JohnNord

Here’s where I differ. That anonymous coach or player that was interviewed likely does not have access to building logs. He was not aware that McDermott slept at work, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. So it’s basically conjecture - yet this is what Dunne chose to put in the article and what you are regarding as a “fact.” Besides, even if he never technically slept at work, does it matter? He clearly worked a lot of long hours in Buffalo and throughout his other stops. We could get into so many areas - maybe he was referring to office sleeping in Buffalo, but to his Carolina or Philadelphia days. Either way we’re getting into semantics here. The response in the video was about setting an example to his children of hard work more than it was about sleeping in the office. This is where it does matter that he used disgruntled coaches with an ax to grind. It’s like the example I used. A boss preaches that supervisors need to be “the first to arrive and the last to leave.” On the day he has to leave early for whatever reason it would be like one of the managers shouting “you said you’re the last one to leave, but you left before us today. You’re a liar.” Sooooo incredibly stupid. And it’s that kind of mentality that has rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way and major reason why Dunne is facing so much blowback from fans and why so many are unwilling to pay a nominal fee of $8 to read his work.

This is basically what I tried to say, but just written a lot better!

I have to respectfully disagree a bit here with your take. Yes, the idea to include that was to show that he doesn’t practice what he preached. But the gist of the article was that McDermott was serious about NFL 24/7 to the point that it became a detriment. So it’s not like we’re talking about a Rex Ryan work ethic. The guy works hard. So for the source to say he never knew of McDermott actually slept in the office or that he wasn’t always the last one out seems a little petty to me. If you’re the boss and you try to set the example of being “the first one in and the last one out,” obviously there are going to some days when this isn’t the case. To me, this kind of pettiness is what happens when you don’t like your boss or supervisor. You look for things that they do wrong and then privately take shots at them. This is where the sour grapes and bitterness in and why people are calling into question Dunne’s bias and where the “character attack” come into play. I haven’t read Part 2 or Part 3 but my guess is that the overall message is - “Is Sean McDermott the right coach to lead Buffalo to the Super Bowl.” That’s a fair and topical question, which I feel could have been achieved without these kind of stories from bitter ex employees. But that’s just me. It’s okay for others to have a different take.

At the behest of @Scott7975 and @PBF81 I gave my $8 to Dunne to read the article. So far I’ve only read part 1. Overall, I’ll say it was an interesting, well-written article. Dunne put a lot of time into this both from a writing and speaking to sources. Is this a “hit piece” on McDermott? I would not it call that. Do I think this information is wrong or misleading? Probably not. However there is definitely a slant to his writing. It’s a column and not a hard news story. So in my opinion to question Dunne’s bias or the motivations behind many of the sources used is fair game. in part 1 Dunne paints McDermott is a “tight,” “robotic,” controlling dictator of a coach of who is effusive of blame. He’s as serious behind the scenes about football as he is on camera. To his credit, Dunne did try to balance the negativity a bit by including comments from Lee Smith and Pat DiMarco - 2 of the 25 sources who didn’t hide behind anonymity. Both me praised McDermott leadership - especially how he turned around the team in 2017. As far as the negativity, anonymous ex coaches and players said that McDermott: - Ripped players/coaches in film sessions - Got ticked off with little things players did during practice that viewed as unprofessional. - Micromanaged his assistants - Was especially strict on work hours for players and coaches. - Not particularly warm to his lower-level support staff. Dunne also used comments from press conferences to show that McDermott was effusive of blame during losses. The “sour grapes” comment really come into play when sources claimed he was jealous players gave the truck to Chad Hall. Also someone referenced the emotional clip from last summer where McDermott talks about the long hours of coaching and sleeping at the facility. One coach disputed that McDermott ever slept at the facility and said there were times when he left earlier than some coaches. These just seem like pot shots to me 🤷‍♂️ Dunne also claimed Bills assistants are “leaving in droves” to take lateral moves. Seems to be a hyperbolic to me. For example he cited Heath Farwell’s move to Jacksonville, however I didn’t get the impression they wanted him back. Ditto for Bobby Johnson. If I cared more I would actually do the math. Finally Dunne claimed McDermott wanted Leslie Frazier gone and the resignation was PR spin. According to “sources” close to Leslie he realized Buffalo was not the right situation for him so the split was amicable in that way. In the end, Dunne admits none of McDermott’s behavior is especially egregious or extreme for a head coach in the NFL and cites that Belichick is the same way. What’s missing with McDermott is the SB rings. So if you don’t like McDermott you’ll love this article. If you’re on the fence or if you like McDermott I don’t think it will move the needle for you. But if you’re interested in the Bills, this is an enjoyable read. I don’t feel like I’ve wasted $8 after part 1. I just feel it should be read w/ a critical lens. Not to say that Dunne is biased but to remember the perspectives and motivations of former players and coaches in Buffalo who were either fired or unhappy. Also remember there’s three sides to the truth. Think of a former workplace. If you liked your boss your experience was likely positive. If you don’t like your boss it was probably negative. I think it’s that simple here.

