Phil The Thrill Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 It seemed like for a period between 2013 until the end of 2016, there always big stories related to Bills coaches/personnel leaked in the media. Many of these came from local beat reporters. It started shortly before the Doug Marrone hiring and really exploded while Rex was coaching. Here are a sampling of a few stories which made their way to the press. It should be noted that not all of these stories could be confirmed as legit: - Doug Marrone’s blow-up with Russ Brandon/Doug Whaley - Marrone walking out of the war room when Whaley traded and drafted Sammy Watkins. - Whaley going “rouge” and cutting Fred Jackson - The playoff ultimatum made to Rex Ryan - Rex Ryan’s firing the morning an important game versus Pittsburgh (and 2 weeks before he was actually fired) These leaks were non-apparent when McDermott took over the team in 2017. The same beat reporters who reported some big behind-the-scenes stories, now mainly focused on the football product. Did we ever find out where the leaks were coming from at OBD? What did McDermott do to all but eliminate these leaked stories which were so rampant in the media before the season began? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jauronimo Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 I've heard that it was a combination of Russ and Whaley. Both got awful chatty after a few vodka crans if the rumors are true. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil The Thrill Posted May 20, 2020 Author Share Posted May 20, 2020 Just now, Jauronimo said: I've heard that it was a combination of Russ and Whaley. Both got awful chatty after a few vodka crans if the rumors are true. It would make sense. The Whaley “rogue” story seems like it would’ve come from Rex or a member of the coaching staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wiz Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Media man Russ is my guess. Anything that guy could do to put Buffalo on the news had his hands all over it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CommonCents Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Dunkirk. Obviously. 9 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJS Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 They also replaced all of the scouts, so it could have been a scout who worked under Whaley just spreading things he saw and heard about to a media member. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Hard to pin down. Could have come from Rex, a disgruntled scout/employee, or even Whaley or Russ Brandon. Glad this is not an issue right now as the front office is a much tighter ship. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunnerBill Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 (edited) Wasn't one of McDermott's first actions to have Scott Bercthold replaced? Yea. That is where my search would start. Edited May 20, 2020 by GunnerBill 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 There were multiple. It appeared that most of the leaks had closed but this draft there were as many leaks as back then. Don’t really know if it was the virtual setting that had people more open or just a comfort level. At any rate, every team has leaks and it’s different people at different times. One of the things that people don’t necessarily grasp is that it isn’t JUST Beane that knows the plan. There are a lot of people involved in building the board and the decision making process. Buffalo is a small town and things spread but the truth is New Orleans is no different. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerDave Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 It could also be that there are a lot less "juicy" things to leak to the media when the organization is well run and not dysfunctional. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsPride12 Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Horace Grant 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunnerBill Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 7 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said: There were multiple. It appeared that most of the leaks had closed but this draft there were as many leaks as back then. Don’t really know if it was the virtual setting that had people more open or just a comfort level. At any rate, every team has leaks and it’s different people at different times. One of the things that people don’t necessarily grasp is that it isn’t JUST Beane that knows the plan. There are a lot of people involved in building the board and the decision making process. Buffalo is a small town and things spread but the truth is New Orleans is no different. It is also my experience having done media stuff both sides of the fence (in sports as a media member and in Government as a media relations guy) that most things that leak out of an organisation are because the organisation wants them out there. Occasionally you have an individual or two pushing their own agenda but more often than not leaking is an organisational decision. I remember getting a call from someone on the non football side of one of the biggest football clubs in England to leak a story to me and when I asked if the manager knew he was telling me this he said "the manager told me to tell you this." They wanted it out there but they wanted it out there in less big bang way than if they had given it to a big national guy. A young freelance beat reporter who didn't have a huge reputation was just right for them. Credible but just enough deniability. