Tyler Dunne story on McDermott - 3 parts, 25 interviews, one damning conclusion

[OZBILLS]

10 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

That’s the only reason i’m really mad about this. I hope it galvanizes the team instead of distracts them.

 

We get a 50 piece put up on us.

 

 

[Mango]

4 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

I'm having trouble parsing that - do you mean "info that came out was true and all happened"?

 

I believe it probably happened, but I also think as you allude there are probably a bunch of positive things that didn't make it into the article.

 

Like I said, Dunne makes his living by publishing controversial takes.  A nuanced or balanced take wouldn't gain him subscriptions.  I think in this case, it may not have had as good a result since it's gotten so much media airplay that people will roll with that and not go subscribe.

Also not one of my normal paywall beaters worked on his site.
 

Sort of shocking.  
 

EDIT: I should note that I do pay for some news and sports subscriptions. I’ve never heard or even considered Dunne’s. If I feel it provides value ai have no issues subscribing. But I’m not paying $8 for 1 article out of the gate.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Mango

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Any excuse to get rid of McDermott I will take.

If it is a poorly worded speech from 2019, I don't care. Throw him under the bus and rid us of this loser before he ruins the best QB in franchise history.  

[TheFunPolice]

20 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

That Michigan is throwing the sink at Jim because they know he's sick of the NCAA and he beats the Ohio team? I could have told you this a few weeks ago. Not news. 

 

Does Harbaugh even coach games anymore?

 

He seems to be suspended for most of the year every season.

[beer can shower]

 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

3 minutes ago, TheFunPolice said:

 

Does Harbaugh even coach games anymore?

 

He seems to be suspended for most of the year every season.

Anyone worried about McDermott being a douche that's advocating for harbaugh isn't a serious person 

[NoSaint]

16 minutes ago, QCity said:

 

This is the hottest McD's seat has ever been i.e. his best chance to get that $8 sub.

lead up to week 1 would have been an incredibly awful moment for the bills to reckon with at least the 9/11 portion on a national stage 

[billybob71]

jeez what a weird couple of years for the Bills and the sad part is when we look back on it= a waste of 2 years of JA in his prime

[balln]

9 minutes ago, Mango said:

Also not one of my normal paywall beaters worked on his site.
 

Sort of shocking.  
 

EDIT: I should note that I do pay for some news and sports subscriptions. I’ve never heard or even considered Dunne’s. If I feel it provides value ai have no issues subscribing. But I’m not paying $8 for 1 article out of the gate.

I usually try my computer and hit refresh and before it loads hit stop! And it works almost 100% of the time 

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

 

 

[Warcodered]

28 minutes ago, Peter said:

In case anyone still had any doubts about who was calling the defense at the end of the 13 second game against the Chiefs:

Quote

That night, of course, the Bills defense also surrendered 19- and 25-yard completions to set up the game-tying field goal. One defensive starter is still pissed McDermott didn’t instruct DBs to press the Chiefs’ receivers on those two completions (“Get in front of their face,” he laments, “and challenge them!”) He’s currently loving life on a new team, but admits these two plays still serve as a 3 a.m. nightmare. Before each play, McDermott called a timeout to set the defense. That “Kodak” logic again.

He is clearly communicating into his headset as 71 seconds of real time pass before one completion and 110 seconds the next. At best, he signed off on the lax coverage. At worst, what three team sources told Go Long is true: McDermott flat-out seized playcalling from [then-defensive coordinator] Frazier those final two plays. Once [Tyreek] Hill took a quick-hitter 19 yards — to the KC 44-yard line — one coach on that staff believes McDermott’s thinking changed. “Now,” he said, “he’s worried about losing. In his mind, overtime is OK.” So, the Bills lined up in another prevent coverage. One safety was 31 yards off the ball; the other 26. Cornerback Levi Wallace was instructed to line up with outside leverage, vs. Travis Kelce, and the tight end accepted this free release to get KC in field-goal range.