I actually understand the timing for Dunne. He wants to get it out there when fan attention is at an all-time high. Like he said the Philly game kind of showcased everything he was discussing, so it made sense to publish when he did IMO this is a fair concluding to make.

That’s why I think it’s funny when people who defend are like “read the article.” 🤣

Everyone wants to compare McDermott to Marty Schottenheimer or Marvin Jones and I don’t think these are equitable. What I keep coming back to is Minnesota with Mike Zimmer. Not exactly the same situation but similar. Minnesota replaced a relatively successful defensive-minded HC, with someone regarded as a younger, creative offensive mind. Sample size is small but the results (so far) have been relatively good. In 2021, the defense did take a step back but the offense took a step forward and the resulting in their most wins (thanks to several flukes) since 2017. Also his offense got much out of Kirk Cousins. Then this season, Cousins was off to a great start and despite a season long injury, they are in the mix for a playoff spot - largely because of the offense. So I keep thinking back to O’Connell who isn’t a thought of to be a top 5 HC, maybe not even a better HC than Zimmer. But he’s getting better results based on his background. You can almost argue the inverse with Zimmer and McDermott (this season at least)

IMO this was a good, protective move to try to shake up a stale aspect of the team. I just think it was somewhat of a mistake for McDermott to add DC play calling on his workload. There’s a number of experienced DC’s on his staff along with several up and comers who might have been able to breath new life into the same defense

They weren’t asked about McDermott specifically during the media access this week, as the article came out on the same day. I’m guessing it will happen Sunday or next week?

It’s going to make being a Bills fan insufferable in places like Twitter. TBH, I’m on the fence about McDermott. I think the concerns about the end of games are valid. I also think that because people don’t have confidence in him they’ll grasp at anything negative and assign blame to McDermott. An example as evidenced here is the dude who said every bad draft pick was McDermott and every good one was Beane. Or how Dorsey’s shortcomings as an OC, which have been well documented, were all on McDermott under the “he’s the head coach” cop out. While Dorsey was a lackluster hire, no one was a bigger proponent than Josh Allen. The hire, although a bad one in hindsight, made a lot of sense. I felt Dunne went a step further in his article with the negative personal stories from the Quinton Spain’s of the world. Which of course those people read and are “See…see…” As long as people are fair, I don’t have a problem with the McDermott criticism. Many of us have it as well. I think there always has been a strong emphasis on defense… I would love to see the inverse of that.

“He interviewed 25 people” is the answer to anyone criticizing Dunne’s story. So…based on your contract within the building (both past and present) what is McDermott’s job security for next season?

“I spent my 20 year-career reading people” - “This means I can tell you which people are frauds and which ones aren’t frauds by watching them on TV” Makes sense.

