McDermott says a Lombardi is "not a matter of if, just a matter of when"

[Shaw66]

You know, that interview explains a lot, while saying pretty much nothing at all. I particularly liked this:  

 

Quote

McDermott simply doesn’t see any competitive value in being chatty. And he’s still not going to disclose what happened in those 13 Seconds. He iterated he knows what happened, and it was addressed internally.

 

“Protect the team and give it the best chance to win, that’s my No. 1 goal,” he said. “My job is to do everything that I can to help this organization win and do what we haven’t done yet, which is win an AFC championship and a Super Bowl.”

 

It drives us all crazy, the fact that he says practically nothing about the biggest plays, the biggest mistakes, the biggest things to go wrong.  But Graham gets it.  "McDermott simply doesn’t see any competitive value in being chatty."  Everything McDermott does, he does with a purpose.  Everything.  Talking to the media is part of his job, so he does it, but he understands that no part of talking to the press will help make his team better.  He knows what happened in 13 Seconds, but taking that discussion outside One Bills Drive won't make the team better.  Talking to the media is just time away from actually working on making the team better.   He is very much like Belichick in that way.  It's frustrating to everyone on the outside, the fans and the media, because he doesn't say anything, but his job is not to minimize our frustrations. 

 

We learned a lot about McDermott when he arrived and quickly removed the pool table from the team clubhouse.  He was asked why the ping pong table stayed and the pool table was gone.  Ping pong develops eye-hand coordination and other skills relevant to football performance, pool doesn't.  It's all about focus on the game. 

 

And I was interested in this:

 

Quote

“In those moments right there — on that TV — you get frustrated,” McDermott said, “very frustrated from the fact that it hasn’t happened yet, and I think that’s the key word: ‘Yet.’

 

“Man, come on. I know that we’re doing things right. I know we’re right on the edge.”

 

Whether it's good or bad, it's important to remember that McDermott is a disciple of the continuous improvement, lifelong learning gurus.  I bought one of those books, a book by a woman who studies and promotes the concepts.  The book opens describing some research that found that a simple attitude change makes all the difference in what kids accomplish.  When faced with a problem they tried to solve and didn't, kids generally had one of two different reactions:  They said either "I didn't do it," or "I didn't do it yet."   And here it is in McDermott's final comment.  "It hasn't happened yet."   Earlier McDermott says you've only failed if you've stopped trying. 

 

And this is why I have confidence in McDermott, and why I think people are wrong when they say he's locked in on his style of defense and won't change.   Resisting change is not at all how McDermott operates.   McDermott's philosophy is to embrace change whenever change is necessary, and he and the people around him are constantly asking themselves what has to change.  That's how he operates.  He's changed coordinators, he's changed players, he's changed styles of play.  

 

He just hasn't won the Super Bowl - yet. 

[H2o]

1 hour ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

He’s never going to have those weapons unless the Bills get really lucky in the draft.

He needs a true primary target, true secondary target, and a solid OL. 
 

Diggs - primary

Kincaid - secondary 

OL - solid

 

They do need to replace Diggs soon and that’s where they need to draft well.

 

But you said Allen has had weapons, did you not? He's had a true number one for 4 years. Beasley was an upper echelon slot, but we only had that production for two years with Diggs and three years overall. Other than that, his "weapons" were average to below and well below compared to some other teams. 

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

For an article that's patting McD on the back for being great at self-evaluation.... there's a stunning lack of self-evaluation actually going on. 

 

He insisted he trusts his system because he has won more often than any coach in Bills history.

 

All those wins might have more to do with Josh Allen than it does your system coach...

 

“Had I not faked that punt, with what I knew going into that situation, it would have been a failure had I not tried,” McDermott said. “I would have gone home that night saying, ‘What would have happened had I faked that punt?’

 

Why aren't you saying "Maybe I should've left my franchise QB out there to go for it instead of a fake punt to a guy with 0 career touches" ?

 

McDermott simply doesn’t see any competitive value in being chatty. And he’s still not going to disclose what happened in those 13 Seconds. He iterated he knows what happened, and it was addressed internally.

 

McD knows what went wrong and 'fixed' it. He refuses to share with the class though...

[Steptide]

The thing that sticks out to me is the part where he says those games go through his head a millions times. I get that, it's human nature, but maybe that's part of the issue. The over thinking it a bit. 