Said one coach: “Imagine not being the playcaller all year long and then at a critical moment, ‘Hey, let me take the wheel.’”

 

"The strangest stories from Ty Dunne's blockbuster story on Sean McDermott"

So that's obviously Levi Wallace.....and it's so nice of him to throw McDermott under the bus for a play he doesn't make.

[K-9]

21 minutes ago, balln said:

It’s def interesting timing. Makes me think Ty dunne is more bills fan / McD hater and less journalism

 

def more editorial. But there’s def smoke here ppl

lets not pretend it’s JUsT a hit piece. 
 

the ONLY thing I care about is that it portrays as McD as a bumbling fool and I worry it impacts critical thinking on the fly in big games 

Critical thinking at key moments during games has been an issue with McD since he got here. His strong point has never been game day management.

[Scott7975]

27 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Jaguars:  Bills scored 7 points in the first 3Q. 

Giants: Bills scoreless for first 3Q.  Scoreless.  Against the #26 defense in the NFL

NE: 3 points in 1st half, 10 points in first 3Q - against a 2-5 team

Tampa: 24 points in first 3Q against #10 D.  Looked good.

Bengals: 7 points in 1st half, whole team looked horrid

Denver: 8 points in 1st half.

 

I don't think we need a bunch of FrankenStats to tell us that the Offense looked disjointed and often ineffective until far too late in the game for a 6 week stretch.

 

Careful now.  Somebody gonna hit ya with some EPA to tell you how awesome that really is.

[Beck Water]

1 minute ago, Scott7975 said:

 

When you have a top 5 QB, you don't want a 6 game stretch of average.  Especially during the weak portion of your schedule.

 

Oh wait, not "top 5".  We have a "god given gift" at QB.  I think we need to expect above average with that.

 

5 minutes ago, Peter said:

Go ahead and ignore reality and non-biased metrics. Got it.

 

I see that you ignored the stats from last year as well.

 

The fact is that, without McClappy's defense giving up so many game losing drives, we would be sitting pretty for the playoffs.

 

Actually, Peter, I have receipts defending Dorsey and pointing to stats on how good the offense was last year under him (overall).

 

But I think you want to re-visit what "non-biased metric" means and the exact definition of a number of the metrics you cite.
Let's review:

Quote

3rd in DVOA
1st in success rate
3rd in EPA/play
4th in QBR
3rd in yds/play
2nd in 3rd down conversion %
3rd in red zone efficiency

DVOA has its believers, but let's look at what Football Outsiders has to say about it:

Quote

Football Outsiders, who uses DVOA as the heart of their work, defines the statistic as the following: “DVOA breaks down the entire season play-by-play, comparing success on each play to the league average based on a number of variables including down, distance, location on field, current score gap, quarter, and opponent quality.”

That's inherently and by design a biased metric.  Similarly for EPA/play.  "Biased" doesn't mean "bad" in this context; it just means it's not entirely objective - again, by design, for a purpose.

"QBR" as a metric has been discussed extensively here and elsewhere.  It's not well regarded.

Red zone efficiency - I'm actually not sure what stat you're talking about here.  If you mean red zone scoring (TD only) after 10 games last season Bills were towards the bottom of the league.  Later in the season they improved, but still not great.

 

yds/play and 3rd down conversion % would be examples of actual non-biased metrics, and yes, they're important, but they need context.  For example, in the Jax game, the Bills had a decent 3rd down conversion % of 42%.  BUT, we only had the ball for 22 minutes vs. 38 for our opponent.  We had a pretty strong yards/play, but owing to turnovers and getting a low number of 1st downs overall, it wasn't a good offensive showing at all.

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

 

 

[SinceThe70s]

19 minutes ago, TheFunPolice said:

 

 

Imagine if this story came out right before week 1 this season.

 

McDermott would not have been safe in that stadium. 