I feel a lot of people would agree with you based on what you said about him as a football coach. I think Dunne rubbed fans the wrong way for a variety of reasons including his style of reporting which relies on finding former players with negative p It’s as simple as people not wanting to patronize him. I completely get that

This is my criticism of the article. I think he had to work to construct this narrative with disgruntled sources (which Beane alluded to) rather than it happening organically. That’s why I laugh when people say “he used 25 sources.” He used 25 sources - some had good things to say about McDermott and were not anonymous. That leaves about 15-20 sources who likely had an ax to grind. It doesn’t mean these were good sources Yup and look at this quote from your link. Sound familiar: The thing is about this article it's not a mystery, this was smear attack by a writer looking to advance his career, talking with mostly irrelevant, bitter players who all have an agenda, rather they're advancing their own careers or just trying to stir old stuff up," Rodgers said. "Then what happens is the same tired media folks picking it up and talking about it. It's just emphasizing their opinion about me already. "The crazy thing is there's super slanted opinions in that piece stated as fact. And there's quote-on-quote facts which are just outright lies. In some cases where you maybe ignore something like this or you don't even really gloss over it, I don't think you can in this case."

His narrative is that McDermott folds late in games and it continually lets Allen down. So in Philly Josh Josh was absolutely awesome, drove the Bills to a GW TD, only to lose the lead due to a coach being “tight.” Then he had Allen take a knee rather than try to win the game with 20 seconds left. His second narrative that McDermott is holding Allen back. He thought both of these would be a talking point and that the interest would be high for this article. Plus he had an extra week to finish with the bye. And yes, I do think he wanted it before the Chiefs because the Philly loss demonstrated everything in his narrative. If you could guarantee a similar out against the Chiefs, he’d probably wait until this Monday or Tuesday

He explained on Cowherd that he was writing the story and sped up the process after the Eagles loss since he felt it summarized the issues he was writing about. Plus he had an extra week. So yes, it was 100% a strategic move on his part to get the story out. But it’s not like he was sitting on the article waiting for a bad time to put it out. Obviously no conspiracy. And if he put a lot of work into the story, I don’t blame him for not waiting until the right time to publish. One criticism that I do feel is legit - on Cowherd he was asked if the sources came to him or if he had to dig. He didn’t answer the question but it sounded like he had to dig. So I think it’s fair to wonder whether he started with a preconceived idea and sought out disgruntled players to support his thesis. This is where being critical works both ways. I think it’s foolish to bring that the “sour grapes” angle among some of his sources (cough cough Quinton Spain) is not a factor. So along with the conspiracy talk, it’s also foolish to believe that his “sources” didn’t have an agenda.

I feel that they had a pretty good plan on Kelce the last time they played in KC. They beat him up on the line with Siran Neal. My guess is they play some sort of variation of that so I guess Douglas could fit that role

He sure sounds like a GM that supports his coach. The brain trust here tells me that Beane will recommend firing him

Ummmm. What?

Is it within the guidelines to type up a summary of this article? Can you write a detailed summary here?

Oddly enough this article has taken a life of its own. There’s 3 different camps among fans: 1. People who want McD fired and are using this as their victory lap. 2. People who want McD fired and question the motives/authenticity of this article 3. People who support McDermott and question the motives/authenticity of this article Then you have those in the Buffalo media who have largely stayed quiet on the article, other than acknowledging it. And national media - who mostly recommend this article but have relatively little to say other than sharing the 9/11 story and saying “wow, that’s crazy.” So overall the response has been incredibly odd. I tend to think the intent & timing of this was wisely orchestrated by Dunne, as discussed here already. But I don’t think it was a slam dunk for his reputation.

This method might work for newspaper but it doesn’t work 2 w/ substack. You can read the preview but not the full article

I think a lot of people are aware of this conflict as well, and had the article been written by - say a Tim Graham - it would have carried more weight.

Can someone tell me who Victoria Zellner is?

Who in the blue hell is Zach Gelb?