have bad intentions. He’s just so clueless that he couldn’t believe that it was a big deal when the players were losing their minds.”

 

Other players tried to rationalize it from McDermott’s perspective. “In his brain it was, ‘If evil can accomplish this, then imagine what we can accomplish’ doing things the right way. The message was just f—ked up.”

 

Seeing no current or former player from 2021 has ever mentioned that ever…

 

[4th&long]

51 minutes ago, I Am The Liquor said:

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/during-2021-team-meeting-sean-mcdermott-cited-9-11-attacks-as-example-of-teamwork

 

“At St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., McDermott’s morning address began innocently enough,” Dunne writes. “He told the entire team they needed to come together. But then, sources on-hand say, he used a strange model: the terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. He cited the hijackers as a group of people who were all able to get on the same page to orchestrate attacks to perfection. One by one, McDermott started asking specific players in the room questions. ‘What tactics do you think they used to come together?’ A young player tried to methodically answer. ‘What do you think their biggest obstacle was?’ A veteran answered, ‘TSA,’ which mercifully lightened the mood.”

 

This is absolutely bat sh*t crazy if true lmfao.

Yeah this is nuts. I’m not surprised with him. 

[Fleezoid]

[Mango]

7 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

When Terry saved the Bills from Bon Jovi and Rogers, and everyone loved him, I knew he'd be despised in a few years. Because no good deed goes unpunished.

 

I agree he saved the Bills from relocation. I will forever be appreciative. 

But it doesn't mean he has been a good hockey owner either. It is a bit unfair to chalk up the frustration with Terry over the Sabres and possibly Bills disfunction to "no good deed goes unpunished". 
 

My tune would be much different if the Sabres were consistently mediocre. 

[dave mcbride]

3 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

I haven’t read it—just the free parts—but I had a similar thought.  There are a lot of guys who have been in that building with McD who were all too happy to throw him under the wheels of a semi.   I wonder how many chimed in—and how many may pipe up—to defend him.   From what I gather this piece is humiliating.   And, this conversation makes me wonder whether he’s lost the room, and I think we’ll get a good sense of that in the coming weeks.  

 

The comments from sources are not entirely negative. From part II:

 

'His intent — players repeat — is pure.

 

The coach who ended the Bills’ 17-year playoff drought realizes how badly locals are dying for their first Super Bowl. The quest consumes him.

 

“He never, ever, ever does a damn thing with any other intention than to empower and grow the Buffalo Bills franchise,” this ex-Bill said. “That’s a fact. Now, whether or not the *****’s going to work or whether or not the players are going to receive it well? That’s a different conversation. But it doesn’t come from an evil - ‘Sean McDermott wants all the praise and all the credit.’ He genuinely wants every person in that organization to thrive and win a lot of games to the point of exhaustion.

“All he wants to do is help that team win. Now, that’s the truth.”'

[Royale with Cheese]

4 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

Thats where I am with him.  Based on the change in tone and body language of the team and the results this year relative to last, I think the players have tuned him out.  I'm not saying mutiny or that hes lost the locker room but the guys look tight out there but also sloppy.  Some coaches have a shorter shelf life depending on their communication style.  

 

I think we all can see how tense he looks on the sidelines.  He doesn't seem comfortable or even happy.  I wouldn't be surprised if we end up not making the playoffs, that McDermott steps down.  He won't be done with coaching, I'm sure he would get picked up by another team, but he would need a change of scenery.  He cannot be that oblivious the tone in the locker room has changed.

 

I agree that they have tuned him out.  

[Low Positive]

1 minute ago, Mango said:

 

At the time of purchase the Sabres had the 4th highest all time point percentage in the league. They are by far the winningest franchise to never win a cup. Buffalo fans like to say their lives are always miserable, but over 40+ years the Sabres were amongst the most winningest franchises ever. 

The Sabres are having the worst 12 year stretch in the history of professional hockey in the United States. They have now plummeted 8 spots with a .445 point percentage since he bought the team. 

Rigas going to jail for fraud means he sucks as a human. But he also owned this team during the 99 cup run. There is 0.0000% chance that Rigas is lesser hockey owner.