[Turk71]

3 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

You know, that interview explains a lot, while saying pretty much nothing at all. I particularly liked this:  

 

 

It drives us all crazy, the fact that he says practically nothing about the biggest plays, the biggest mistakes, the biggest things to go wrong.  But Graham gets it.  "McDermott simply doesn’t see any competitive value in being chatty."  Everything McDermott does, he does with a purpose.  Everything.  Talking to the media is part of his job, so he does it, but he understands that no part of talking to the press will help make his team better.  He knows what happened in 13 Seconds, but taking that discussion outside One Bills Drive won't make the team better.  Talking to the media is just time away from actually working on making the team better.   He is very much like Belichick in that way.  It's frustrating to everyone on the outside, the fans and the media, because he doesn't say anything, but his job is not to minimize our frustrations.

Or maybe he took over the play calls and completely ***** up that 13 seconds and just wanted to move on without talking about it. 

Explaining yourself after one of the all time worst meltdowns in NFL history would be 'being chatty'?

  Blaming others and taking no responsibility is the high road evidently. 

 

[Shaw66]

1 minute ago, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

 

McD knows what went wrong and 'fixed' it. He refuses to share with the class though...

Of course, he shared with the class.  The class is inside One Bills Drive.  You're not inside, and he didn't share with you.  

 

 

[transient]

2 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

https://theathletic.com/5299472/2024/02/26/buffalo-bills-sean-mcdermott-nfl-combine/

 

Also, about people who say he can't win a Super Bowl: “You can’t listen,” said McDermott, who’ll turn 50 next month. “I believe we’re doing things the right way. You only fail if you quit, and I’ve never done that. I’ve never been about that. Whatever it is, you always figure it out. You always find a way to get there. The only thing left to do for us at this point is win an AFC championship and win a Super Bowl, which is pretty darn good. There’s not too many organizations that can say that over the last seven years. We’ve done everything else you can do, and that is what gets us out of bed in the morning.”

 

About the tough losses the Bills have had: “Anybody that says they’re not affected by a loss in this line of work isn’t being honest,” McDermott said. “There’s a degree of, ‘Hey, did I do the right thing? Did I do enough to help my team?’ But then you need to be able to come back to ‘No, I know I gave it my all. I put in everything I could have put into it.’

“We’ve played those games once, but I’ve played them a million times in my mind. Every last one of them from the first game against the Jets in 2017 to that game right there a million times. That’s where your confidence gets affected the most because then you start to lose who you are and trusting your gut and your experience and your preparation.”

 

About the fake punt to Hamlin against KC: “Had I not faked that punt, with what I knew going into that situation, it would have been a failure had I not tried,” McDermott said. “I would have gone home that night saying, ‘What would have happened had I faked that punt?’ It didn’t work out that specific situation in that in that particular moment, but I need to do everything I can to help our team win.”

 

 

z 

 

we’d

[Shaw66]

1 minute ago, Turk71 said:

Or maybe he took over the play calls and completely ***** up that 13 seconds and just wanted to move on without talking about it. 

Explaining yourself after one of the all time worst meltdowns in NFL history would be 'being chatty'?

  Blaming others and taking no responsibility is the high road evidently. 

 

You guys are just unhappy with (1) the loss (whichever loss we're talking about at any particular time), and (2) the frustration over the loss that causes you to want to blame someone.  If McDermott explained exactly what happened in 13 Seconds, people would criticize him for making the wrong choices.  He doesn't explain, so people criticize him for not explaining.  Can't you see that McDermott's right about this?  He's damned if he does, and he's damned if he doesn't, and talking about it only prolongs the focus on the history.  Anything that takes the focus off getting better today is a waste of time.   McDermott owns the past lives with it, and works to get better.  It isn't very satisfying to us, because we'd like to understand more about things that happened, but enhancing our understanding doesn't make the team better. 

[Sweats]

I have no problem with playing aggressive. In fact, i would rather lose a game from being too aggressive, than too passive or soft.....however, when you try a fake punt and not get the ball into your playmakers hands, but rather a D guy who played 2 snaps all season, that is just dumb.

Dumb, i say.

 

 

sorry......not sorry.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

17 minutes ago, H2o said:

But you said Allen has had weapons, did you not? He's had a true number one for 4 years. Beasley was an upper echelon slot, but we only had that production for two years with Diggs and three years overall. Other than that, his "weapons" were average to below and well below compared to some other teams. 

The guy was naming Hill and Waddle and Chase and Higgins and the 49ers many high priced weapons. AJ Brown and Smith. Thats just crazy.

