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

[Virgil]

I'm still struggling with the timing of this being released now.  It's strange to me.  But, love or hate McD, you can never argue that he has his players backs and it showed with this article and responses.  Coaching aside, bad context or not, McD has every players respect.

 

Now, IF I were a conspiracy theorists, did this article drop now as potential fuel for Pegula to have another piece of ammo to fire McD if things don't go well....

[Warcodered]

2 hours ago, boater said:

So I wonder...how does Dunne feel about the KC victory?

 

On one hand, I've heard he is supposedly a Bills fan. In which case he should feel pretty good.

 

On the other hand, the Bills won despite Dunne's hatchet job. The McDermott expose proved to be a non-factor to the players. The four year old 9/11 quote and other interview gotchas didn't sway the needle. Even the resulting Saturday Night Live hit on McDermott was met with meh response. (that show has sucked for decades--since Farley and Spade left)

 

Dunne.. I wonder how many new subscribers he got.

He's probably glad he got his timing right for that subscription cash.

[billieve420]

12 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Thanks.

That fits with stuff McKenzie said on his podcast with Dunne.  Dunne asked, if he were in trouble, would it be harder to have a conversation with McDermott or Beane.  He unhesitatingly said McDermott, saying that McDermott was like going to talk to your Father "What were you thinking?  I raised you better than that!!!!" while Beane was like your "cool Uncle", where if you told him you stole a car he would say "Don't do that again,  But was it a good car at least?  Did you have fun?." (McKenzie said he never got in off-field trouble, has never drunk alcohol or used drugs, and "if it happens after midnight, I don't know because I'm not there")

On the other hand, it doesn't fit with the bit from the Chad Hall truck story where an unnamed assistant coach is quoted as saying of McDermott "He’s insecure. He wants the relationship that he can’t have with the players. Because he’s not physically, mentally, or socially able to"  and that he has "zero relationship" with any of the offensive players. 

McKenzie clearly felt a caring relationship, even though McDermott ruthlessly benched him after the fumbled KO return in the Colts game so he had as much reason to have a "beef" with McDermott as anyone.

 

Honestly believe McDermott was more upset with the guys gathering during Covid than the actual gift itself. However, you never know. If I was the HC and a bunch of guys had gotten together for a party and someone ended up getting sick which in turn forced multiple guys to miss a game due to being in close contact I would be pissed.

Edited December 11, 2023 by billieve420

[ExWNYer]

6 minutes ago, Virgil said:

I'm still struggling with the timing of this being released now.  It's strange to me.  But, love or hate McD, you can never argue that he has his players backs and it showed with this article and responses.  Coaching aside, bad context or not, McD has every players respect.

 

Now, IF I were a conspiracy theorists, did this article drop now as potential fuel for Pegula to have another piece of ammo to fire McD if things don't go well....

 

Did you see the video of McDermott's post-game locker room speech? Pegula was standing behind him grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Firing the HC is not in his plans at all, IMO. If anything, by beating KC, McD probably moved closer to 'made man' in Pegula's mind. Those of us who don't particularly like him are likely stuck with him for better or worse.

[JGMcD2]

18 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Thanks.

That fits with stuff McKenzie said on his podcast with Dunne.  Dunne asked, if he were in trouble, would it be harder to have a conversation with McDermott or Beane.  He unhesitatingly said McDermott, saying that McDermott was like going to talk to your Father "What were you thinking?  I raised you better than that!!!!" while Beane was like your "cool Uncle", where if you told him you stole a car he would say "Don't do that again,  But was it a good car at least?  Did you have fun?." (McKenzie said he never got in off-field trouble, has never drunk alcohol or used drugs, and "if it happens after midnight, I don't know because I'm not there")

On the other hand, it doesn't fit with the bit from the Chad Hall truck story where an unnamed assistant coach is quoted as saying of McDermott "He’s insecure. He wants the relationship that he can’t have with the players. Because he’s not physically, mentally, or socially able to"  and that he has "zero relationship" with any of the offensive players. 

McKenzie clearly felt a caring relationship, even though McDermott ruthlessly benched him after the fumbled KO return in the Colts game so he had as much reason to have a "beef" with McDermott as anyone.

I'm pretty sure most of McDermott's anger that day was the gathering away from the field AND it being on camera. 

 

That was a different time in the world. Within the NFL that could have been disastrous - imagine their entire WR room being out for a game. It was a stressful time and McDermott is responsible for making sure they adhere to those kind of rules. 

[mjt328]

1 hour ago, Wayne Arnold said:

To answer your first question - yes.

 

To answer your second question - HE DID.