I don't want to derail this dumpster fire of a thread, but I don't know what to do about the Sabres. I don't live in town anymore. Is there anybody else with local connections with enough money to buy the team and not move them?

[TheFunPolice]

Just now, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Seeing no current or former player from 2021 has ever mentioned that ever…

 

 

Well, apparently some did for this article. 

 

Also, honeymoon period. Things were newer and going better, and maybe the players at the time just said WTF? to themselves and mocked him behind his back but chalked it up to him being an awkward weirdo who meant well. That's basically what the Dunn article says. 

 

Regardless of the motivation behind revealing it, if he said it, he said it. 

[BigAl2526]

I haven't paid to read the article and don't intend to.  McDermott is a human being.  He has flaws like any other human being.  The fact is that he and Brandon Beane have together built a franchise that had been mired in mediocrity for two decades and turned it into one that makes the playoffs with regularity.  It is true that Josh Allen is a large factor in the team's recent success, but there are other factors as well, and at least some of them point to McDermott's coaching and team building skill.  

 

I do think that Dorsey was something of a scapegoat, but I don't think he is entirely exempt from blame for the team's erratic performance on offense this season.  I recall in particular the one game a while back (I forget who the opponent was where the offense marched down the field with ease using short passes in rhythm.  The next time the Bills had the ball, I think they tried running the ball a lot more and it was like running into a brick wall.  They never went back to that quick rhythmic passing game.  The Bills lost.   The explanation after the game for not continuing the quick rhythmic passing game was that the team wanted to be more balanced.  I agree that in the long term the offense has to be able to do different things, but in the short term, if something is working to perfection, why would you abandon it and never come back to it?  Maybe it was McDermott who made that decision, but I suspect it was Dorsey.

 

Going forward, I don't think the Bills should fire McDermott, nor will they.  I'm not ruling out the possibility that firing McDermott could be the right decision in a year or two.  In the meantime, I hope that McDermott is self-aware about the issues Dunne apparently raise, and works at getting better.

Edited December 7, 2023 by BigAl2526

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

5 hours ago, Roundybout said:

https://www.golongtd.com/p/the-mcdermott-problem-part-i-blame?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
 

 

A very long read, and the other parts are only for paid subscribers, but his sources paint a picture of McD as a narcissistic control freak who won’t take accountability for anything. 
 

 

Do with this what you will. 

sounds like sources are painting a picture of what us fans already know.

 

but one day, McD will make the mistake of blaming Kim…then he will be gone.

 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

4 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

I haven’t read it—just the free parts—but I had a similar thought.  There are a lot of guys who have been in that building with McD who were all too happy to throw him under the wheels of a semi.   I wonder how many chimed in—and how many may pipe up—to defend him.   From what I gather this piece is humiliating.   And, this conversation makes me wonder whether he’s lost the room, and I think we’ll get a good sense of that in the coming weeks.  

 

 

I mean if it were me?  I'd be really pissed off.  And in turn... the team is going to be pissed off because I'd be very likely to take it out on them in some capacity.  

 

Maybe it'll light a fire?  At this point in the season with everything falling apart, we can only hope that he's saved his best coaching for right now.  

[SectionC3]

30 minutes ago, Low Positive said:

This story feels like a personal grudge that Dunne released at the worst time to inflict maximum possible damage. BTW, after this, Pegula will never fire McDermott. He simply wouldn't give Dunne the satisfaction. It seems to be personal for both of them, and we all have to suffer the consequences. For those of you reading all of this with satisfaction, because you've been proven right on the Internet, I hope that you enjoy a return to being a dysfunctional organization that makes players cry after being drafted. Between Von Miller and this story, this has been one of the worst weeks in Buffalo Bills history and they didn't even play a game.

There’s too many weeks like that lately.  Diggs is a volcano ready to erupt.  Allen went through his largely self-inflicted nonsense last year that seemed to carry over into the spring.  The Araiza situation last year.  Nuking the OC in the middle of the year.  Von Miller strangling (allegedly) his pregnant partner.   I don’t think it’s just Sean; on a whole, there has been a mountain of drama around that team in the last two years and they seem like they either need to get angry and win some games or get a breath of fresh air.  Another reason why I’m on the Daboll train if they make a change.  Make it fun.  