 

The only real beef about failing Allen would be 2022 when they failed replacing Beasley in the slot and the OL was below average. 

 

 

 

 

[Drew21PA]

Ohhhhhh ok 👌 

 

thanks coach

[T master]

I for one am glad that for the most part no one that has any kind of true NFL experience at coaching listens to the "Arm Chair HC's" in the Mafia or other fan bases . 

 

Yah this guy that is a plummer, mechanic, salesmen, heavy equipment operator, knows more of how the Bills should be coached than a person that has not only played the game but has been coaching at some level for most of his adult life & learned from the likes of Andy Reid, Jim Johnson, yah i'm listening to the plummer for sure 🙄.

[Sweats]

1 minute ago, T master said:

I for one am glad that for the most part no one that has any kind of true NFL experience at coaching listens to the "Arm Chair HC's" in the Mafia or other fan bases . 

 

Yah this guy that is a plummer, mechanic, salesmen, heavy equipment operator, knows more of how the Bills should be coached than a person that has not only played the game but has been coaching at some level for most of his adult life & learned from the likes of Andy Reid, Jim Johnson, yah i'm listening to the plummer for sure 🙄.

 

 

 

Yeah, you never listen to the plumber.....he's full of sh*t.

[QCity]

26 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Of course, he shared with the class.  The class is inside One Bills Drive.  You're not inside, and he didn't share with you.  

 

 

I have no problem with this, but he can't preach about accountability if he doesn't take any himself. And he does preach about accountability.

[beebe]

30 minutes ago, Steptide said:

The thing that sticks out to me is the part where he says those games go through his head a millions times. I get that, it's human nature, but maybe that's part of the issue. The over thinking it a bit. 

 

If he said he hasn't given the game another thought, people would be saying he doesn't try to learn from his mistakes and get better. People will see what they want to see. 

[Augie]

19 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

You guys are just unhappy with (1) the loss (whichever loss we're talking about at any particular time), and (2) the frustration over the loss that causes you to want to blame someone.  If McDermott explained exactly what happened in 13 Seconds, people would criticize him for making the wrong choices.  He doesn't explain, so people criticize him for not explaining.  Can't you see that McDermott's right about this?  He's damned if he does, and he's damned if he doesn't, and talking about it only prolongs the focus on the history.  Anything that takes the focus off getting better today is a waste of time.   McDermott owns the past lives with it, and works to get better.  It isn't very satisfying to us, because we'd like to understand more about things that happened, but enhancing our understanding doesn't make the team better. 

 

I actually prefer that he NOT publicly throw anyone under the bus. After 13 seconds our ST coach quietly moved on. They were trying to get better. 

[Warcodered]

1 hour ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Why can't he simply say, "I wasn't good enough that day"? 🤷

I feel like if he said that, the complaint would be why can't he say anything but the same old tired cliches?

[Billsflyer12]

27 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

You guys are just unhappy with (1) the loss (whichever loss we're talking about at any particular time), and (2) the frustration over the loss that causes you to want to blame someone.  If McDermott explained exactly what happened in 13 Seconds, people would criticize him for making the wrong choices.  He doesn't explain, so people criticize him for not explaining.  Can't you see that McDermott's right about this?  He's damned if he does, and he's damned if he doesn't, and talking about it only prolongs the focus on the history.  Anything that takes the focus off getting better today is a waste of time.   McDermott owns the past lives with it, and works to get better.  It isn't very satisfying to us, because we'd like to understand more about things that happened, but enhancing our understanding doesn't make the team better. 

So do you think that every time after a game where Josh gets in front of media and says “it’s my fault”, “I can’t make that pass”, or “I have to be better for my teammates” Sean thinks he is not helping the team win?  Why does he allow Josh to always fall on the sword but finds that if he did that “it doesn’t help the team win?”

Edited February 26 by Billsflyer12

[TheyCallMeAndy]

35 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Of course, he shared with the class.  The class is inside One Bills Drive.  You're not inside, and he didn't share with you.  

 

 

Say it louder for those in the back. 

[Gunsgoodtime]

49 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

You know, that interview explains a lot, while saying pretty much nothing at all. I particularly liked this:  

 

 

It drives us all crazy, the fact that he says practically nothing about the biggest plays, the biggest mistakes, the biggest things to go wrong.  But Graham gets it.  "McDermott simply doesn’t see any competitive value in being chatty."  Everything McDermott does, he does with a purpose.  Everything.  Talking to the media is part of his job, so he does it, but he understands that no part of talking to the press will help make his team better.  He knows what happened in 13 Seconds, but taking that discussion outside One Bills Drive won't make the team better.  Talking to the media is just time away from actually working on making the team better.   He is very much like Belichick in that way.  It's frustrating to everyone on the outside, the fans and the media, because he doesn't say anything, but his job is not to minimize our frustrations. 

