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

[Buffalo03]

8 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

None of those coaches had a player like Josh Allen as their quarterback.

 

Pieces like this are what happens when a head coach is not getting the job done and an article comes out saying there's no chance he gets fired after the season.

 

If falling short on the field isn't going to result in changes then we have to go a different route.

I understand they didn't have a Josh Allen. I also guarantee ALL of them wouldn't have done the things McDermott has done with this team. McDermott, while not making the best in game decisions at times, is much smarter than any of those guys prior. If you think Dick Jauron has the same success with Allen that McDermott has, you're delusional

[Wayne Arnold]

9 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

My take is that the whole thing is very unfortunate in that it's likely to cloud decision making about McDermott instead of lasering on what should be focused on - game management, decision making, whether some of the core principles of his defense are really sustainable under the modern salary cap.

 

I'll say it again - articles like these are required when a head coach is not getting the job done and an article comes out with sources close to Pegula saying there's no chance he gets fired after the season.

 

If falling short on the field ("game management, decision making, whether some of the core principles of his defense are really sustainable under the modern salary cap") isn't going to result in changes then we have to go a different route.

 

Maybe Pegula is now getting the message. We're not going to allow Josh Allen to play his career here in Buffalo without lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Wayne Arnold

[nedboy7]

5 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

You have to remember that many "Bills fans" are more accurately labeled "followers" and when you take a shot at their leader, they get upset.  

 

 Remember, there is a huge group think among fans; a sticking together by the sheep in the flock.  They are all looking for peer validation, and protection comes from fitting in.  

 

Peer validation bolsters a sense of self-worth and, at the same time, prevents introspection, which reveals personal insecurities. Individuals who are otherwise ineffective become empowered when they join groups, which also provide anonymity and diminished accountability.

 

  🤔

 

 

 

This is way over the top.  Peer validation?  fitting in?  on TBD?  insecure?  You might be taking this stuff a little too seriously. 

[Man with No Name]

3 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

I'll say it again - articles like these are required when a head coach is not getting the job done and an article comes out saying there's no chance he gets fired after the season.

 

If falling short on the field ("game management, decision making, whether some of the core principles of his defense are really sustainable under the modern salary cap") isn't going to result in changes then we have to go a different route.

 

Maybe Pegula is now getting the message. We're not going to allow Josh Allen to play his career here in Buffalo without lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

so much this. you hate to think they will make a guy unfireable because they were stupid enough to give him a WAY early extension. 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Man with No Name

[Einstein]

9 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

This is alarming to me.

 

The Daboll thing I looked at as sometimes that happens.  Some people just don't get along for whatever reason.

 

But when it's this many, its a gigantic.  

 

The only positive way you can look at this situation is if McDermott looks in the mirror and sees himself as the root issue.  He knows everything that is being said about him.  He probably has an idea who Dunne interviewed.  This is how you are viewed amongst your peers....this is not the look you want.

 

Agreed.

 

Looking back on the situation with a greater understanding of McD based on the article, I wonder if McD was jealous of Daboll’s relationship with Allen.

 

I don’t think McD is a bad man. I really don’t. I believe he is not able to relate to people like he wishes he could (which created some insecurity). I can relate to that feeling. He likely doesn’t even realize that he is a problem. 

For 25 different people to speak out against a coach is alarming. No other head coach is being bashed other like this. None. Zip. Nada. Zero. This is abnormal. There is clearly an issue here that is not happening (at least to this level) elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

[Bills92]

I apologize if this has been mentioned...   but what I don't get... or buy.. is that if Coach is such a 'Di$!', why do players continue to renew their contracts with the Bills (unlike past regimes) let alone, some players beg to come back on discounts (Phillips, Lawson, even Bease for that matter).

 

Go Bills!

 

 

 

[Billsfan1972]

6 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

I'll say it again - articles like these are required when a head coach is not getting the job done and an article comes out with sources close to Pegula saying there's no chance he gets fired after the season.

 

If falling short on the field ("game management, decision making, whether some of the core principles of his defense are really sustainable under the modern salary cap") isn't going to result in changes then we have to go a different route.

