Observation on comments of MM,JP & WM

[Buftex]

Just listening to the press conferences from the last few days, I had a few observations, some Wednesday evening cheap psychology, make of it what you will:

 

1- JP still seems to have his swagger, but it really sounds like he is pretty tightly wound, and very self critical. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes me wonder if this is part of what pre-draft scouts were concerned about. The kid has a great sense of humour ("guys, these are terrible questions"), except when it comes to his mistakes. He almost seems to be talking like he is a coach, commenting on himself. As hard as he is on himself, one thing I have noticed is he says repeatedly, "I am a young quarterback, those things are going to happen", almost repeating what others say about him...I think he really does have to get a grip on things a little, before he really starts to have a lot of success. I think he will (he seems very smart), but it is going to take some time.

Another curious thing was, right after Sundays game, JP made the comment that he was surprised that Tampa Bay didn't blitz as much as they expected during the game. He said something similar again. Eric Moulds said the exact opposite. He said that the Bucs blitzed more than they had expected. Which is it? I gotta think Moulds has been around longer and knows a little more. Is it possible that JP isn't having a lot of success at recognizing blitzes?

 

2- MM is a pretty sharp guy, I like his up front style. I think people (particualarly the WNY media) are making much too much about his "calling out" of JP, McGahee and Losman. One thing he says a lot,however, which is sort of a cop-out, whenever asked to comment on a play or a player's performance, post game, he always says something to the effect of "I have to look at the film, I can't watch from the sidelines and give you that kind of opinion". Uh, while it makes sense for us laymen to say something like that, shouldn't an NFL headcoach be able to observe a little more from the sidelines than we can? Just kind of curious I think...

 

3- I hate to say it (blieve me, I am not saying we are DOOMED!), but I have a bad feeling that there may be some growing tension between Willis McGahee, and Mike Mularkey. First there was WM's snub of MM in game one, after Jason Peter's touchdown pass. In today's press conference, the slow witted WNY media guys kept hammering at Willis about Mularkey "calling him out" 3 times since last Sunday's game. To his credit, Willis didn't bite, and just kept repeating things like "I don't worry about what other people say", or "People see things differently on the sidelines than they are on the field sometimes". He never says anything negative about Mularkey or the Bills (althought he does say that he is not going to change his running style because of what other people say) but you can kind of sense it in his voice that he seems kind of irritated. The capper is after all the Mularkey questions, one reporter asks him which team he uses when he plays Madden football. He goes on to say, something to the effect of "Well, I don't really play Madden anymore, but if I did, I would probably play as the Raiders". Could this be the handwriting on the wall?

 

**Please note, none of these are direct quotes, just the gist of what I think I thought I heard....

[JoeF]

I listened to all three PC's as well Buf--your observations are pretty on target in my opinion.

 

This is a new Mike Mularkey...you can tell he feels more comfortable in the role of Head Coach this year. Very rarely did he call out a player last year--he's not Parcells--but he is ratcheting up the pressure a bit..he thinks these guys are good but he knows there were a lot of shortcomings on Sunday and he isn't going to hide his, his staff's or the player's mistakes. Time will tell if his new style motivates or falls flat. It sounded from JP and Willis that MM didn't say anything to the media that he hadn't already told them on Monday and Tuesday.

 

Willis has a little bit of punk in him..serious chip on his shoulder..just enough where it makes you think he will come out and kick some ass this week. Not sure I liked his answer about film study though--he basically said I run based on game day instinct not what I see in the film room--almost like scouting the opponent meant didly squat..maybe that was part of MM's conversation with him.

 

JP is pissed at himself--you heard the security blanket that Wyche has drummed into his head with the young QB comment. You heard how JP really feels when he said--"this team is ready to win now--a young QB is no excuse."

 

These are all excellent listens...if you have 15 minutes to spare.

[Fan in Chicago]

Just listening to the press conferences from the last few days, I had a few observations, some Wednesday evening cheap psychology,  make of it what you will:

 

1- JP still seems to have his sw

 

2- MM is a pretty sharp guy, I like his up front style. 

 

3- I hate to say it (blieve me, I am not saying we are DOOMED!), but I have a bad feeling that there may be some growing tension between Willis McGahee, and Mike Mularkey.

450013[/snapback]

 

Interesting observations.