 

We learned a lot about McDermott when he arrived and quickly removed the pool table from the team clubhouse.  He was asked why the ping pong table stayed and the pool table was gone.  Ping pong develops eye-hand coordination and other skills relevant to football performance, pool doesn't.  It's all about focus on the game. 

 

And I was interested in this:

 

 

Whether it's good or bad, it's important to remember that McDermott is a disciple of the continuous improvement, lifelong learning gurus.  I bought one of those books, a book by a woman who studies and promotes the concepts.  The book opens describing some research that found that a simple attitude change makes all the difference in what kids accomplish.  When faced with a problem they tried to solve and didn't, kids generally had one of two different reactions:  They said either "I didn't do it," or "I didn't do it yet."   And here it is in McDermott's final comment.  "It hasn't happened yet."   Earlier McDermott says you've only failed if you've stopped trying. 

 

And this is why I have confidence in McDermott, and why I think people are wrong when they say he's locked in on his style of defense and won't change.   Resisting change is not at all how McDermott operates.   McDermott's philosophy is to embrace change whenever change is necessary, and he and the people around him are constantly asking themselves what has to change.  That's how he operates.  He's changed coordinators, he's changed players, he's changed styles of play.  

 

He just hasn't won the Super Bowl - yet. 

Well Shaw, you have to get there before you can win one.  He has shown no ability to do so.  Marv Levy hasn't won one, yet either.  At least he knew how to get there.

[DrBob806]

2 hours ago, 78thealltimegreat said:

I brought up this stat before but it still is amazing how ridiculously good his qb is and how his vaunted defense has let them down time and again.
The Bills were the only team as of Thanksgiving that did not have a wr drafted originally before the 4th round. 

If McDermott is saying “when” it means he’s hearing the pressure from the national media that at some point your QB can’t keep bailing out your defense and it’s time to look at exactly what you’re doing. 

Well, he had a wide open WR in the end zone and short-hopped him. Yeah, it's only one play, but c'mon, JA needed to make that play.

 

That's the difference, making plays when needed, even under duress. 

[Gregg]

3 minutes ago, DrBob806 said:

Well, he had a wide open WR in the end zone and short-hopped him. Yeah, it's only one play, but c'mon, JA needed to make that play.

 

That's the difference, making plays when needed, even under duress. 

 

Didn't Chris Jones hit his arm as he was throwing if I remember correctly.

[Mr. WEO]

I don't subscribe.  Does McD say who the HC of the Lombardi winning Bills will be?

[Augie]

1 minute ago, Gregg said:

 

Didn't Chris Jones hit his arm as he was throwing if I remember correctly.

 

I’m not sure if Jones touched him or Dawkins got pushed back into him, but it was not a clean throw. 

 

You can decide to be angry because we can’t quite get over the top in the playoffs with the Chiefs in our way, or you can focus on how close we are. I’m with McD in this case, they can get this done.  

[Steptide]

26 minutes ago, beebe said:

 

If he said he hasn't given the game another thought, people would be saying he doesn't try to learn from his mistakes and get better. People will see what they want to see. 

True, I agree. But we always hear about staying level in the nfl. If someone makes a mistake you learn and move on. McDermotts statement sounds to me like he dwells. That's pure speculation on my part, but I do think that coaches and teams way over think thjngs sometimes 

[Success]

Sounds good to me.

 

Much better than "it's hard to win in this league" or something like that.

[Logic]

I'm sure this thread is gonna go 25 pages and be mostly circular arguments and vitriol, but...

The two things I found most interesting from the whole column:

1.) Sean McDermott has the 15th best winning percentage ALL TIME among coaches who have coached at least 7 seasons. That's pretty impressive.
2.) Tom Flores once said that an appointment to the NFL's Competition Committee is the second best individual honor a head coach can receive, behind being named to the Hall of Fame.

Other than that, I didn't hear much from McDermott that seemed newsworthy or column-worthy. Pretty much a re-hash of the same of type of stuff he always says. But those two points above were very interesting factoids to me.

 

[ddaryl]

Just now, Augie said:

 

I’m not sure if Jones touched him or Dawkins got pushed back into him, but it was not a clean throw. 