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 4 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: It is also my experience having done media stuff both sides of the fence (in sports as a media member and in Government as a media relations guy) that most things that leak out of an organisation are because the organisation wants them out there. Occasionally you have an individual or two pushing their own agenda but more often than not leaking is an organisational decision. I remember getting a call from someone on the non football side of one of the biggest football clubs in England to leak a story to me and when I asked if the manager knew he was telling me this he said "the manager told me to tell you this." They wanted it out there but they wanted it out there in less big bang way than if they had given it to a big national guy. A young freelance beat reporter who didn't have a huge reputation was just right for them. Credible but just enough deniability. That’s a pretty cool story!! Teams certainly use the media to spread their narratives. I think that it’s almost happened so much at this point that it works the other way. If I see someone on NFL Network talking about a team’s interest in something in particular that’s because the team or agent wanted it out there. The stuff that you hear less is often closer to the truth at this point (is the Bills were taking Dugger if he was available). So much of it is just about how easy it is to communicate now. Someone says something to one of their buddies and he tells his 5 closest friends, who tell their 5 closest friends and so on. The key and most important thing in the chain is how close to the original source your information is. There are certain things that I can say that I've heard with a great deal of certainty. As an example, it is 100% fact that the Bills were trying to trade up for Mark Barron and got “stuck” with Stephon Gilmore. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplebulldog Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Scott Burntoast 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay_Fixit Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 I always thought Whaley went bleu instead of rouge but I could be wrong. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEra Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 I bet it was Joel Klopfenstien 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 Berchtold was a sieve. Look no further than that. He was way out of line, too, like when he leaked that a major Bills sponsor who had just agreed to have Fred Jackson appear in an upcoming ad campaign was not gonna be happy that Whaley let him go. As if teams need to consult their marketing department when it comes to player personnel decisions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJB Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 Tim Murray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LB48 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 In late February, the Bills announced that Berchtold would be stepping down as VP of Communications — a spot he has held for nearly 30 years. It was also announced that Derek Boyko, who has spent the past 17 years with the Philadelphia Eagles, will take his place. Boyko joins the Buffalo Bills at a perfect time. Reports early this off season suggested that there was dysfunction in the organization, which was quickly dismissed by owner Terry Pegula as an “insult.” Whether there is — or was — dysfunction, the team has been taking hit after hit in their PR department for quite some time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njbuff Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 I always love that picture of Brandon raising arms. That picture is one of the easiest pictures to make fun of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregPersons Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 I heard it was the cabbie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 Leroi 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 1 hour ago, Jay_Fixit said: I always thought Whaley went bleu instead of rouge but I could be wrong. I see what you did there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FluffHead Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) Russ Brandon would blab to the co-eds who in turn blabbed on also Lauren Hall Edited May 21, 2020 by FluffHead 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob in STL Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 This is your culprit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May Day 10 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) I feel like it was Brandon. They seemed to increase in frequency after the pegulas came on the scene. Brandon was losing his grip as defacto owner, president, and gm, so he was pulling shots to try to improve his standing and image. They never painted him in a bad light, and I even recall the ridiculous one that the raiders were beating on his door to make him their president. It seemed that la canfora was the source of most of that nonsense and russ was feeding him la canfora was doing favors And lol https://www.syracuse.com/buffalo-bills/2014/12/oakland_raiders_reportedly_interested_in_buffalo_bills_president_russ_brandon.html Edited May 21, 2020 by May Day 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CommonCents Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 13 minutes ago, May Day 10 said: I feel like it was Brandon. They seemed to increase in frequency after the pegulas came on the scene. Brandon was losing his grip as defacto owner, president, and gm, so he was pulling shots to try to improve his standing and image. They never painted him in a bad light, and I even recall the ridiculous one that the raiders were beating on his door to make him their president. It seemed that la canfora was the source of most of that nonsense and russ was feeding him la canfora was doing favors And lol https://www.syracuse.com/buffalo-bills/2014/12/oakland_raiders_reportedly_interested_in_buffalo_bills_president_russ_brandon.html I wouldn’t dismiss the Raiders rumors so quickly. Brandon looked to be in decent shape, if his 40 time was quicker than his peers the Raiders most likely DID have some interest. