hondo in seattle

This from a BN article by Katherine Fitzgerald and Jay Skurski: "In interviews across the locker room, Bills players from veterans to rookies voiced their support of McDermott on Friday." The pro-McDermott folks won't be surprised. The anti-McDermott folks will find reasons to be skeptical. ('Well, of course, they're going to publicly support their coach. They don't want to end up in his doghouse'). I'm not sure why Dunne is a better source than Fitzgerald and Skurski - or Micah Hyde for that matter. I remember when many on this website were prematurely condemning Matt Araiza. In the face of conflicting information, I tend to reserve judgment.

And luck: the way the ball bounces, tips are deflected.... bad ref decisions on critical plays, etc. But I'm sure a big win would be gratifying for McD and those who support him.

I don't understand the need for an ad hominem attack. You don't know me, my character, what I've done... In any case, I've admitted in this thread that (1) I likewise don't know Dunne personally or his character, (2) I don't believe Dunne presented anything as factual that wasn't factual, (3) I do believe Dunne believed every word that he wrote, and (4) I don't actually know what McD is like on the practice field, in the locker room or the training facility. But here's what bugs me: Dunne's judged the man. For example, he writes, "Coaches see a boss who preaches accountability while taking none himself." It's one thing to criticize a coach's tactical decisions, another thing altogether to attack the person. And Dunne doesn't have the right to speak for the coaches - I am certain that there are Bills coaches who would disagree with Dunne's characterization. I'm not sure if McD is a good enough coach to get us a Lombardi. Maybe he is "tight" and has some of the other shortcomings Dunne described. But when Dunne stoops to character assassination, which I've seen in quotes from the article, I'm not a fan. Neither is Micah Hyde. And, btw, Sherfield says Hyde was speaking for the team when he rebutted Dunne. But I'm not sticking up for McD as much as I'm sticking up for human respect and kindness. I don't believe in attacking people. It's a crappy thing to do. And I don't need to read 20,000 words to know that. If a criminal robs 20,000 people, I don't need to witness every theft to know I'm not a fan.

Thanks for the summary. I didn't want to pony up $8 for what sounded like a hatchet job. And now that you've provided the Reader's Digest version, I feel like I've learned enough. McD has detractors. That's not new. But it reminds me of the Charles Mackay quote: “You have no enemies, you say? Alas, my friend, the boast is poor. He who has mingled in the fray of duty that the brave endure, must have made foes. If you have none, small is the work that you have done. You’ve hit no traitor on the hip. You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip. You’ve never turned the wrong to right. You’ve been a coward in the fight.” I don't know what the truth is at OBD and don't pretend to. But I don't think Dunne truly knows either because he seems to prefer to talk with the malcontents instead of seeking out a more balanced view.

It's a shame we spent so much on Von for so little in return. Hindsight being 20/20, it would have been more cost-effective to sign Floyd and a supporting cast. And then use the savings to create a better OL/Bodyguard for Josh.

There's an old story that goes something like this... A king brought a bunch of blind men together and had his servants guide them to an elephant. The king asked them to describe what they found. One touched a leg and groped it for a moment. "It's like a tree trunk." Another blind man grabbed hold of the trunk. "No, you idiot. It's like a thick snake." A third blind man felt the ear. "What are you two liars talking about? It seems to be some kind of fan." The fourth blind man fondled the tail. "You are all morons. It's a rope." The fifth blind man touched the tusk and said it was hard and smooth like a spear. Soon the blind men were wildly fighting over their disagreement. Dunne may have some piece of the truth. But it's not the whole truth and there are other perspectives. And we're all blind men blindly throwing punches at each other.

So Dunne's story is absolute truth and Hyde's comments to the contrary are garbage because he has a motivation to be complimentary? And Dunne is devoid of personal motivations?

I wonder why Dunne didn't interview Micah Hyde.

Joe's is a national treasure. And affordably priced. I've been to maybe a dozen BBQ places in KC. My favorite burnt ends were at Q39. Amazing.

Josh just said that there's a "We've got a lot of trust in this locker room and confidence in each other... We're going to have to believe it, to do it. And this is a team that believes it..." [We have a] "very, very good feel in this locker room right now." Seems different than Dunne's characterization. Someone's wrong. www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/josh-allen-makes-confident-buffalo-bills-promise-with-nfl-postseason-hopes-dwindling/ar-AA1la3GM?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=6230e01c12284564b5ff372d3b2fb051&ei=43

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.

Well, this is part of the problem... on both sides of the argument. When facts support our point of view, we're all over them. When facts disagree with our view, we find ways to discount them.