 

I've noticed that the people most upset about Dunne's work are those who obviously didn't even read it.

 

As for the rest of your post, it reminds me of the old saying "There is no truth or reality. Only perception." Dunne gave the public a perception of McDermott that people who worked with him have. Who are you to say that those perceptions are any less valid than the positive perceptions of McDermott?

 

That is kind-of my point...

A fair and balanced article would have included both.

 

Bottom line, Dunne learned and reported about multiple embarrassing incidents that occurred in the Bills locker room regarding Sean McDermott (some of which happened 6-7 years ago).  These incidents were not previously known to the public.  That part was good journalism.

 

It was HIS choice to only include feedback on these events from sources that clearly don't like McDermott, and none of whom were willing to let their identities known.  It was HIS choice not to even include the background context on these sources, making it unclear whether they are current or past members of the team.  It was HIS choice to include tons of his own opinionated language in the story, painting McDermott in a very negative way.  It was HIS choice to wait and release this article after the Eagles game, when the team was at it's lowest point in his entire tenure.

 

Many people are dismissing Dunne's work as a classless hit-piece, with the goal of creating public pressure to get McDermott fired.  The fact that multiple players and staff members have spoken out on McDermott's behalf, says there was another side that he chose to ignore.  So if the article was taken the wrong way, it's really his own fault.

 

[WotAGuy]

3 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

WOW... Even for my irreverent attitude... 😬

Yeah, it was interesting watching them toe the line.  They referenced the meme, and smirked, but just said “that’s the internet for you” and left it at that.  I imagine off air they had a lot more yuks about it. 

[Wayne Arnold]

8 minutes ago, mjt328 said:

 

That is kind-of my point...

A fair and balanced article would have included both.

 

Bottom line, Dunne learned and reported about multiple embarrassing incidents that occurred in the Bills locker room regarding Sean McDermott (some of which happened 6-7 years ago).  These incidents were not previously known to the public.  That part was good journalism.

 

It was HIS choice to only include feedback on these events from sources that clearly don't like McDermott, and none of whom were willing to let their identities known.  It was HIS choice not to even include the background context on these sources, making it unclear whether they are current or past members of the team.  It was HIS choice to include tons of his own opinionated language in the story, painting McDermott in a very negative way.  It was HIS choice to wait and release this article after the Eagles game, when the team was at it's lowest point in his entire tenure.

 

Many people are dismissing Dunne's work as a classless hit-piece, with the goal of creating public pressure to get McDermott fired.  The fact that multiple players and staff members have spoken out on McDermott's behalf, says there was another side that he chose to ignore.  So if the article was taken the wrong way, it's really his own fault.

 

 

Again - he didn't "ONLY" include feedback from sources who don't like McDermott. There were many positive comments from sources like Isaiah McKenzie, Patrick Dimarco, Lee Smith, etc.

 

Just admit you didn't read it.

[Warcodered]

19 minutes ago, ExWNYer said:

 

Did you see the video of McDermott's post-game locker room speech? Pegula was standing behind him grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Firing the HC is not in his plans at all, IMO. If anything, by beating KC, McD probably moved closer to 'made man' in Pegula's mind. Those of us who don't particularly like him are likely stuck with him for better or worse.

I don't know about that necessarily, I'm sure he thoroughly enjoyed watching the team collectively flipping that story the bird, with all the embarrassment it was bringing.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Warcodered

[first_and_ten]

On 12/7/2023 at 10:24 AM, Roundybout said:

https://www.golongtd.com/p/the-mcdermott-problem-part-i-blame?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
 

 

A very long read, and the other parts are only for paid subscribers, but his sources paint a picture of McD as a narcissistic control freak who won’t take accountability for anything. 
 

 

Do with this what you will. 

 

In other words, a typical NFL head coach. 

[The Wiz]

2 hours ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

To answer your first question - yes.

 

To answer your second question - HE DID.

 

I've noticed that the people most upset about Dunne's work are those who obviously didn't even read it.

 

As for the rest of your post, it reminds me of the old saying "There is no truth or reality. Only perception." Dunne gave the public a perception of McDermott that people who worked with him have. Who are you to say that those perceptions are any less valid than the positive perceptions of McDermott?

Dunne gave a perception of McDermott to the public that was written in a way to show his own perception of McDermott.  That is some of the issue.  He has done this every year since he hasn't been given media credentials for the last 3 years I believe.

 

So when he went to his 25 anonymous sources and said "I wanted to write a piece on McDermott", all he had to do was dangle the bait in front of the right person and wait for a bite.

 

As soon as something came out, he had a thread to pull on with the other sources as well and just kept chasing it.  