 

You can decide to be angry because we can’t quite get over the top in the playoffs with the Chiefs in our way, or you can focus on how close we are. I’m with McD in this case, they can get this done.  

Dawkins was bull rushed right into Allen. He came into camp clearly not in shape and then we see plays like this one when the season is on the line. Dawkins is one of our better OL, but we need to be better that this is we actually want to win it all.

https://www.nfl.com/videos/chris-jones-pushes-dion-dawkins-into-lap-of-josh-allen-forcing-errant-throw-on-bills-final-drive-in-2023-divisional-round

[The Firebaugh Kid]

Agree 100%, totally with him on this. 

Josh Allen will win at least one Lombardi, you can take that to the bank. 

However, coach better at least make the title game this year. 

Short leash for McD. 

[akinko_kd]

Why were they content with just replacing Bernard with Klein in the playoff game against the Chiefs?

Why didn't he have another plan for when that didn't work?

He seems to lack ideas for emergencies.

 

Why did he use Oliver for so many snaps?

Because of injuries to other players, but didn't he have other ideas?

He still doesn't seem to have a long term vision of playing 20 or 21 games.

 

Head coaches learn and grow from their mistakes, but he is going too slowly.

I am getting to the point where I can no longer wait.

[DrBob806]

17 minutes ago, Gregg said:

 

Didn't Chris Jones hit his arm as he was throwing if I remember correctly.

I think it was close, yes, but the ball was already out. 

1 minute ago, akinko_kd said:

Why were they content with just replacing Bernard with Klein in the playoff game against the Chiefs?

Why didn't he have another plan for when that didn't work?

He seems to lack ideas for emergencies.

 

Why did he use Oliver for so many snaps?

Because of injuries to other players, but didn't he have other ideas?

He still doesn't seem to have a long term vision of playing 20 or 21 games.

 

Head coaches learn and grow from their mistakes, but he is going too slowly.

I am getting to the point where I can no longer wait.

There's only so much you can do, searching the waiver wire, etc in November/December/January. Slim pickings. 

[WotAGuy]

3 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

What I read in McDs comments is that he is out of ideas. Feels to me like his strategy is to go another season hoping our opponent screws up at our time of need. 

Honestly, this is how teams win consistently in the biggest games.  New England and now KC are not head and shoulders above the other teams - they just don’t crap the bed in the critical moments but rather wait for their opponent to do it, then take advantage. 
 

When the Bills learn how to perform in the crunch and not screw up their chances, they’ll win a championship. 

[akinko_kd]

12 分前、DrBob806 はこう言いました:

はい、危うかったと思いますが、ボールはすでにアウトでした。 

11月、12月、1月にできることは限られており、権利放棄ワイヤーを検索するなどです。 スリムなピッキング。 

The defense to spy on Kelce was effective in 2022 and should have been easy to plan for during the week.

[Einstein]

3 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

What I read in McDs comments is that he is out of ideas. Feels to me like his strategy is to go another season hoping our opponent screws up at our time of need. 

Same feeling I got.

 

The message of "just keep trying and eventually it'll work" is not ideal. 

 

That's not the way life works. Thousands of scientists have died at 80 some years old having never proved their theorem, and plenty of mechanical engineers have passed on without every completing their invention, etc etc etc.

 

It doesn't just "eventually work". You have to continually evolve.

[SoCal Deek]

2 minutes ago, Einstein said:

Same feeling I got.

 

The message of "just keep trying and eventually it'll work" is not ideal. 

 

That's not the way life works. Thousands of scientists have died at 80 some years old having never proved their theorem, and plenty of mechanical engineers have passed on without every completing their invention, etc etc etc.

 

It doesn't just "eventually work". You have to continually evolve.

Bingo! I had a Business Partner who’d consistently return from new project interviews and report that he came in second…again. He was very well intentioned in his efforts but consistently one step behind the competition. His preparation was excellent but when it came to being in the moment he simply had a problem ‘closing the deal’. 

[Shaw66]

49 minutes ago, Gunsgoodtime said:

Well Shaw, you have to get there before you can win one.  He has shown no ability to do so.  Marv Levy hasn't won one, yet either.  At least he knew how to get there.

You see, your mindset is wrong.   He HAS shown ability to get there, he just hasn't gotten there.   Those are two different things.   

 

How do I know he's shown the ability?  Because his teams have won a lot of games, his teams have pulled out a lot of wins, his teams have succeeded more than just about all the teams in the league over the same period.  So, he HAS shown the ability.  