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil The Thrill Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 51 minutes ago, Bob in STL said: This is your culprit. I don’t get it 1 hour ago, LB48 said: In late February, the Bills announced that Berchtold would be stepping down as VP of Communications — a spot he has held for nearly 30 years. It was also announced that Derek Boyko, who has spent the past 17 years with the Philadelphia Eagles, will take his place. Boyko joins the Buffalo Bills at a perfect time. Reports early this off season suggested that there was dysfunction in the organization, which was quickly dismissed by owner Terry Pegula as an “insult.” Whether there is — or was — dysfunction, the team has been taking hit after hit in their PR department for quite some time. Of course, but this says nothing about leaks. To me it’s referring more to the end of Eason fiasco, where they put ALynn in a terrible position to answer questions without preparing. Ditto for Doug Whaley’s end of the year presser which was terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurman#1 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 Yeah. I don't know, but I doubt it could've been Berchthold, just because I doubt the media relations guy got access to the more interesting, divisive stuff, the secrets. I suspected some of them were Whaley and Marrone going back and forth at each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunnerBill Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 9 hours ago, May Day 10 said: I feel like it was Brandon. They seemed to increase in frequency after the pegulas came on the scene. Brandon was losing his grip as defacto owner, president, and gm, so he was pulling shots to try to improve his standing and image. They never painted him in a bad light, and I even recall the ridiculous one that the raiders were beating on his door to make him their president. It seemed that la canfora was the source of most of that nonsense and russ was feeding him la canfora was doing favors And lol https://www.syracuse.com/buffalo-bills/2014/12/oakland_raiders_reportedly_interested_in_buffalo_bills_president_russ_brandon.html Brandon wasn't losing his grip. He was increasing it. The Pegulas promoted him to President of the Sabres too. Was Brandon a PR man at heart? Yep. Did he have friends in the media? Yep. Did he have any incentive to make the organisation look dysfunctional? Not really. I would put money on the main source being Berchtold. 6 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said: Yeah. I don't know, but I doubt it could've been Berchthold, just because I doubt the media relations guy got access to the more interesting, divisive stuff, the secrets. I suspected some of them were Whaley and Marrone going back and forth at each other. Oh believe me.... the media relations man normally knows everything. It is part of your job to know where all the bodies are buried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurman#1 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 4 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: I would put money on the main source being Berchtold. Oh believe me.... the media relations man normally knows everything. It is part of your job to know where all the bodies are buried. Yeah? Well, you'd know better than I, but how would the media relations guy know if there was something he didn't know? It's that guy's job to control info that might come out, yeah, and how it comes out if it does, right? But if some guy has a grudge, which seemed to be the case between Whaley and Marrone while they had a brief power struggle, that's the guy who would seem to gain by putting something out there that reflects negatively on the other guy. Well, it sounds like you know a lot about this kind of thing. But what would Berchtold get out of this? And if true (I get that it could be), how come it wasn't a consistent thing through his 30 years there? There were some eras where there were leaks and others where there didn't seem to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunnerBill Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 14 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said: Yeah? Well, you'd know better than I, but how would the media relations guy know if there was something he didn't know? It's that guy's job to control info that might come out, yeah, and how it comes out if it does, right? But if some guy has a grudge, which seemed to be the case between Whaley and Marrone while they had a brief power struggle, that's the guy who would seem to gain by putting something out there that reflects negatively on the other guy. Well, it sounds like you know a lot about this kind of thing. But what would Berchtold get out of this? And if true (I get that it could be), how come it wasn't a consistent thing through his 30 years there? There were some eras where there were leaks and others where there didn't seem to be. Hmm. So I have been following the Bills since 2002 and they have basically always been leaky until McDermott arrived and as Kirby said this year around the draft a fair bit got out. The way it works is if I am the media relations guy I make it my job to know things. If I sense there is tension between Whaley and Marrone for example, I play both sides. There is a story out there from one of the old BN guys that when Marrone was having a spat with the media Berchtold played both sides of that too. Told the media Marrone was a jerk, told Marrone the media were #######s. That is the job. You have to be capable of being duplicitous. I did it for about 2 years in Government before I moved into policy and I know some ***** on people that was in the "to be deployed only if..." file. Media relations guys (if they are doing their job well) do a lot more than organise press conferences and make the tea. There shouldn't be a single story a reporter can uncover that you are not already totally aware of. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not at the table Karlos Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 12 hours ago, GunnerBill said: Wasn't one of McDermott's first actions to have Scott Bercthold replaced? Yea. That is where my search would start. I’ve gotten him going for an hour at one of our events. I mentioned something about re-signing a player and he talked for 5 mins about the contract and how the player wants x but team only wants to give y. Went to check on grandkids or something and came back and talked my ear off. He was let go not long after I think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May Day 10 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 48 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: Brandon wasn't losing his grip. He was increasing it. The Pegulas promoted him to President of the Sabres too. Was Brandon a PR man at heart? Yep. Did he have friends in the media? Yep. Did he have any incentive to make the organisation look dysfunctional? Not really. I would put money on the main source being Berchtold. Oh believe me.... the media relations man normally knows everything. It is part of your job to know where all the