 

 

Also, in regard to the sources perception, it's not that hard to get a negative take from some that is no longer with the team/company/organization in any field of work about their previous HC/boss/company.

 

 

Dunne did the same thing with Rodgers and McCarthy back in 2019 when he still worked at BR.

Edited December 11, 2023 by The Wiz

[Beck Water]

22 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said:

I'm pretty sure most of McDermott's anger that day was the gathering away from the field AND it being on camera. 

 

That was a different time in the world. Within the NFL that could have been disastrous - imagine their entire WR room being out for a game. It was a stressful time and McDermott is responsible for making sure they adhere to those kind of rules. 

 

Yes, a couple of people upthread pointed out the Covid Rules aspect.  We were told it was a non-issue because the league didn't react so a problem never existed - as though it's not part of the job of the HC to anticipate and head off such issues before we added the Buffalo Bills WR-less Game to the Denver Broncos QB-less Game

It was also pointed out that if you're part of a group of subordinates who gave your boss what to him is a Big Ass Gift, it can call into question whether the Boss might soften his approach and not get up in your "Grill" as hard at times when it's needed.  Or whether the Boss might subtly (and perhaps unconsciously) favor those who participated in last year's Big Give over new additions who did not participate.  There are reasons why large upward gift giving is discouraged or prohibited in many organizations, but apparently those of us who think it might be a legit concern are just off in Left Field. 🤷‍♂️

 

Figuratively speaking, of course!

[Rico]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

I'm still struggling with the timing of this being released now.  It's strange to me.  But, love or hate McD, you can never argue that he has his players backs and it showed with this article and responses.  Coaching aside, bad context or not, McD has every players respect.

 

Now, IF I were a conspiracy theorists, did this article drop now as potential fuel for Pegula to have another piece of ammo to fire McD if things don't go well....

Now IF I was a conspiracy theorist, I would say Dunne is laying the groundwork to dump McBeane and bring back Whaley with Hue Jackson as HC.

[Rico]

1 hour ago, Warcodered said:

He's probably glad he got his timing right for that subscription cash.

Yep. Desperate times call for desperate measures.  

[JohnNord]

3 hours ago, boater said:

Well, that's a unique perspective.

Yeah. There is some muddy water out there regarding Spain. He was here during the 9/11 speech, and he has said negative things about McD.

https://billswire.usatoday.com/2023/11/17/buffalo-bills-quinton-spain-wrong-person-fired-sean-mcdermott-ken-dorsey-nfl/

I would be my entire paycheque that Spain was 1 of the 25.  Likely the one who told him the story about the Jordans.  Maybe the 9/11 culprit 

[Simon]

1 minute ago, JohnNord said:

Maybe the 9/11 culprit 

 

I know he was awful at G, but geez..........

[JohnNord]

Just now, Simon said:

 

I know he was awful at G, but geez..........

9/11 story culprit

[Augie]

2 hours ago, Warcodered said:

He's probably glad he got his timing right for that subscription cash.

 

It seems to be something that always happens around the Holidays. Our credit card gets compromised about this time of year too. 

[Bob in STL]

2 hours ago, Virgil said:

I'm still struggling with the timing of this being released now.  It's strange to me.  But, love or hate McD, you can never argue that he has his players backs and it showed with this article and responses.  Coaching aside, bad context or not, McD has every players respect.

 

Now, IF I were a conspiracy theorists, did this article drop now as potential fuel for Pegula to have another piece of ammo to fire McD if things don't go well....

Sure.   Terry Pegula's "people" called the unemployed and nondescript writer, Tyler Dunne, to write this big piece on McDermott and drop it during the week of the teams biggest game of the season just to have "enough ammo" to fire his head coach. 

 

Terry:  Sean, I thought this over and I think we have to let you go as coach of the Bills.

Sean:  Ok boss, but can you tell me why?  I know we don't have a Super Bowl yet, but I have turned this franchise around, we are a contender, the stadium is full, the Bills get National attention, they are building you a new stadium, we don't suck like the Sabres ...

Terry;  Yes, but remember that speech you gave in 2019, the one about the 911 terrorists ... 

 

 

[BillsPride12]

5 hours ago, boater said:

So I wonder...how does Dunne feel about the KC victory?

 

On one hand, I've heard he is supposedly a Bills fan. In which case he should feel pretty good.

 

On the other hand, the Bills won despite Dunne's hatchet job. The McDermott expose proved to be a non-factor to the players. The four year old 9/11 quote and other interview gotchas didn't sway the needle. Even the resulting Saturday Night Live hit on McDermott was met with meh response. (that show has sucked for decades--since Farley and Spade left)

 

Dunne.. I wonder how many new subscribers he got.