 

LOL - I just texted the same thought to my Jet fan friend (before seeing your comment).  Ironically he's a guy that told me recently he thought McD is a good coach.

[Beck Water]

9 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

 

Careful now.  Somebody gonna hit ya with some EPA to tell you how awesome that really is.

 

Thanks for the warning. 

 

We all know I'm a stats geek and I like analytics - to a point.  But there's a place for eyeballs and there's always a need for context around stats.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Beck Water

[balln]

6 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Critical thinking at key moments during games has been an issue with McD since he got here. His strong point has never been game day management.

Which is a red flag for a HC in Super Bowl window. Time to move on

[Beck Water]

9 hours ago, Arkady Renko said:

I have a hunch his sources are Whaley,  Daboll and that OL who got cut after signing a big contract. 

 

Quinton Spain.  He went to Cincinnati and played 100% of their postseason snaps in 2021 so, there's that.

 

9 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Critical thinking at key moments during games has been an issue with McD since he got here. His strong point has never been game day management.

 

I would have to agree.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Beck Water

[ProcessTruster]

9 hours ago, Buddy Hix said:

13 secs exposed McD's inability to be accountable, I knew it would turn out like this...right down to Pegula being unwilling to do what is needed. The next 2-3 seasons are going to be rough, and I bet it will take at least that many years for Pegula to actually make the right call.

Heath Farwell screwed up 13 seconds by not getting the skwib kick call in and was effectively fired for it, with McD being man enough not to call him out in the media. 

 

Get your facts straight.  

[Royale with Cheese]

11 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

So that's obviously Levi Wallace.....and it's so nice of him to throw McDermott under the bus for a play he doesn't make.

To me, it sounds more like Jerry Hughes.

[Einstein]

1 minute ago, Royale with Cheese said:

To me, it sounds more like Jerry Hughes.

 

That’s an excellent thought that didn’t occur to me.

[thenorthremembers]

4 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Quinton Spain.  He went to Cincinnati and played 100% of their postseason snaps in 2021 so, there's that.

 

 

I would have to agree.

And then never played another down in the league because he has the mental disposition of a child.

[LeGOATski]

Another Tyler Dunne Bills bashing article? I'm shocked!

[DrDawkinstein]

49 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Why is this moment more right than any other moment?

 

2.5 weeks until Christmas. This article went viral. If he got just 100 people to subscribe in order to read it then there is $800 in his pocket, and his travel/gift money for the holidays. Gotta get creative for a Christmas bonus when you're working for yourself.

[Buddy Hix]

9 minutes ago, ProcessTruster said:

Heath Farwell screwed up 13 seconds by not getting the skwib kick call in and was effectively fired for it, with McD being man enough not to call him out in the media. 

 

Get your facts straight.  

It was McD who procrastinated and caused the screw up…

[Freddie's Dead]

21 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

So that's obviously Levi Wallace.....and it's so nice of him to throw McDermott under the bus for a play he doesn't make.

 

Levi Wallace was the only person on the Bills who took any responsibility for 13 seconds.  He's got a right to complain.  McDummy hung him out to dry.

[Beck Water]

9 hours ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

I know this will be taken as 100% factual information, but I struggle with unnamed sources. 
 

If someone got benched for fired, they won’t have favorable reviews of McD period because lack of accountability is a very common problem. 
 

Some of these stories just sound made up, opinions, or exaggerated. 
 

And for what it’s worth, my stance on McD has changed. I do think we will be best served with a new direction. 

 

I don't necessarily struggle with unnamed sources - journalists have to protect their sources at times.  Organizations that hold a high standard and require two independent sources to corroborate info before publication, I'm fine with that.

 

I struggle with Ty Dunne's unnamed sources, because his current business model requires him to obtain subscribers to his own work, which intrinsically requires that he generate controversy and bring in views.  And I say that as someone who liked Ty Dunne's writing for TBN and BR. 

