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

[Rico]

5 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

The odd thing is that he's not wrong! It's genuinely amazing what they pulled off (through teamwork and careful, deliberate planning, TBH), although it was of course diabolical. What the Japanese pulled off between December 1941 and April 1942 was amazing too given the geographical scope and geopolitical complexity, but again the goals were bad. I guess the lesson is to never bring up well-conceived plans that succeed beyond all ambition if they're crafted by the bad guys. 

I’ve known more than one person way back when who would say Hitler was a genius. I tried to avoid them whenever possible. 

[Scott7975]

9 minutes ago, Cray51 said:

We don’t know the entire context of the situation.  Ty makes a very short statement of what happened, without any acknowledgment of apology and follow up conversation.

 

let the reader make the determination of character.  Don’t point the reader to a conclusion, provide all evidence for them to craft their own

 

I'm going to quote you again and again leave the quote from the article since you ignored that it exists in the article and ignored my comment to you that it exists in the article.  

 

Quote

When McDermott walked onto the practice field, he apologized and explained what he was trying to say with the reference. One vet found his apology very sincere, while another believes he only doubled down.

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Scott7975

[Nephilim17]

9 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

Next big speech, how to go on a roll using Jeffrey Dahmer.  

 

 

Or...

 

Never give up! Ted Bundy was captured, sent to prison and escaped! 
 

Disguise your intentions, men! Just like Bundy wore a cast and pretended to have a broken arm when he asked young women to help him load his truck before locking them in there! 

[dpberr]

I don't think much gets past Bills corporate without them knowing about it beforehand.  The timing is curious.   Corporate had to know about it. 

 

Why you'd deploy it on the Thursday before the biggest game of the season is weird.  This article could have dropped literally any day of the season.    

 

 

[Royale with Cheese]

5 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

He posted it today, the time of the quote has nothing to do with the time of what he wrote around it.

It would if it was quoted last year.  It was the first year Hughes left the Bills, was the starter, put up his second highest sack total in his career and is from Houston.  Sounds to me like a guy loving life on his new team.

[ShakAttack]

Great timing for all of this.  Ugh. 

[Cray51]

3 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

 

I'm going to quote you again and again leave the quote from the article since you twice now have completely ignored it exists, yet you want to argue "selective" while being "selective" yourself.

 

 

Woah, I was wrong.  That part is not in the free version, so I don’t have visibility to that context 

[PBF81]

2 minutes ago, dpberr said:

I don't think much gets past Bills corporate without them knowing about it beforehand.  The timing is curious.   Corporate had to know about it. 

 

Why you'd deploy it on the Thursday before the biggest game of the season is weird.  This article could have dropped literally any day of the season.    

 

 

 

The Bills have no control over independent media.  

 

 

[Scott7975]

2 minutes ago, dpberr said:

I don't think much gets past Bills corporate without them knowing about it beforehand.  The timing is curious.   Corporate had to know about it. 

 

Why you'd deploy it on the Thursday before the biggest game of the season is weird.  This article could have dropped literally any day of the season.    

 

 

 

Not necessarily in Tyle Dunne's case.  They won't give him any media credentials and he didn't reveal sources that wanted to remain anonymous.  He really has nothing to lose by not giving them a heads up.  Maybe a credential journalist would.

[davefan66]

4 hours ago, SectionC3 said:

The 9/11 anecdote will pass.  Give it a week and people will be talking about something else, whatever it might be.  Don’t forget, at one point our owner was accused of making a pretty incendiary racial comment.  Nobody has brought that up in awhile. 

 

The bigger issue is whether, 9/11 and Niagara Falls malapropisms aside, McD has lost/exhausted the locker room.  If the answer to that question is yes, then it’s time to either change the players or change the coach.  

National media has a way of dumping on the Bills.  We will hear about the 9/11 comments longer than we should.

 

The cap probably would get in the way of changing the players.  Which shouldn’t be a thought anyways.  If  he doesn’t have the skills to be the HC, get rid of him. Especially if he’s lost the room, players won’t be able to make up for his inadequacies forever.

