Sean McDermott: A Parallel to the Business World

[maddenboy]

4 hours ago, saundena said:

There is something fundamentally wrong with our team this year.  It seems like we believed our own hype- and that if we just "showed up", we could phone it in for most games and still be a shoe-in to repeat in the AFC Championship game.  

The high number of drive killing penalties we see, week after week, is proof of this- as too is the quantity of Instagram content generated during practices...  goofy dances, special handshakes, etc.  

 

This made me think.

 

Its like the team started this off-season in the 2022 AFCCG.  Even the drafting and offseason front-office moves.

 

But you hear the good, grizzled, veteran coaches who have tasted success multiple time Always remind their teams that each year its a brand new team.  Even if its the same players.  And they are correct.

 

To the point:  Imagine that we won the Superbowl in February in Tampa.  Then picture this season's laid back vibes, the goofy practices of JA17 racing backup quarterbacks, the handshakes, the silly McKittrickson videos with prank calls to coaches and teammates, and all the relaxed attitude, and we fans would have known that we had zero chance to repeat because you have to be even hungrier to repeat.  You cant start the season in celebration mode.

 

This team seems to expect to flip the switch in January.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 hours ago, I am the egg man said:

The Bills brain trust over estimated the capabilities of their team going into this season.   

 

I think there's something to be said for this viewpoint.

 

We doubled down on DE and doubled down on OT in the draft, as though we had no need for DT and OG help.

[Sugar High JA17]

Win 4 of the next 5 games (including a sweep of New England) and his stock will improve. If he can pull this team together for the stretch run then all will be forgotten. In Sean we trust? The jury is still out.

[Nextmanup]

I don't think a coach for the coach would help.

 

What would help, if you want to bring in something from the "outside" are intelligent numbers people who do not come from a football background--and then giving them enough power within the organization to have a say in decision making.

 

McDermott has said many times that he makes in-game decision based on "feelings" essentially.

 

He might decide to go for a TD on 4th and 2 from the 2 yard line simply b/c he thought it would "fire up the team at the time" and so on.

 

Critical in-game decisions should not be made around FEELINGS!  

 

They should be made from NUMBERS and there is almost always only one correct answer.

 

I genuinely believe McDermott doesn't get that b/c he doesn't come from an intellectual background.

 

Bring in people to teach the coaching staff about the value of information and implement systems for integrating information into in-game decision making.

 

McD and company have gotten a LITTLE better at this sort of thing over time, but are still a mess.

 

 

 

[Coach Tuesday]

Two points on the “business-related” perspective:

 

1.  The Bills may be dealing with the same “labor shortage” that many businesses in the US are facing.  Not a shortage of employees like at Old Navy or Tim Horton’s, but a systemic difficulty motivating employees to push harder.  There seem to be multiple players, and perhaps coaches and scouts and trainers etc., who for whatever reason are struggling to stay focused and motivated during COVID.  Anyone who is management-side right now can relate: I work in a business where working harder directly leads to higher comp and we’re still having trouble motivating some folks to amp up their sorry efforts.   I wonder if the Bills are seeing the same thing.

 

2.  While I’m not sure a consultant is the way to go, self-scouting seems to be an issue right now.  There appears to be a significant problem of confirmation bias - whatever self-analysis they’ve been doing in the offseason and during the season has led them to largely conclude that their own players and systems are the best options.  As I said elsewhere it might be a bit of a problem that the coach and GM are so much on the same page - you don’t want them at odds, obviously, but this may be a situation of too much mutual trust and not enough pushing each other - Beane largely ignored the roster holes exposed last year and instead “ran it back” and trusted his coaches to make necessary adjustments to get the team to the next level, and the coaches don’t seem to have pushed for any significant changes in personnel or scheme.  They have overrated themselves and as a result they are now overrated.

[BillsVet]

10 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

2.  While I’m not sure a consultant is the way to go, self-scouting seems to be an issue right now.  There appears to be a significant problem of confirmation bias - whatever self-analysis they’ve been doing in the offseason and during the season has led them to largely conclude that their own players and systems are the best options.  As I said elsewhere it might be a bit of a problem that the coach and GM are so much on the same page - you don’t want them at odds, obviously, but this may be a situation of too much mutual trust and not enough pushing each other - Beane largely ignored the roster holes exposed last year and instead “ran it back” and trusted his coaches to make necessary adjustments to get the team to the next level, and the coaches don’t seem to have pushed for any significant changes in personnel or scheme.  They have overrated themselves and as a result they are now overrated.