In that context, I kind of feel as though 25 unnamed sources are ....I can't think of the name of the film, one of the sub-plots is a historical re-enactment group that's contracted to stage a battle for a film producer, the producer wants them to be totally inaccurate and the re-enactors revolt against him and do the historically accurate battle.  Afterwards the producer smiles at the leader and says "we have so many camera angles on that, we can make Any Thing We Want out of it."

 

 

[Warcodered]

8 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

To me, it sounds more like Jerry Hughes.

So instead of a player starting on another team it's the one that's not?

[Beck Water]

Just now, Freddie's Dead said:

Levi Wallace was the only person on the Bills who took any responsibility for 13 seconds.  He's got a right to complain.  McDummy hung him out to dry.

 

I can't keep up.  I thought our complaint was that McDermott WOULDN'T hang anyone out to dry but just said bland general things about execution.

[Low Positive]

52 minutes ago, Peter said:

In case anyone still had any doubts about who was calling the defense at the end of the 13 second game against the Chiefs:

 

 

"The strangest stories from Ty Dunne's blockbuster story on Sean McDermott"

Well, now we know that he talked to Levi Wallace. That’s the only former DB that could be loving life on a new team.

[K-9]

3 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

2.5 weeks until Christmas. This article went viral. If he got just 100 people to subscribe in order to read it then there is $800 in his pocket, and his travel/gift money for the holidays. Gotta get creative for a Christmas bonus when you're working for yourself.

Hadn’t thought of the Christmas angle and that’s a fair point. But the team’s low point came after losing to Denver. If the intent was to hit a man when he was down, that was the better time.

[Warcodered]

1 minute ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

Levi Wallace was the only person on the Bills who took any responsibility for 13 seconds.  He's got a right to complain.  McDummy hung him out to dry.

That does sound familiar, but it sure is written in a way that makes it look like it's him, then again that article has a lot of opinion twisting around quotes. 🤷‍♂️

[Beck Water]

7 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

And then never played another down in the league because he has the mental disposition of a child.

 

I mean, he was 30 after 2021, and his "mental disposition of a child" went on to play for a winning team that went to the Superbowl

[Freddie's Dead]

2 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

I can't keep up.  I thought our complaint was that McDermott WOULDN'T hang anyone out to dry but just said bland general things about execution.

 

He hung him out to dry with the play call, not verbally.

[Cray51]

35 minutes ago, beer can shower said:

 

Dude has 17 likes on his post lol

 

it was stupid, but we are talking about something 4 years ago….  I certainly don’t care

[Beck Water]

1 minute ago, K-9 said:

Hadn’t thought of the Christmas angle and that’s a fair point. But the team’s low point came after losing to Denver. If the intent was to hit a man when he was down, that was the better time.

 

I actually think it got more attention now.  The Bills kind of looked as though they got it together and might be turning it around - thumped the Jets solidly, played last year's NFC Champions very very tough into OT.  So they're back in the news as a team "In the Hunt".

 

I don't think the intention is to "hit a man when he's down", I think the intention is to generate views and subscribers and make money.

[JohnNord]

2 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

Back in the days when Ty Dunne was writing for TBN, I loved his work.  During his 4 years at Bleacher Report, I frequently enjoyed it.

 

Then, I got to hand it to him for nerve and verve - he decided to go out on his own to support himself by pulling in paid subscribers to an independent long-story 'blog' format, right at the time when bloggers and subscription newsletters seemed to be dying in favor of social media content by advert-supported 'influencers'.

 

But since then - I haven't admired a lot of content he put out.  I don't feel that he holds himself to a high standard for verifying sources.  He started out relying on disgruntled former Bills FO guys Jim Monos and Doug Whaley, who no one else in the NFL have wanted to hire.  He needs to draw in subscribers to make a living, and the way to do that is to generate controversy.