[Scott7975]

2 minutes ago, Cray51 said:

Woah, I was wrong.  That part is not in the free version, so I don’t have visibility to that context 

 

Cool man.  I just didn't want you to keep running around saying it then everyone else think it's fact and all that jazz.

[Nextmanup]

25 minutes ago, Process said:

A three part, targeted hit piece relieving things that happened behind closed doors years ago was not necessary and serves no purpose other than to humiliate a guy that is still currently the HC of the team. 

You write this as if to suggest it's some sort of "bad" thing.

 

You do realize it is not the media's job to engage in pro Bills spin, right?

They have their own PR department for that.

 

 

[Beck Water]

Just now, BananaB said:

I wanted the guy gone because of poor game management. McD seems like a good guy though and this is really dragging him through the mud. 

 

That’s not too far from where I am.  One philosophy is the Rooney family, “hire good people and give them time to figure it out”.  There are plenty of examples of teams which have pulled the plug on a coach who was “good but not good enough” and spent seasons regretting it - Denver with Kubiak/Phillips; Philly with Reid etc. Sometimes teams move on for a “hot young name” who sometimes turns out to be “not all that”.

 

On the other hand, especially this season the questionable game management decisions and just general mistakes (12 men on field, etc) have mounted up.  If you ask me “do’s I think the Buffalo Bills can win a Super Bowl with Sean McDermott?” Before the end of last season I would have said “yes”, before this article I would have said “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure”.  

 

I do think that Pegula does not like to be publicly embarrassed and this will not go over well with him.

[BRH]

I haven’t read all 45 pages of this but I will bet anything that Russ Brandon is one of the sources. 

[ShakAttack]

22 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

He's earned at least $50M already, and will likely bring in another $50M even if he is fired.

 

We're all a bunch of internet-nobodies commenting on this (here, social media, etc) and nothing we say really matters in the grand scheme of things.

 

Don't feel too bad for him. He'll be fine.

 

I'd let all of you say these mean things about me for way less money. It happens for free today!

 

You’re right. In fact, this article makes me feel bad … for myself, and the rest of us “internet nobodies” in here that root for this franchise and we are mostly all back on the “we can beat KC!!!” Bandwagon only to have this come out right before the game.  Another distraction, for a team that is mentally weak, before the most important game of the year. Thanks a lot, Tyler Dunne. Jerk. 

[Nextmanup]

1 hour ago, thenorthremembers said:

And then never played another down in the league because he has the mental disposition of a child.

It's not that; tons of these guys have the mental disposition of a child.

 

He just wasn't good enough for the team to put up with it.

 

 

[Strethor]

Just win and this goes away, lose and it becomes a sticking point. 

[NoSaint]

16 minutes ago, Cray51 said:

We don’t know the entire context of the situation.  Ty makes a very short statement of what happened, without any acknowledgment of apology and follow up conversation.

 

let the reader make the determination of character.  Don’t point the reader to a conclusion, provide all evidence for them to craft their own

yea, as it turns out it was referenced in the article with mixed player feedback sooooo you can make your own decision 

[Goin Breakdown]

2 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

 

I don't know... the players on the whole might really like McDermott as a coach and view this as a hit job.  They might also believe he's a very good man (which he seems to be) and be even more offended by an article that gets incredibly personal in its attacks of him.

 

It'll be interesting how the team responds.

Yeah I'm interested in this as well. Wonder if any players will speak on it in his defense. 

[DrDawkinstein]

18 minutes ago, BillsFooteball said:

I’m sure it’s somewhere in this thread can someone tell me how this was leaked? It happened in 2021 why is it just coming out now? Was it players who all of sudden don’t like McDermott then shared it with media?

 

Probably not enough of a story on it's own. But in a 3 article compilation of people recalling his "greatest hits", it's a good anecdote and makes for a few good paragraphs.

 

This is how he introduces it in the article:

Quote

And those in attendance will never forget training camp of 2019. The memory alone elicits a scattershot of emotions. One player’s eyes widen into saucers, horrified. One almost falls over, clapping and laughing hysterically. One cuts the question off before it’s asked, as if pleading the fifth: “I ain’t talking about that.”

 

Seven sources confirmed this story.

 

They call it the “9/11 speech,” and it’s seared into their memory forever.