Sadly, my view of journalism is that it's one of the lower-integrity professions in America. I've read too many bad, one-sided articles. I know there are also good journalists, and I loved the human-interest stories Dunne did when in Buffalo. But, other than that, I have no knowledge or opinion of the man. I don't know if he's capable of writing a hit job or not. I don't know if he has any personal animus toward McD and is unbiased. I'm just not going to accept anything a journalist says as gospel truth. You seem to know Dunne better than I do and hold him to be credible. I respect that. I'm just not in the same place.

You didn't like McD before Dunne's article. You don't like him now. So I guess BBG is right: it didn't move the needle.

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.

I have a friend who roots for a bunch of different sports teams. His disappointment at Bills losses is counterbalanced by wins delivered by some of his other favorite clubs. Me, I just follow the Bills. So, when I have a bad week, personally and/or professionally, and then the Bills lose, there is no consolation. I just try to be Stoic about it and accept reality as it's handed to me.

If I was a reporter who wanted to write a negative article about a HC, I'd do the following: * Interview every coach and player who I suspect has a negative opinion of the coach. * Include all the worst comments in the article. * Include a couple of positive observations in the piece just to make it seem like I'm fair and balanced. * Imply that the negative sentiments represent a consensus even when they don't. I'm not sure Dunne did all this. But I don't know that he didn't. I'm hoping that Terry spends enough time with the team to have a true understanding of what the coaches and players think of McD and how he actually operates. If Dunne is, in fact, giving a fair portrait of the man, he deserves to be fired. I'm just not confident that he is.

Let me be the naysayer who gets smacked around for a divergent view... I like Dunne. And he says he talked to 25 people for this article. That's an impressive number. But I wonder who he talked to and which ones he quoted? Coaches who were fired? Players who were cut? It would be nice if he sought out a random sample. Both McD detractors and fans. But he seemingly didn't do that. I'm not arguing McD is perfect and doesn't do any wrong. I just don't think Dunne's article is the final word. We've heard a lot of players talk about how much they love the culture of the Bills. Things aren't all bad.

If the cap was a myth, I think Pegula would have dumped a bunch of money into the Bills bank account and let Beane go on a shopping spree that would have included better offensive linemen, receivers, DBs, etc. The reason we don't have the best roster in the NFL is because Beane does have a cap and doesn't manage it quite as well as some other GMs. Restructuring is kicking the can down the road. It solves short-term problems but becomes problematic later.

Actually, I mentioned 'coaching mistakes' but I guess I could have named him. And as I've said elsewhere, McD is the head coach. Josh's mistakes are his mistakes. Dorsey's mistakes are his mistakes. Any mistake by a player or subordinate coach goes back to McD. So, to boil it down, there are two main culprits in this year's story: Beane for not building a better roster and McD for not doing more with it. But I also acknowledge the fact that the Bills have been better under Beane/McD than they've been under other GM/HC combos. Still, this has not been a good year and they both need to share the blame.

I think the disappointment this year has been a team effort. Beane has not given McD a SB calibre roster. Injuries have hurt us. Josh went through a slump. Dorsey got stale as an OC. There have been other coaching mistakes. Player mistakes (drops, missed assignments, etc.) seem to come at the worst times. Lady Luck hasn't been our friend. If we were to take this same roster and coaching staff (i.e. without Dorsey) into 2024, I think it does much better assuming it stays healthy. But I'd love to see some positional upgrades.

I think the problem is more complicated than McD. I don't think McD is having a good year. But I also think the defensive injuries have really hurt the defense. And Dorsey got stale as an OC. And Josh went through a slump. Mostly, I think Beane has not yet built a SB-caliber roster. With the clarity of hindsight, the Von Miller contract was a mistake and took money away from other position groups. And his drafting has been spotty. Overall, he's built a good roster but not a great one. We can't just blame one guy.

The offense seems to be back on track. But we need more than a 2-game Brady sample to know for sure. The defense, with all the key injuries, really struggles at times. It's still a good team, but not good enough to win out against this schedule.

I respect your point of view. When I was young, I fancied myself a wide receiver. But when I watched football, my attention was always drawn to the running backs. Maybe because back then they were the most athletic guys on the field. And OJ was an amazing athlete. Watching him weave and power through a defense was like watching an artist at work. Earl was a bruiser. Not as beautiful to watch. But, man, he was impressive. Derrick Henry is an apt comparison for Campbell. Henry is also powerful and fun to watch. But he's a poor man's Earl Campbell. And, while in my eyes, OJ was the better of the two, I think it's clear that there are no backs today as talented as either Campbell or Simpson (or Barry).

I loved Earl Campbell. And wouldn't he be great on the Bills with all the power and passion? Put guys in the box to stop Earl, and we'll throw it over the top. Play in a soft zone, and Earl will ram the ball up your gut. We'd be so hard to defend. But OJ was better.