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

[WotAGuy]

20 minutes ago, blitzboy54 said:

I read it end to end. I believe every word and it's damning. 

 

He gets called out as an lying, uptight, insecure micromanager who undermines everyone around him to protect his own shortcomings. 

God lord, now you’re just sounding like my ex wife. 
 

 

 

20 minutes ago, blitzboy54 said:

Edited December 7, 2023 by WotAGuy

[GoBills808]

4 minutes ago, Governor said:

“This job’s too hard to fight from within and that’s what you do there,” one ex-Bills assistant explained. “You’re fighting against the head coach. You’ve got to overcome the head coach. This job is already hard enough. You’ve got to overcome all your opponents, all the dynamics. You’ve got to overcome so much *****. But then you’ve got to overcome the guy who’s supposedly steering the boat.”

 

Frazier?

Daboll or Chad Hall is my guess

 

Possibly Farwell

[Saxum]

2 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. 

Attempt to get subscribers by article on hot topic.  

 

Reminds me of Bills Mafia - Bills decided to lead mob to increase sales and cut support to Buffalo Bills Backers groups.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Limeaid

[wettlaufer]

34 minutes ago, billieve420 said:

I don't doubt McDermott is a control freak. However, I also believe that Dunne has some axe to grind. Believe there was some issue between him and McDermott at some point when he was covering the team.

 

Reporter interviews 25 people. That's a lot. But yeah, he's biased because of something you believe happened but can't support in any way. That sounds like an awfully substantial analysis next to the guy who chased down 25 interview subjects and who were not homogenously anti-McDermott.

[Saxum]

 

1 minute ago, wettlaufer said:

 

Reporter interviews 25 people. That's a lot. But yeah, he's biased because of something you believe happened but can't support in any way. That sounds like an awfully substantial analysis next to the guy who chased down 25 interview subjects and who were not homogenously anti-McDermott.

 

Very Jerry Sullivan like - write the article first and then find opinions to match.

[HardyBoy]

Did anyone compare and contrast Dorsey's reaction to that missed pass when they lost that game and Brady's when Davis and Allen didn't connect?

 

My guess is after that, Dorsey got some sports therapy, came away with the low positive approach and passed it on to Allen...Brady came in and said, you don't need that because I don't need that, I'll stay calm especially if you start getting super amped up and I'll calm you down both with my words, but also with my play calling...

[nedboy7]

This guy has become a distraction and this whole issue is depressing.  Really want to move on from this dude. 

[wettlaufer]

1 minute ago, Limeaid said:

 

 

Very Jerry Sullivan like - write the article first and then find opinions to match.

 

This wasn't an opinion piece. You have no valid reason to say Dunne has an axe to grind and no, the opinions he found were not all negative. Try reading the thing first.

[blitzboy54]

6 minutes ago, WotAGuy said:

God lord, now you’re just sounding like my ex wife. 
 

 

 

 

She had a point. 

[wettlaufer]

17 minutes ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

I agree.

 

You are not going to risk injury to your players forcing them to wear work boats, prima facie absurd.  Also more than likely a violation of many CBA and NFL rules/regulations.

 

Do you know why it's called a "walk-through?" Let's take a guess.

[Saxum]

Just now, wettlaufer said:

 

This wasn't an opinion piece. You have no valid reason to say Dunne has an axe to grind and no, the opinions he found were not all negative. Try reading the thing first.

 

I read what was available without subscription.

[Dopey]

A coach is a control freak.  Why is this news? He’s a coach. Aside from the GM who has to have control over the team? Yep, the coach. 
 

[CSBill]

Why do we fans do this? 
 

This entire thread frustrates me. 

[hondo in seattle]

31 minutes ago, wettlaufer said:

 

So you've worked in journalism, taught it, or are a journalism ethicist? There is plenty of balance in many of the quotes and observations. It's not all hate. There's no reason to question Dunne's journalist ethics, but you do. So what direct knowledge of journalism are you basing this on?

 

I've worked in journalism and don't agree with your take at all. Dunne is a thoroughly capable and diligent journalist and he's not making up things or slanting it 'just for the clicks.' It's a compelling story on its own. Everything Dunne has done as someone covering football and the Bills indicate this is an accurate portrait.

 

I see the world of journalism a bit differently.  In politics as well as sports, journalists write one-sided articles either for clicks or to support their opinion.  They cherry-pick facts all the time.  You don't have to be a journalist to see that.