JP - part of his growing up will be off the field and how much he lets things like other peoples opinions affect his play. I want Wyche to coach him about these aspects also. Much as I hate the media, this is something he has to live with.

MM - I also like the way he is handling issues. We are not privy to his internal dealings with players. But part of being a coach has to be a part-time psychologist. During the Chicago Bulls' run in the 90s, the coach Phil Jackson was known to use these techniques to keep his players motivated and sharp. I sure hope he is using such techniques with WM and JP.

WM - I do not sense this discontent though I have not seen the pouting after Peters touchdown. In any case, discontent is not bad unless it translates to his quality on the field. Time will tell, but maybe having TH around may have been motivation for him and now he knows MM cannot replace him with anyone this season. I surely hope that issue, if any, gets resolved soon.

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

Uh, while it makes sense for us laymen to say something like that, shouldn't an NFL headcoach be able to observe a little more from the sidelines than we can?  Just kind of curious I think...

450013[/snapback]

 

I would tend to believe no. The coach's job on game day isn't to watch and evaluate individual performance, but to manage the entire team's effort. Mularkey may not know in a post game press conference if McGahee's poor performance is McGahee's fault or Shelton's for missing lead blocks any more than we do. In fact, he may know LESS about it than we do immediately after the game...the network feeds us replays frequently from multiple angles, but the head coach only has the luxury during the game of seeing the play once from one point of view.

 

In short, I don't think it's unreasonable for the coach to NOT have a whole lot of insight to individual performances 20 minutes after the game.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I would say I\m as off the wall as any football fan, but i know this is a lie because I;m actually more off the wall than most football fans and tend to look at the random tea leaves of football and see some significance.

 

However, the items in this thread even strike me as fairly meaningless psychobabble.

 

Come on folks get a grip.

 

One can try to guess what these folks are actually thinking and since folks generally are so different and some folks think one way at one time, but very similar stimuli can produce nearly the opposite results in even the same person such tea leaf reading may produces a right answer but almost certainly will be wrong.

 

This uncertainty about motives even comes before how folks will react to those motivation.

 

Certainly trying to read the tea leaves is part of the fun, but really anything beyond the superfiial in trying to guess what an individual is going to do is just so speculative as to be pretty worthless.

 

At least trying to predict a groups reaction has a bit more validity for someone practiced in judging group dynamics and reactions to relatively public info.

 

However, this analyzing of individual players even strikes me as bizarrely off.

[Mikie2times]

1- JP still seems to have his swagger, but it really sounds like he is pretty tightly wound, and very self critical. 

450013[/snapback]

 

I was just thinking about this the other day and posted something along the same lines. When people said he was "immature" we might have been looking at the wrong type of maturity.

 

I love his confidence, and accountability, but he must keep perspective on things happening around him. After the Tampa Bay game he was asked about his play and he said that the young quarterback excuse is a loser’s way of thinking. Then he turns around and says he's a young quarterback and these things will happen.

 

It's almost as if he is trying to convince himself that what he is going threw is ok. He simply needs to understand that it is ok, and that even the best QB's often struggle in the first few starts.

[Buftex]

 

However, this analyzing of individual players even strikes me as bizarrely off.

450161[/snapback]

 

Oh, yeah, you may be right. It is just that I listen to every one of those press conferences every week, and some of the stuff that JP and MM say, they say over and over again ("that kind of thing is going to happen with young QB's" in particular from JP), to the point that you have to think that it means something. When Mularkey, and Moulds, most notably, continue to refer to JP needing to calm down a bit, I think it means something.

 

My analysis may be off (I am often wrong) but I assume that they have press conferences, and post them, because we are supposed to learn something from them. The tone of the press conferences (JP and McGahee), after the Bucs debacle, are definitely less comfortable than normal.

[Tux of Borg]

Willis has a little bit of punk in him..serious chip on his shoulder..just enough where it makes you think he will come out and kick some ass this week.  Not sure I liked his answer about film study though--he basically said I run based on game day instinct not what I see in the film room--almost like scouting the opponent meant didly squat..maybe that was part of MM's conversation with him.

450033[/snapback]

 

I got the same impression when i heard Willis' comments. He's had this me against the world attitude long before he tore his ACL. He's had success doing what comes natural to him, i doubt if he will change anything. I expect him to come out fired up and have a huge game Sunday.