I believe he is a Green Bay fan...but he has gone after them in the past too so not sure how much of a difference that matters.  Dunne lives in WNY though

[RochesterLifer]

4 hours ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

To answer your first question - yes.

 

To answer your second question - HE DID.

 

I've noticed that the people most upset about Dunne's work are those who obviously didn't even read it.

 

As for the rest of your post, it reminds me of the old saying "There is no truth or reality. Only perception." Dunne gave the public a perception of McDermott that people who worked with him have. Who are you to say that those perceptions are any less valid than the positive perceptions of McDermott?

I read it and thought it was crap. Any other false caveats you would like to float?

[Virgil]

11 minutes ago, Bob in STL said:

Sure.   Terry Pegula's "people" called the unemployed and nondescript writer, Tyler Dunne, to write this big piece on McDermott and drop it during the week of the teams biggest game of the season just to have "enough ammo" to fire his head coach. 

 

Terry:  Sean, I thought this over and I think we have to let you go as coach of the Bills.

Sean:  Ok boss, but can you tell me why?  I know we don't have a Super Bowl yet, but I have turned this franchise around, we are a contender, the stadium is full, the Bills get National attention, they are building you a new stadium, we don't suck like the Sabres ...

Terry;  Yes, but remember that speech you gave in 2019, the one about the 911 terrorists ... 

 

 

See!  You get it 😋

[Mr. WEO]

5 hours ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

How can you say it was a non-factor? You could see how motivated they all were.

 

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks maybe Beane paid Dunne to put this out there to unite the team.

 

The game turned on a stupid penalty by a Chief's WR before a stunning play vs the Bills D, not because the Bills rallied around McD for an article.

 

If Toney steps back a foot, every "this is a hit piece" poster would have nothing to say this AM.

[Peter]

13 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

The game turned on a stupid penalty by a Chief's WR before a stunning play vs the Bills D, not because the Bills rallied around McD for an article.

 

If Toney steps back a foot, every "this is a hit piece" poster would have nothing to say this AM.

 

I enjoyed beating KC, but you are correct.

 

If Toney did not do what he did, today's mood would be very different. Yesterday would have been yet another time that McD's defense gave up a game losing drive (unless Josh was able to engineer a TD in response with a little over a minute left to play).

 

We shall see how the rest of the season goes. Hopefully, we (the Buffalo Bills) will not be the but of any more jokes as a result of McD (See SNL and all of the memes on X/Twitter).

 

In the meantime, McD needs to add Toney to his Christmas card list (together with Andy Dalton). Toney saved the day for us and McD.

 

P.S. As I also mentioned up thread, Dunne's article accomplished at least one thing: McClappy called a much more aggressive defense on KC's last drive than he typically does.

[YoloinOhio]

9 minutes ago, Peter said:

 

I enjoyed beating KC, but you are correct.

 

If Toney did not do what he did, today's mood would be very different. Yesterday would have been yet another time that McD's defense gave up a game losing drive (unless Josh was able to engineer a TD in response with a little over a minute left to play).

 

We shall see how the rest of the season goes. Hopefully, we (the Buffalo Bills) will not be the but of any more jokes as a result of McD (See SNL and all of the memes on X/Twitter).

 

In the meantime, McD needs to add Toney to his Christmas card list (together with Andy Dalton). Toney saved the day for us and McD.

 

P.S. As I also mentioned up thread, Dunne's article accomplished at least one thing: McClappy called a much more aggressive defense on KC's last drive than he typically does.

Seems like he blitzed mahomes a lot more than usual (and is typically advised)… not sure that was a result of the article though but noticeable 

[DrDawkinstein]

1 minute ago, YoloinOhio said:

Seems like he blitzed mahomes a lot more than usual (and is typically advised)… not sure that was a result of the article though but noticeable 

 

He's been doing it all season so I hesitate to give the article credit for anything we saw last night.

[LeGOATski]

1 minute ago, YoloinOhio said:

Seems like he blitzed mahomes a lot more than usual (and is typically advised)… not sure that was a result of the article though but noticeable 

He's considerably more aggressive in his play calling than Frazier is

[Warcodered]

34 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

The game turned on a stupid penalty by a Chief's WR before a stunning play vs the Bills D, not because the Bills rallied around McD for an article.

 

If Toney steps back a foot, every "this is a hit piece" poster would have nothing to say this AM.

I suppose if they then didn't call the second penalty he committed if he'd still gotten there in time for his pick block to free Kelce to be wide open.

