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

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

Just now, Royale with Cheese said:

 

There are plenty of examples that he could have used that would have been better.  Especially since it's not an enemy.

 

For instance, the SEAL Team 6 who had their helicopter crash and Bin Laden's compound.  They didn't miss a beat, infiltrated, accomplished their goal and then went home.

 

Might have been shooting from the hip and just.. *WHIFF*.  It's like telling a funny story that you realize about 30% in... isn't funny.  Then you have to finish it 🙂

[NoSaint]

3 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

Here’s an outside of the box idea.  McD is nothing if not detail oriented.  A good human, from all accounts, too.  And trusted by the Pegulas.  He’s be the perfect type of guy to be say, team president, and make sure that stuff like this new stadium thing gets done right when Terry’s out of town.  

yea you want your team president to be talking about 9/11 hijackers as a positive example while playing style police with adult men  

[Royale with Cheese]

3 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

Mularkey left in significant part because his kids were treated like crap at school because of their dad.  Not cool. 

 

I heard stories about that....they were all true?

[dave mcbride]

1 minute ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

There are plenty of examples that he could have used that would have been better.  Especially since it's not an enemy.

 

For instance, the SEAL Team 6 who had their helicopter crash and Bin Laden's compound.  They didn't miss a beat, infiltrated, accomplished their goal and then went home.

I don't disagree! I'm just saying that on the factual level, he's not wrong. But as Florio says, it's very Michael Scott-esque.

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

5 hours ago, Roundybout said:

A lot of these quotes do sound like sources who were fired and are still jaded. 

Probably Tim Murray and Ralph Krueger.

[Mikie2times]

Things we know about Sean

• He is not an offensive mind
• He is not the most skilled at relating to players
• He does not make good decisions late in games
• He has struggled to maintain coordinators
• He has not been able to parlay regular season success into postseason success

I don't need all these by any stretch. But I have a hard time thinking of any Super Bowl head coach has all this against him and in my mind, these are not really debatable things. You don't need this article to land on any of the above. 

 

[hondo in seattle]

2 hours ago, PBF81 said:

 

Not sure what that has to do with anything.  

 

I'm hardly one for hammering people that were wrong, much less touting myself, but given your comment I'll stand up for myself and say that I predicted all of this, so it's also hardly a baseless bias.  

 

You too and everyone else will be finding out more as time passes, just as we already have.  

 

Your insinuation, implicitly, that Dunne is lying about his sources and interviews is ridiculous.  And when he's posted favorable things here, everyone applauds.  

 

The most biased people in the mix are the handful and extreme minority that are still backing McD, who's done enough all by himself via his own statements to validate that he's in over his head.  

 

Either way, I'd prefer it if you'd stick to the discussion rather than go down the path of ad hominem.  I don't do that to you or anyone else, please don't do it to me.  

 

 

 

In India, they say when a pickpocket walks down the street, all he sees are pockets.  In science, it's called confirmation bias.  We tend to see what we're looking for.

 

I never suggested Dunne is lying.  I think, maybe, Dunne doesn't like McD and so he looks for disgruntled ex-Bills employees to agree with him.  And that's what he prints.  I don't think he made up a single quote.  I don't think he said a single thing he doesn't believe to be true.  I just think that, maybe, he's wrong.  

 

I think a pro-McD journalist could write a very different article with lots of true quotes about how great McD is.  

 

If I was Terry, I wouldn't read this board or Tyler's article.  I'd talk to Beane, the subordinate coaches, and the players.  I'd try to get a good 360-degree of McD from the people who matter.  

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

Just now, NoSaint said:

yea you want your team president to be talking about 9/11 hijackers as a positive example while playing style police with adult men  

Maybe he was trying to talk about the one that didn't crash into the towers? and how they banded together to stop terrorists?  

 

Lines got crossed 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

Just now, Royale with Cheese said:

 

I heard stories about that....they were all true?

I recall that as well, but from the BBMB. 

[mannc]

5 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

More than likely, you're right.  I was just stating that if it does happen, I won't be surprised.  I was surprised when Mularkey stepped down but I won't be if McDermott does.

 

He would be walking away from $20 million but he will get a job somewhere else.  

Nope, can't do that either.  A coach who's under contract can't just quit and go work for another NFL team. 

[NoSaint]

1 minute ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

Might have been shooting from the hip and just.. *WHIFF*.  It's like telling a funny story that you realize about 30% in... isn't funny.  Then you have to finish it 🙂

I mean, never center the terrorists as who you want to emulate is a pretty easy lesson to learn and one that should be infinitely avoidable for anyone with an IQ that’s even lukewarm 

[Low Positive]

Just now, Royale with Cheese said:

 

There are plenty of examples that he could have used that would have been better.  Especially since it's not an enemy.

 

For instance, the SEAL Team 6 who had their helicopter crash and Bin Laden's compound.  They didn't miss a beat, infiltrated, accomplished their goal and then went home.

He could have used D-Day or making a Hollywood movie. All of the horrible things that have happened in human history took planning and coordination. The Nazis kept meticulous records and ran their evil enterprise with machine-like precision. Doesn't mean that you should use it as a positive example of teamwork making the dream work.