[boater]

15 pages of posts in 5 hours. Tyler Dunne accomplished his mission of generating clicks.

 

Three cheers for un-named sources!

[Big Blitz]

5 hours ago, DanInUticaTampa said:

I think we can all agree that heath farell is one of the sources

 

It’s not so much the 13 seconds with me (ok maybe that’s the main thing) but it was the absolutely bizarre “cover up” to what transpired.  
 

You couldn’t even ask Bass what he was told to do.  
 

No one owned it.  Sure McD tap danced around it weeks later but no he really didn’t take accountability for it instead left everyone asking still wth happened.  

[Mango]

Just now, Low Positive said:

I don't want to derail this dumpster fire of a thread, but I don't know what to do about the Sabres. I don't live in town anymore. Is there anybody else with local connections with enough money to buy the team and not move them?

 

When Pegula bought the team Buffalo averaged 99.9% attendance capacity. We are always among the top 5 TV markets in the country for the Stanley Cup, often beating out cities who are actually playing in it. 

I like to think that the NHL finds Buffalo an advantageous city to have a hockey team and don't want them to move. 

That's my take, but because of that it is almost certainly wrong. 

[SectionC3]

2 minutes ago, TheFunPolice said:

 

Well, apparently some did for this article. 

 

Also, honeymoon period. Things were newer and going better, and maybe the players at the time just said WTF? to themselves and mocked him behind his back but chalked it up to him being an awkward weirdo who meant well. That's basically what the Dunn article says. 

 

Regardless of the motivation behind revealing it, if he said it, he said it. 

The bet here is the team aged and a bunch of young guys and mid-level free agents got a little less desperate to prove themselves, a little (too) comfortable, and a little tired of the wound-too-tight guy in charge.  

[dave mcbride]

Just now, boater said:

15 pages of posts in 5 hours. Tyler Dunne accomplished his mission of generating clicks.

 

Three cheers for un-named sources!

He didn't actually generate a single click. His site has no advertising and what's going on here isn't "clicks."

[Lionel Hutz]

Not gonna lie, it would be hilarious if McDermott gets fired for his 9/11 speech.

[Low Positive]

Just now, SectionC3 said:

There’s too many weeks like that lately.  Diggs is a volcano ready to erupt.  Allen went through his largely self-inflicted nonsense last year that seemed to carry over into the spring.  The Araiza situation last year.  Nuking the OC in the middle of the year.  Von Miller strangling (allegedly) his pregnant partner.   I don’t think it’s just Sean; on a whole, there has been a mountain of drama around that team in the last two years and they seem like they either need to get angry and win some games or get a breath of fresh air.  Another reason why I’m on the Daboll train if they make a change.  Make it fun.  

Some of this stuff every team goes through, but you only find out about it if you live in town and/or closely follow the team. 

[billieve420]

2 hours ago, HomeskillitMoorman said:

 

Dude you absolutely are a McScapegoat excuse maker. I remember just a couple or so weeks ago debating with you on it and you were making excuses every which way for him. 

 

Sure, Dorsey earned his firing, but McD hired him and kept him in that position for a year and a half. Just like he kept Frazier for years. He scapegoated Frazier and then does the same exact loser soft prevent zone at the end of games that he does. 

 

And the late game coaching blunders and poor game management have been going on for years, literally since year 1. This is nothing new. He's just had #17 here to constantly bail him out until this season. 

 

It's hard for me to understand why people like yourselves can't evaluate this until things go completely off the rails, and even now you're still saying he should go only "IF" we miss the playoffs! It's truly unreal. All of his blunders and gaffes are still blunders and gaffes even if we make the playoffs.

 

We've wasted 6 years of an elite talent at QB because of this trashbag coach who has never put in the slightest bit of work to improve himself or his preparation. That's the hard truth. 

 

They wanted continuity and their Franchise QB was on board with decision. We had offense in place that was explosive and Allen had success in. So I can see the reasoning going with Dorsey. It didn't work out.