 

Maybe Pegula is now getting the message. We're not going to allow Josh Allen to play his career here in Buffalo without lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

 

 

 

I'm sure Jerry Jone's opinion of McD if he was the owner of the Bills, would be very different then Pegula's and there would have been no McD's job is 100% safe article last week.

[BuffaloRebound]

4 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

Agreed.

 

Looking back on the situation with a greater understanding of McD based on the article, I wonder if McD was jealous of Daboll’s relationship with Allen.

 

I don’t think McD is a bad man. I really don’t. I believe he is not able to relate to people like he wishes he could (which created some insecurity). I can relate to that feeling. He likely doesn’t even realize that he is a problem. 

For 25 different people to speak out against a coach is alarming. No other head coach is being bashed other like this. None. Zip. Nada. Zero. This is abnormal. There is clearly an issue here that is not happening (at least to this level) elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

I don’t know.  Any head coach who’s been around for 7+ years will have at least 25 guys who left unhappy.  And are all 25 sources actually bashing mcdermott?  Difference is a psycho reporter tracking down everybody with an ax to grind.  

[wppete]

[Wayne Arnold]

6 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

I understand they didn't have a Josh Allen. I also guarantee ALL of them wouldn't have done the things McDermott has done with this team. McDermott, while not making the best in game decisions at times, is much smarter than any of those guys prior. If you think Dick Jauron has the same success with Allen that McDermott has, you're delusional

 

Dick Jauron went to Yale. To think McDermott is smarter than him is hilarious.

 

Jauron also once went 13-3 with some guy named Jim Miller as his quarterback.

 

Chan Gailey would have set NFL offensive records that wouldn't be touched for 30 years with a player like Josh Allen as his QB.

 

You can guarantee anything you want - doesn't make it true. But the evidence is overwhelming: McDermott is a meathead who gets too nervous at the end of games to lead an NFL team. I'm sorry if that makes you emotional.

[Jauronimo]

3 minutes ago, Bills92 said:

I apologize if this has been mentioned...   but what I don't get... or buy.. is that if Coach is such a 'Di$!', why do players continue to renew their contracts with the Bills (unlike past regimes) let alone, some players beg to come back on discounts (Phillips, Lawson, even Bease for that matter).

 

Go Bills!

 

 

 

Sounds like its more difficult to be a coach on his staff than a player on his team.  He gives some awkward speeches and isn't able to connect with players like a McDaniel.  This isn't even remotely an Urban Meyer situation.  I think McD genuinely cares about his team flawed as he may be and its clear that players want to be in Buffalo because of the locker room culture.

[Beck Water]

28 minutes ago, dpberr said:

There's always information and gossip flowing between agents and front offices.  A lot of football (and in any industry IMO) is built on personal relationships between people.    

 

I'm not suggesting that Bills corporate could completely stop it in any way, but they almost certainly knew this article was being written and probably could have gotten some Bills corporate perspective included in the article.  

 

I don't think Ty Dunne would ever see one his articles published about the complete disappearance of the Bills CEO from public life, Leslie Frazier's odd departure, why Damar Hamelin is on payroll and allegedly "fine" but barely plays football, or the backroom politics/horse-trading of the stadium deal because those are things Bills Corporate do not want the public knowing about because there are details that are unflattering.  

 

So when this article came out putting Sean McDermott under the microscope in such detail, I'm curious about how it came to be. 

 

OK, I see your POV, but I think because of Ty Dunne's business model, he is not very plugged in to a lot of that.  A former player or coaching assistant talks to a personable independent reporter about his time with the Bills and his interactions with Sean McDermott, maybe in the off-season when guys have more time and it doesn't have to be scheduled - why would he even mention that to his agent, to be discussed with the FO?

 

I don't think Dunne would write about a lot of the topics you mention because I don't think he has access to the current employees and family members he'd need access to, to write those articles. 