 

If you want to believe his shows, Isaiah McKenzie gets open all the time against zone and Josh Allen just inexplicably refused to throw him the football last season.

 

I don't know who this "former assistant coach" Dunne quotes might be and whether he has an 'ax to grind' on the way out the door. 

 

I do know that in the 6 games prior to him being 'relieved of his duties', the Ken Dorsey offense spearheaded by the "gift from the Football Gods", Josh Allen, was averaging 20.6 ppg (a point  BELOW league average 21.7 ppg) - this without any major injuries to key offensive personnel - and had given up 13 turnovers (more than 2 TO per game).  

 

In the same time period and despite all the turnovers, the injury-depleted defense, missing starters to season-ending IR at 2ndary, LB, and DL and down to the 3rd string at DB and LB on a game to game basis, has held opponents to 21.5 (slightly better than league average).

So call me Cray-Cray, but from my seat in a comfy chair, I kind of feel like where we are is the result of the offense not living up to what a "gift from the Football Gods"-led offense should be able to generate.
 

Do with this info what you will.

 

PS I'm pretty sure Sean McDermott has an ego.  I don't think anyone becomes a head football coach without having an ego.  But for the successful coaches, that's typically tempered by a good leaven of humility and willingness to listen and hear.   If McD is such an accountability-free egomaniac - well, it's harder to sustain winning year to year in this league than not.  It was said that Daboll wasn't happy working with McDermott.  Well, Daboll had a great first year with the Giants but the wheels have fallen off this season and Daboll has been seen screaming in Wink Martindale's face on the sidelines.  Do with this info what you will, also.

 

I agree with you here.  There is no doubt that Dunne is an excellent writer and storyteller but I noticed that he often forms an opinion and then writes his stories to support that take, using quotes from former players and coaches, rather than presenting the evidence and letting the reader decide. 
 

Case in point, years ago he believed that Jordan Love should take over for Aaron Rodgers, so he wrote a feature using anonymous former Packers players to paint Rodgers in a negative light.  That year the Packers went 13-3.  Now that Love is playing better and Rodgers tenure with the Jets has been a disaster, he gets to take a victory lap three years later and say “see I told you.”

 

He did the same thing when he decided Mike Zimmer in Minnesota was too conservative a few years ago.  

 

Now it’s Sean McDermott.  Dunne opined that McDermott is “tight,” freezes up in big games and changed the way Josh Allen played football.  So of course, he writes an article that supports his narrative - using…you guessed it.  Former players and coaches. 
 

Do you see a pattern here?  He writes about polarizing, unpopular figures and disgruntled fans latch (like the ones here) who desperately want a change will blindly believe everything he writes.  
 

Like you, I don’t the article is pure bull####.  I’m sure there is a lot of truth in it and that Dunne wouldn’t just slander McDermott for no reason.  I do think he had a predetermined narrative about McDermott and carefully selected sources/quotes that would support his preconceived notion.   
 

Edited December 8, 2023 by JohnNord

[Beck Water]

3 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

He hung him out to dry with the play call, not verbally.

 

You mean, hung him out to dry with the play call Wallace acknowledged he didn't execute correctly?

You kind of can't have it both ways here, Freddie.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Beck Water

[JohnNord]

3 minutes ago, Cray51 said:

Dude has 17 likes on his post lol

 

it was stupid, but we are talking about something 4 years ago….  I certainly don’t care

Who in the blue hell is Zach Gelb?

[K-9]

2 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

I actually think it got more attention now.  The Bills kind of looked as though they got it together and might be turning it around - thumped the Jets solidly, played last year's NFC Champions very very tough into OT.  So they're back in the news as a team "In the Hunt".

 

I don't think the intention is to "hit a man when he's down", I think the intention is to generate views and subscribers and make money.

I don’t think the intention was to hit a man when he’s down, either. I was referring to a previous post that suggested that may have been the reason for Dunne’s timing in releasing the article.