 

A NYT columnist visited my armored cavalry squadron when I was in Saudi just before the Gulf War.  We were instructed to give him unlimited access to the troops.  So he gathered a circle of soldiers and started talking to them about President Bush fishing in Kennebunkport instead of in DC working the phones to end this crisis.  According to the soldiers involved, he seemed to be trying to rile them up.  He then asked if any of the soldiers were resentful.  The soldiers who were there told me they didn't really give a crap what the CINC was doing.  Mostly they cared about the mission in front of us, not high-level political maneuvers.  

 

Finally, seemingly frustrated, the reporter asked the most discontented soldier if he could quote him something like, "Bush needs to get off his ass, out of Kennebunkport, and do something."   (I don't recall the exact words).  The soldier said, no, he had, in fact, said no such thing.  Then he asked the others if he could ascribe that quote to one of them.  A young private said he could attribute the quote to him.  That quote - that none of my soldiers ever actually spoke - made the NYT and the national news.  He got tons of fan mail and care packages for that quote.  I got an ass-chewing.

 

I'm guessing the article about frustrated, disillusioned soldiers was written on the plane trip to the desert and the reporter just needed someone to assign the quotes to.  The actual facts & opinions on the ground didn't matter.  

 

So, from personal experience, I don't trust journalists from the Pulitzer-winning New York Times let alone journalists from Go Long.  

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by hondo in seattle

[billieve420]

4 minutes ago, wettlaufer said:

 

Reporter interviews 25 people. That's a lot. But yeah, he's biased because of something you believe happened but can't support in any way. That sounds like an awfully substantial analysis next to the guy who chased down 25 interview subjects and who were not homogenously anti-McDermott.

 

I didn't say both things couldn't be true. However, does come off as a hit piece from someone who has their own issues with McDermott. It was mentioned here  previously when Dunne was covering the team. I have no interest though in going back and trying to find it but clearly Dunne is no fan of McDermott and hasn't been in a long time.

[SectionC3]

29 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

That is fair to say, as I have been a strong advocate to keep McD around for 2024. I made a super well received thread on it, which I totally didn’t delete. 
 

I know he likely needs to go, that we’ve likely peaked, and he has shown he’s isn’t reliable decision maker in do or die moments. 
 

My lone hesitation is like yours, the 2023 candidates for HC. Pickings are very thin. 

 

I fully believe, at the end of the day, it comes down on the HC. We fired 2 OCs, a DC, and probably soon to be 2 SPCs. 
 

This team will be best served with an offensive minded head coach, but I hate the idea of wiping this whole staff away. We have some gems. 

 

This is where I’m at.  He’s a good coach.  He will succeed somewhere else.  I also question whether he’s the guy to get us where we need to be.  

 

My hesitation in blowing him out is that we have to have an idea of his replacement before the move is made.  I’m not all set on Ben Johnson or Bobby Slowik because they haven’t been in the big seat before and there’s on-the-job training that I’m not sure we have time for.   My preference for next year, and others will complain about this, is Brian Daboll.  He checks all the boxes - HC experience, respected in the locker room, excellent relationship with Josh, willing to accept criticism and input, knows the culture around here, and is wound way less tightly than McDermott.  All of those things, in my view, are essential in the next hire. 

[PBF81]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

This is one of those articles that ultimately does absolutely nothing to move the needle for anyone.

 

Those that don't like McDermott will take the majority of this as fact because it "proves" their own thoughts and provides them a piece of that oh so comforting "echo chamber"

 

Those that like McDermott will be quick to brush it off as gossip from players/coaches who have clashed with McDermott or feel they have been wronged and have an axe to grind. 

 

I'll disagree.  In reading between the lines of the last six seasons, and remembering how futile our offense was in the first three from 2017 to 2019, worse than all of his predecessors prior going back to 2011, and with Allen at the helm instead of Fitzpatrick, Manuel, Orton and Taylor, the latter of which McD got less from, by nearly a TD/game, than Ryan did, and Ryan was hardly a genius much less an offensive genius either;  and considering that there were already "hotseat" conversations back in 2019 before Allen exploded, having all but nothing to do with McD, it all makes perfect sense.  

 

McD apologists and supporters bury their heads in the sand over his blatant avoidance of any real responsibility over how poorly but more importantly, inconsistently, his team plays.  Anywhere else in the league and it's the head coach's issue.  Here in Buffalo because of the "got us to the playoffs" thing, he's almost attained a god-like status that hasn't been earned given his sheer and utter underperformance in the playoffs.  