[Cheektowaga Chad]

8 minutes ago, Bills92 said:

I apologize if this has been mentioned...   but what I don't get... or buy.. is that if Coach is such a 'Di$!', why do players continue to renew their contracts with the Bills (unlike past regimes) let alone, some players beg to come back on discounts (Phillips, Lawson, even Bease for that matter).

 

Go Bills!

 

 

 

Josh Allen

 

Players sign places because of other players not coaches 

[wppete]

43 minutes ago, I'm Spartacus said:

McDermott needs to stop being everybody's guidance counselor and teacher. Concentrate on improving your own in-game management skills and win those close games we seem to keep losing. If he wants to be a motivational speaker and teacher, he's in the wrong business. I just don't like the guys demeanor. He's NOT the smartest guy in the room.

Completely agree. If he wants to play these Tony Robins mind games he should go coach high school or D2 football. These are men at the highest level of football and don’t need McDermotts arrogant nonsense. From his opening press conference when announced as HC you can see the arrogance. He needs to be humbled and focus on winning games and coaching technique and strategy. Or he should be gone by the end of the year. 

[oldmanfan]

If he loses the locker room, then that would be a reason to make a change.  Using a questionable analogy to make a point about planning (and as dastardly a deed as it was, it did require a high degree of planning) is not a reason to get rid of a guy.

 

I think the rest of the season goes one way or the other.  The team either loses out in which case a coaching change is mandated, or they go on a run, in which case a change is not.  The stuff in the article about control freak, etc.  is fairly characteristic of HC's not to mention CEOs of complex organizations. 

[Beck Water]

6 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

Sounds like its more difficult to be a coach on his staff than a player on his team.  He gives some awkward speeches and isn't able to connect with players like a McDaniel.  This isn't even remotely an Urban Meyer situation.  I think McD genuinely cares about his team flawed as he may be and its clear that players want to be in Buffalo because of the locker room culture.

 

There are some stories about what it was like to be an assistant on Belicheck's staff that aren't pretty, especially when his former assistants went elsewhere and tried to implement the same models but without the sustained team success that led people to put up with it.

Why would you think McDermott doesn't connect with players?  Or that he doesn't have something to do with the locker room culture what was built?

I don't think being an assistant football coach is a lot of "fun" anywhere, a lot of Grind.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Beck Water

[Einstein]

8 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

I don’t know.  Any head coach who’s been around for 7+ years will have at least 25 guys who left unhappy.  

 

Yet not a single other head coach - including those who have coached for FAR longer than McDermott - have an article like this about them.

 

I don’t know why some of you think a highly respected reporter like Dunne, who reports on the entire NFL, would have some vendetta against small-city Bills coach McDermott. Why wouldn’t he be just as likely to do this for Belichick? Or Payton? Or Caroll? It’s nonsensical.

 

.

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Einstein

[Beck Water]

1 minute ago, wppete said:

Completely agree. If he wants to play these Tony Robins mind games he should go coach high school or D2 football. These are men at the highest level of football and don’t need McDermotts arrogant nonsense. From his opening press conference when announced as HC you can see the arrogance. He needs to be humbled and focus on winning games and coaching technique and strategy. Or he should be gone by the end of the year. 

 

Oh, Come On. " From his opening press conference you can see the arrogance", what a bunch of malarky.  Show your receipts, Bud; show the posts where you commented on McDermott's arrogance in his introductory presser.

 

Does McDermott have room to improve as far as game management, etc?  Yes.  But some people are just over the top with nonsense.

[oldmanfan]

1 minute ago, Einstein said:

 

Yet not a single other head coach - including those who have coached for FAR longer than McDermott - have an article like this about them.

 

I don’t know why some of you think a highly respected reporter like Dunne, who responds on the entire NFL, would have some vendetta against McDermott. Why wouldn’t he be just as likely to do this for Belichick? Or Payton? Or Caroll? It’s nonsensical.

 

Why? Because Dunn has a history with the Bills having been on the News staff, and because he has had some contentious times with the organization.

[Sherlock Holmes]

9 minutes ago, wppete said:

Thanks was badly needing to know what the 9/11 story was