 

Re 2, CT - Beane's status as an admin exec combined with a HC who is from the defense concerns me.  Who on the offensive side of the ball factors into personnel decision making as it relates to overall scheme/strategy.  Because their offensive personnel decisions have been (aside from JA) up and down.  Their WR group is UFA/trades save Davis who hasn't impressed this season.  The TEs and RBs are "meh" particularly given their draft position (3rd).    

 

The whole OL is UFA as well and they haven't developed anyone from within save Dawkins.  

 

I really hope they don't go the Packers route and just wing it surrounding their franchise QB.  Still wish McD would understand his defense ain't winning a championship  and will instead be via Josh's arm and his lesser known side of the ball.   

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

Honestly I think we're waxing poetic about a whole lot of nothing here.  The majority of eventual Super Bowl champions have had a stretch for 2 or 3 games during that season where they look bad and the sports media world gets to expound upon why they're done for.  The really exceptional squads don't but most do.

 

This particular season, literally every theoretical contender in the AFC has looked like a pretender at one point.  

[Haslett_Stomp]

On 11/22/2021 at 5:46 PM, LABILLBACKER said:

This is true. I think both the coaches and players need a reset. I guess I wish McD was more like Belichick. He would never allow various nonsense at practice. He'd probably give you serious stink eye if you chose not to get vaccinated. He doesn't tolerate penalties ever. Do your job, be prepared for every opponent or you're gone. These guys heads got too big. #1 D...#1 Offense....SB Favorites...MVP QB....on and on. This entire organization needs a reset and reevaluation of what's expected of them.

 

Can't stand the man or the team he coaches, however this is an interesting read...  https://www.brownsnation.com/what-went-wrong-for-bill-belichick-in-cleveland/

[JohnNord]

On 11/22/2021 at 2:31 PM, saundena said:

There is something fundamentally wrong with our team this year.  It seems like we believed our own hype- and that if we just "showed up", we could phone it in for most games and still be a shoe-in to repeat in the AFC Championship game.  Our roster is very good and largely remains unchanged compared to last year- while one could argue that our recent failings are due to xyz on the roster- we're basically the same on paper (if not slightly improved), and yet have already lost 4 games (2 in a very bad way) with half the season to go!  We lack focus and accountability.  The high number of drive killing penalties we see, week after week, is proof of this- as too is the quantity of Instagram content generated during practices...  goofy dances, special handshakes, etc.  

 

If I had to put my finger on it, I would say that McDermott and his high level staff are the root cause of our struggles.  I'm not saying that we should get the pitchforks and torches, but what we are seeing here is something that is actually very common in the business world:  Companies sometimes struggle after achieving major organizational goals and objectives and management/CEO's are often the reason why.   In the business world, there are all kinds of CEO's with different experiences, skillsets, styles, etc; some excel at leading massive turn arounds of struggling organizations, but don't have the same continued success when it comes to running the mundane, day-to-day facets of an organization that is otherwise, performing well.  I wonder if this is what we are seeing with McDermott and his staff?

 

He (and Beane) were terrific when it came to leading the Bills out of the doldrums of despair.  Decisions were made quickly, with confidence and the players really grabbed onto what McDermott was selling.  We were underdogs and still not very good early on in is head coaching tenure, but it was obvious that McDermott had a vision, had a plan to execute it, and was confident in his ability to do so.  His focus on individual character, family and process helped instill in our Bills, a scrappy, "us versus the world" mindset and last year was the culmination of all it all.  We had arrived.  The Bills were on the map and everybody gave us the respect we earned.  Things were going great and expectations were sky high heading into this season.  Yet, we stumbled out of the gate to start the season (Loss wk 1 and looked only OK against a bad Miami team) and have yet to find consistency against mediocre and above teams.  It's fair to say that that we have not lived up to expectations thus far in 2021 and I'm wondering if our CEO/McDermott is the reason why.  Maybe he is better at executing major turn arounds than he is at maintaining and sustaining success. 

 

Now that we've "arrived" the same tactics that he used in the past, might not work as well.  Character, while important- doesn't necessarily trump talent.  We are the 800 lb gorilla with a target on our back and our opponents give us their best week in and week out.  The love and camaraderie that our players have for each other is terrific, but will that keep guys from holding one another accountable to each each other, especially when the going gets tough and answers are hard to find?