 

He just hasn't done it, yet, which is exactly the point that he makes.  Every single thing of importance that has been accomplished in the history of human existence had never happened before it was accomplished for the first time.  The fact that it hadn't been accomplished did not prove that it couldn't be accomplished; it proved only that it hadn't been accomplished yet.  

[Gugny]

3 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

About the fake punt to Hamlin against KC: “Had I not faked that punt, with what I knew going into that situation, it would have been a failure had I not tried,” McDermott said. “I would have gone home that night saying, ‘What would have happened had I faked that punt?’ It didn’t work out that specific situation in that in that particular moment, but I need to do everything I can to help our team win.”

 

 

I would find it refreshing if he would come out and say, “I effed up.”

 

His lack of accountability is bothersome to me. 

 

 

Edited February 26 by Gugny

[H2o]

54 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

The guy was naming Hill and Waddle and Chase and Higgins and the 49ers many high priced weapons. AJ Brown and Smith. Thats just crazy.

 

The only real beef about failing Allen would be 2022 when they failed replacing Beasley in the slot and the OL was below average. 

 

 

 

 

You said JA has had weapons. Whom are these weapons you speak of outside of Diggs and Beasley (three years in total and two of those with Diggs)? Kincaid this year alone, yes, but they still didn't use him correctly for most of the year. Cook's emergence as one of the better RB's in the league this year, yes. Who are the rest of these weapons over the years? They brought back both Beasley and Brown a couple of seasons ago because they had no one. We have had multiple inconsistent players and they've gone bargain basement hunting in hopes of striking it "WR rich", but it hasn't worked out. They have failed JA in this regard, relying too much on his playmaking instead of adding another legitimate playmaker to go with Diggs. Or at least putting forth an effort like they were actually trying to. 

 

The OL has been average at best since he's been here. This year was a bit better, but JA still makes them look better than they are because of his athleticism and the fact he is hard to bring down. Dawkins and Morse have been the only above average-good starters they have had on the OL for JA's career. Bates, Feliciano (who was just too often injured), Saffold (the Pro Bowl train wreck), Darryl Williams (Jekyll & Hyde), the turnstile version of Spencer Brown (who still has trouble with speed rushers or guys with multiple moves), and let's not even talk about the rest of the guys. 

 

There have been many places they could have at least attempted to do more, but they did not. Let's just hope they continue to do the right thing this year. But with our cap situation and the losses we are looking at on defense, it could be more of the same. 

[Shaw66]

57 minutes ago, Billsflyer12 said:

So do you think that every time after a game where Josh gets in front of media and says “it’s my fault”, “I can’t make that pass”, or “I have to be better for my teammates” Sean thinks he is not helping the team win?  Why does he allow Josh to always fall on the sword but finds that if he did that “it doesn’t help the team win?”

He has to let Josh make his own decisions about what Josh says to the press.   McDermott cares about what Josh says, and what others say, to the team.  

 

The truth is that talking to the press is all downside and no upside.  When Josh talks to the press, he runs the risk of offending one or more teammates, but there's pretty much nothing he can say to the press that will improve his relationship with his teammates.   

 

What do you think Josh is supposed to do, or McDermott for that matter?   Say, "It was my fault"?   Should he say it in response to everything that went wrong?   Well, no, he can't say it with respect to everything, because he knows and we know that it wasn't always his fault.   Okay, so he should say it was his fault only when he actually believes it was his fault.   So, on the long ball to Diggs, when the press asks Josh what happened, he says something like, "Well, we're all disappointed we weren't able to complete that one."  Which means, of course, since he didn't say it was his fault, Josh thinks it was Diggs's fault, i.e., he throws Diggs under the bus.   

 

You see, McDermott's policy about keeping all of his judgments to himself and in house means he never has to dis his players in public, and that's the right thing for coaches to do.   We just don't like it, because we want more information, but McDermott doesn't really care how much information we want.  What he cares about is winning, and winning requires a completely together locker room, and you can't have a completely together locker room if the coach is explaining to the public what his players or coaches did wrong.  

[LABILLBACKER]

The play design of the fake punt was terrible.  KC sniffed that out immediately.  The problem with McDermott will never be his heart. Obviously he wanted Damar to have a moment.  But the glaring problem is with his head.  I'm still not confident McD gets this team to a championship.  But it's out of my control.  Maybe Josh rises up beyond the coaching flaws?  Who knows?