 

If you read the pieces, it says what others including myself have pointed out over time, that, he's not a bad guy in the normal sense, but his methodologies drive people away, despite his good intentions.  

 

The thing in the piece that resonates with me and no doubt many others, is that several people that Dunne claims to have interviewed, have expressed that the team needs to overcome McD rather than him contributing to the team's on-field success.  

 

That sentiment has been expressed here in these forums with no uncertainty by any number of people over time, so that's hardly a reach in terms of being factual.  It's actually a reach thinking the opposite.  

 

 

1 hour ago, JohnNord said:

I like Dunne as a writer and think he does a very good.  But he does seem to be heavily biased and he doubles down on those biases quite a bit.  We saw this with his coverage on Aaron Rodgers which many GB dismissed as pointed…and now we see this with McDermott.  

 

But it's not possible that a strong-willed person like McD would double down on his methodologies?  
 

 

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

You're smart enough to figure this out.

 

I said "doing his thing independently", not as you said "too independent" which doesnt even make sense. So don't confuse yourself.

 

It means he isnt backed by a larger organization, or collecting a regular paycheck. He only eats what he earns. And with smaller(no) budgets for advertising his site and getting his name out there, the easier way to do it is to be more controversial and baiting.

 

How does this have anything to do with his piece or his reporting?  How is he "baiting" here?  

[PBF81]

1 hour ago, MJS said:

These are the worst types of articles. A bunch of unamed sources who are mad they got fired for sucking at their jobs.

 

Just a bunch of garbage.

 

LOL 

 

Really?  

 

How many journalists do you think would have sources if they constantly outed them?  
 

 

1 hour ago, Yobogoya! said:

I mean if the point of this article is that McDermott is a control freak with an ego, I'd be more interested in the number of NFL head coaches who aren't. 🤷‍♂️

 

Belichick has been a "my way or the highway" grouch his entire career. But he had Brady for 20 years, and won a maddening amount of games/championships, so everyone put up with it. 

 

If McDermott had a championship or two under his belt by now, no one would care how controlling or egotistical or micro-managing he was.

 

The problem isn't that McDermott is running the team his way-or-the-highway. A head coach is responsible for the whole team, and that's his prerogative...

 

The problem is that his way isn't leading to trophies and rings, despite having a top 3 quarterback. But yeah I don't really consider this article to be "news" per se. It's just what you might assume about most NFL head coaches. 

 

I mean if McDermott was super nice and never fired anyone would the 6-6 record be somehow more palatable? lol

 

If you read them, even just the free stuff, which is all I did, much of what you tough on via implication is addressed.  

 

 

[wettlaufer]

4 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I see the world of journalism a bit differently.  In politics as well as sports, journalists write one-sided articles either for clicks or to support their opinion.  They cherry-pick facts all the time.  You don't have to be a journalist to see that.

 

A NYT columnist visited my armored cavalry squadron when I was in Saudi just before the Gulf War.  We were instructed to give him unlimited access to the troops.  So he gathered a circle of soldiers and started talking to them about President Bush fishing in Kennebunkport instead of in DC working the phones to end this crisis.  According to the soldiers involved, he seemed to be trying to rile them up.  He then asked if any of the soldiers were resentful.  The soldiers who were there told me they didn't really give a crap what the CINC was doing.  Mostly they cared about the mission in front of us, not high-level political maneuvers.  

 

Finally, seemingly frustrated, the reporter asked the most discontented soldier if he could quote him something like, "Bush needs to get off his ass, out of Kennebunkport, and do something."   (I don't recall the exact words).  The soldier said, no, he had, in fact, said no such thing.  Then he asked the others if he could ascribe that quote to one of them.  A young private said he could attribute the quote to him.  That quote - that none of my soldiers ever actually spoke - made the NYT and the national news.  I'm guessing the article about frustrated, disillusioned soldiers was written on the plane trip to the desert and the reporter just needed someone to assign the quotes to.  The actual facts & opinions on the ground didn't matter.  

 

So, from personal experience, I don't trust journalists from the Pulitzer-winning New York Times let alone journalists from Go Long.  

 

Welp, there are good journalists and bad. There are good and bad soldiers. I worked in journalism long ago in Buffalo and I can tell you Dunne is 100% above-board and not in it for the clicks. He's one of the best in the business at human interest stories and he went far above and beyond to turn out a fantastic piece. The guy you dealt with in KSA obviously sucked at his job.