bodies are buried. Russ Brandon really wanted to be a GM. A pro sports (particularly baseball) General Manager was his dream and why he got into the business. As defacto owner, he was able to do that and was involved in most decisions, hoping that he would set himself up for notoriety to get a position post-Bills. This is why they swung for the fences with Watkins, doubling down on their EJ selection (I remember some of the leaks while Tyrod was playing fine were 'pro Manuel'). Most of the leaks reeked of Brandon posturing. I can guarantee he didnt really enjoy his 'promotion' to the head of the Sabres and the Bills. It moved him further away from what he wanted to be doing. McDermott essentially (finally) walled Brandon off from the football department and it was the best thing that could have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) 10 minutes ago, May Day 10 said: Russ Brandon really wanted to be a GM. A pro sports (particularly baseball) General Manager was his dream and why he got into the business. As defacto owner, he was able to do that and was involved in most decisions, hoping that he would set himself up for notoriety to get a position post-Bills. This is why they swung for the fences with Watkins, doubling down on their EJ selection (I remember some of the leaks while Tyrod was playing fine were 'pro Manuel'). Most of the leaks reeked of Brandon posturing. I can guarantee he didnt really enjoy his 'promotion' to the head of the Sabres and the Bills. It moved him further away from what he wanted to be doing. McDermott essentially (finally) walled Brandon off from the football department and it was the best thing that could have happened. I know people never want to hear or believe this but Russ Brandon didn’t make football decisions at any point. Modrak, Guy, Nix and Whaley made the football decisions throughout his tenure. He was acting as the de facto owner. He was absolutely aware of what was going on and in some cases probably had to sign off but more from a budgetary situation. He wasn’t saying “don’t sign this guy sign that guy.” The football people made all of the football decisions and he authorized the spend. He played the role of owner. The point being if people had an issue with the way that the organization was, that’s where he takes the blame. It’s similar to the mass-dysfunction going on with the Sabres right now. When there is a lot wrong the owner takes the blame. However, if you did not like the player’s on the team, it is the fault of whoever was responsible for them. Russ held a title, as did Marv Levy, and NEITHER of them made football decisions. It was a leadership title. The 4 men mentioned above built the rosters between Donahoe and the current regime. With all of that being said there were a lot of talkers in that era. That falls to the man in charge - RB. Edited May 21, 2020 by Kirby Jackson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebandit27 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 12 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said: There were multiple. It appeared that most of the leaks had closed but this draft there were as many leaks as back then. Don’t really know if it was the virtual setting that had people more open or just a comfort level. At any rate, every team has leaks and it’s different people at different times. One of the things that people don’t necessarily grasp is that it isn’t JUST Beane that knows the plan. There are a lot of people involved in building the board and the decision making process. Buffalo is a small town and things spread but the truth is New Orleans is no different. FA was even more “leaky” than the draft this year FWIW. Addison, Diggs, and the E. Sanders pursuits were out there really early. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlimShady'sSpaceForce Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) 11 hours ago, YoloinOhio said: Leroi Dunkirk Don via Leroi Edited May 21, 2020 by SlimShady'sSpaceForce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 Just now, thebandit27 said: FA was even more “leaky” than the draft this year FWIW. Addison, Diggs, and the E. Sanders pursuits were out there really early. It really was a little uncharacteristic. That makes it harder to blame on the work environment too. At least with the draft you can default to “with people all over the place it’s tough to keep everything silent.” That wasn’t the case during FA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebandit27 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 Just now, Kirby Jackson said: It really was a little uncharacteristic. That makes it harder to blame on the work environment too. At least with the draft you can default to “with people all over the place it’s tough to keep everything silent.” That wasn’t the case during FA. Admittedly I’m reading the tea leaves here, but the sense that I got was that there’s an air of “we’re not the same old Bills. Players want to come here now. More than they want to go elsewhere. We don’t have to play coy to get our guys anymore.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherlock Holmes Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 12 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said: That’s a pretty cool story!! Teams certainly use the media to spread their narratives. I think that it’s almost happened so much at this point that it works the other way. If I see someone on NFL Network talking about a team’s interest in something in particular that’s because the team or agent wanted it out there. The stuff that you hear less is often closer to the truth at this point (is the Bills were taking Dugger if he was available). So much of it is just about how easy it is to communicate now. Someone says something to one of their buddies and he tells his 5 closest friends, who tell their 5 closest friends and so on. The key and most important thing in the chain is how close to the original source your information is. There are certain things that I can say that I've heard with a great deal of certainty. As an example, it is 100% fact that the Bills were trying to trade up for Mark Barron and got “stuck” with Stephon Gilmore. Should have been trying to trade up for Kuechly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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