[beebe]

The article's narrative is basically that Sean McDermott is a deeply insecure control-freak egomaniac who can't connect with players or his assistant coaches and that his doom-and-gloom outlook, where he expects the worst and hopes for the best, is ultimately holding the Bills back. Put simply, you can't win with someone like this, and the Bills must move on—or else. 

 

The article cites numerous examples of why McDermott's methods are broken and unsustainable.

 

And yet: 

 

2019: 10-6 (fluke playoff loss)

2020: 13-3 (lost to generational Chiefs team)

2021: 11-6 (lost to generational Chiefs team in flukiest way imaginable) 

2022: 13-3 (lost to incredible Bengals team, who would later lose to generational Chiefs team) 

2023: 9-8 (potentially 10-7 or even 11-6 if lightning strikes) 

 

His 7-year record of 68-41 (62%) is one of the best stretches in NFL history to begin a coaching tenure. You can say he has Josh Allen, but he's had a top-5 level defense four times in this stretch. Within the McDermott era, the Bills went from basement to top of the division, while Belichick and his brilliant coaching methods now sits in last place, unable to score a single point some weeks. 

 

All this to say: McDermott is a deeply flawed coach, no doubt. I can even buy that in some cases the Bills have won despite him. 

 

But the article portrays him like he's as unaccomplished as Josh McDaniels. There's some room for nuance here.

[SectionC3]

1 minute ago, NoSaint said:

yea you want your team president to be talking about 9/11 hijackers as a positive example while playing style police with adult men  

You want your team president to be detail-oriented, not banging the staff, and have enough smarts to get stuff done.  Like the new stadium that already has an estimated $300m in overage costs.  Nobody cares about idiotic stories and style points in that context.  He really is the perfect type of person for that role. 

[mannc]

6 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

Here’s an outside of the box idea.  McD is nothing if not detail oriented.  A good human, from all accounts, too.  And trusted by the Pegulas.  He’s be the perfect type of guy to be say, team president, and make sure that stuff like this new stadium thing gets done right when Terry’s out of town.  

No thanks.   

[TheyCallMeAndy]

1 minute ago, mannc said:

Nope, can't do that either.  A coach who's under contract can't just quit and go work for another NFL team. 

They can mutually part ways, I think it’s more likely than him up and quitting. 

[Royale with Cheese]

Just now, mannc said:

Nope, can't do that either.  A coach who's under contract can't just quit and go work for another NFL team. 

 

Ahh...didn't know that.

 

So it would have to be either take time off, coach college or take a TV job?  He's not a TV personality so we can rule that out lol.

[dave mcbride]

1 minute ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

In India, they say when a pickpocket walks down the street, all he sees are pockets.  In science, it's called confirmation bias.  We tend to see what we're looking for.

 

I never suggested Dunne is lying.  I think, maybe, Dunne doesn't like McD and so he looks for disgruntled ex-Bills employees to agree with him.  And that's what he prints.  I don't think he made up a single quote.  I don't think he said a single thing he doesn't believe to be true.  I just think that, maybe, he's wrong.  

 

I think a pro-McD journalist could write a very different article with lots of true quotes about how great McD is.  

 

If I was Terry, I wouldn't read this board or Tyler's article.  I'd talk to Beane, the subordinate coaches, and the players.  I'd try to get a good 360-degree of McD from the people who matter.  

and

 

 

[PromoTheRobot]

15 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

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. 

 

I'm sympathetic  to him because if I became a billionaire overnight and bought my favorite, I wouldn't have the first clue what to do. Listen to an expert, you say? That's who Pat LaFontaine was, and he hired GM Tim Murray. You have to be a little lucky you don't get taken for a ride. Same with the Bills. He got snookered hiring Rexy. I'm sure McDermott felt like a pillar of competence afterwards.

[Einstein]

This is the part that bothers me the most. And I 100% believe it because it jives with exactly what we all saw after 13 seconds. We all saw a head coach who REFUSED to talk about it. REFUSED to tell us what happened. REFUSED to take responsibility in any meaningful way.

 

McKenzie publicly spoke out about how the coaches never even told the PLAYERS where the breakdown occurred. 

"Adversity reveals character in any field. Not only did McDermott insult the public by writing off 13 Seconds as an “execution” error. He never owned the defeat privately. He allowed it to linger, and that’s the danger with any trauma. There’s no way for anyone involved to move on unless it’s dealt with head-on. Unless the guilty party takes accountability. McDermott, as Go Long detailed, was the culprit. Yet when his decision to kick a touchback and his defense doomed Buffalo against the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs, there was zero accountability. To delusional proportions. One assistant coach remembers McDermott saying in the locker room that the offense scored too fast and left the Chiefs too much time.

“It was such a ludicrous statement,” the coach said, “that it didn’t move the needle.”

The next day, McDermott continued to point the finger. “You guys need to get away,” the assistant recalled the boss saying. “Recharge, reflect, and figure out what you can do better to avoid that happening again.” With that, he walked out of the room."