[Peter]

1 minute ago, YoloinOhio said:

Seems like he blitzed mahomes a lot more than usual (and is typically advised)… not sure that was a result of the article though but noticeable 

 

I cannot say for sure, but it is curious that he was about as aggressive a play caller at the end of the game as I recall seeing just a few days after some of the comments in the article.

[YoloinOhio]

1 minute ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

He's been doing it all season so I hesitate to give the article credit for anything we saw last night.

For sure, but usually you don’t blitz mahomes so I was still surprised even though he had been more aggressive than Frazier with other QBs

[Wayne Arnold]

3 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

He's been doing it all season so I hesitate to give the article credit for anything we saw last night.

 

McDermott smiled and showed more positive emotion than I've ever seen. That looked like a conscious effort to be more "loose" and couldn't have been coincidence.

[Mr. WEO]

5 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

I suppose if they then didn't call the second penalty he committed if he'd still gotten there in time for his pick block to free Kelce to be wide open.

 

Standing with one foot in the neutral zone gave him no such advantage.

[jethro_tull]

Lots of assumptions masquerading as facts typical for the new world media approach.  

There isn't a coach alive (or person really) that such scrutiny wouldn't reveal flaws and perceived weaknesses in one's profession.  Even among tenured coaches like Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh and Pete Carroll.  

It takes an organization and a team to win.  A team that works together and rises above the imperfections of each individual by complementing each others strengths.  

Such a disgusting hit piece that isn't worth the electrons it is occupying in cyber space.  

[DrDawkinstein]

21 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

McDermott smiled and showed more positive emotion than I've ever seen. That looked like a conscious effort to be more "loose" and couldn't have been coincidence.

 

Now this I will give McD credit for. Maybe forcing him to vulnerable opened his eyes that it's not only possible, but required.

[Mister Defense]

On 12/10/2023 at 1:20 PM, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Stop calling it a "hit piece". He took opinions from various sources who aren't fans of McDermott's coaching at varying degrees.

 

I think the only source who really questioned his character was the one who thinks he's a narcissist. But that's one man's opinion and each reader can take it for whatever it's worth in their eyes. 

 

We don't get enough media about McDermott's negatives because so few who report on the Bills don't want to put that stuff out there for fear of losing access to the team. We need guys like Dunne who has the balls to write things like this because not everything is lollipops and puppy dogs when it comes to this team and its head coach. 

 

To be so sensitive about it is silly.

 

But the thing you miss is that crap is not a real piece of journalism, but a  only a 'man' with a vendetta, listing a slew of criticisms and then smushing these unrelated events together, connecting them (very, very poorly) to make the case against a man he hates. 

 

This person is not a journalist, any more than others with blogs are journalists, just a guy with his own site, charging others to pay for his 'work'.  No true Bills' fan will ever read this idiot's writing again.

 

He has no editor or fellow writers to give him feedback and such,to reign in his worst traits, as a newspaper/magazine/pro-online news organization would.

 

I cannot imagine any fan of the Bills accepting this muckraking as legitimate journalism. 
 

So glad it is now being held up across the country for what it is--trash.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by Mister Defense

[Rico]

20 minutes ago, Mister Defense said:

 

But the thing you miss is that crap is not a real piece of journalism, but a  only a 'man' with a vendetta, listing a slew of criticisms and then smushing these unrelated events together, connecting them (very, very poorly) to make the case against a man he hates. 

 

This person is not a journalist, any more than others with blogs are journalists, just a guy with his own site, charging others to pay for his 'work'.  No true Bills' fan will ever read this idiot's writing again.

 

He has no editor or fellow writers to give him feedback and such,to reign in his worst traits, as a newspaper/magazine/pro-online news organization would.

 

I cannot imagine any fan of the Bills accepting this muckraking as legitimate journalism. 
 

So glad it is now being held up across the country for what it is--trash.

 

 

 

 

His career is in free-fall.

Buffalo News -> Bleacher Report -> Blog -> ???

[Warcodered]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

Standing with one foot in the neutral zone gave him no such advantage.

Hard to say he was able to be at the exact place and time he needed to be to land his block, which is a penalty, who's to say that still happens if he doesn't have all but his back foot in the neutral zone when he starts.

[DrDawkinstein]

17 minutes ago, Rico said:

His career is in free-fall.

Buffalo News -> Bleacher Report -> Blog -> Twobillsdrive.com

 

There ya go

 

[Rico]

Just now, DrDawkinstein said:

 

There ya go

 

Did he leave though? I haven't seen him post since before the game.

[oldmanfan]

There are a ton of people here who are exhibiting classic confirmation bias.