 

Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses and in no way am I suggesting that McDermott isn't the guy for us for the next 10+ years.  I do believe that if this is indeed the case, that McDermott has the intelligence, drive and capability to try and become a better leader, even if the traits he needs to exhibit now aren't ones that come naturally to him.  McDermott seem to be very self aware and aware of his own shortcomings.  I wonder if the Pegula's would entertain brining in a management consultant to assess and "coach" our coach for his benefit and the teams.  

I think the answer is much more simple.  Defensive line is not good.  Offensive line is not good.  Everything else is a domino

[hondo in seattle]

On 11/22/2021 at 1:31 PM, saundena said:

There is something fundamentally wrong with our team this year.  It seems like we believed our own hype- and that if we just "showed up", we could phone it in for most games and still be a shoe-in to repeat in the AFC Championship game.  Our roster is very good and largely remains unchanged compared to last year- while one could argue that our recent failings are due to xyz on the roster- we're basically the same on paper (if not slightly improved), and yet have already lost 4 games (2 in a very bad way) with half the season to go!  We lack focus and accountability.  The high number of drive killing penalties we see, week after week, is proof of this- as too is the quantity of Instagram content generated during practices...  goofy dances, special handshakes, etc.  

 

If I had to put my finger on it, I would say that McDermott and his high level staff are the root cause of our struggles.  I'm not saying that we should get the pitchforks and torches, but what we are seeing here is something that is actually very common in the business world:  Companies sometimes struggle after achieving major organizational goals and objectives and management/CEO's are often the reason why.   In the business world, there are all kinds of CEO's with different experiences, skillsets, styles, etc; some excel at leading massive turn arounds of struggling organizations, but don't have the same continued success when it comes to running the mundane, day-to-day facets of an organization that is otherwise, performing well.  I wonder if this is what we are seeing with McDermott and his staff?

 

He (and Beane) were terrific when it came to leading the Bills out of the doldrums of despair.  Decisions were made quickly, with confidence and the players really grabbed onto what McDermott was selling.  We were underdogs and still not very good early on in is head coaching tenure, but it was obvious that McDermott had a vision, had a plan to execute it, and was confident in his ability to do so.  His focus on individual character, family and process helped instill in our Bills, a scrappy, "us versus the world" mindset and last year was the culmination of all it all.  We had arrived.  The Bills were on the map and everybody gave us the respect we earned.  Things were going great and expectations were sky high heading into this season.  Yet, we stumbled out of the gate to start the season (Loss wk 1 and looked only OK against a bad Miami team) and have yet to find consistency against mediocre and above teams.  It's fair to say that that we have not lived up to expectations thus far in 2021 and I'm wondering if our CEO/McDermott is the reason why.  Maybe he is better at executing major turn arounds than he is at maintaining and sustaining success. 

 

Now that we've "arrived" the same tactics that he used in the past, might not work as well.  Character, while important- doesn't necessarily trump talent.  We are the 800 lb gorilla with a target on our back and our opponents give us their best week in and week out.  The love and camaraderie that our players have for each other is terrific, but will that keep guys from holding one another accountable to each each other, especially when the going gets tough and answers are hard to find?

 

Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses and in no way am I suggesting that McDermott isn't the guy for us for the next 10+ years.  I do believe that if this is indeed the case, that McDermott has the intelligence, drive and capability to try and become a better leader, even if the traits he needs to exhibit now aren't ones that come naturally to him.  McDermott seem to be very self aware and aware of his own shortcomings.  I wonder if the Pegula's would entertain brining in a management consultant to assess and "coach" our coach for his benefit and the teams.  

 

Wow, this is full of assumptions and speculation.

Just because some business leaders are good at turnarounds but not good at sustained success, doesn't mean that McD has the same problem.  

 

Just because some fans believed the Bills hype doesn't mean McD, his staff, and the players did.

 

I have yet to see any compelling evidence that goofy handshakes are detrimental to team success.  In fact, you'll find a lot of odd rituals in the Special Forces.  They still win on their field of competition.

 

You say that the tactics McD used in the past may not work now.  Can you be more specific?  What leadership tactics did he use before?  And how do you know this - are you on the practice field?  In the locker room?  What tactics should he be using instead?   What traits that don't "come naturally" to McDermott does he need to develop?

 

I'm not saying you're wrong.  I'm just saying this is highly speculative stuff that we - as fans - are in no position to know.