McDermott to players: don't be afraid to make mistakes

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Something I have not heard about the media talking about that. It might be a growth on his part as well (since that Dunne article came out). I trust what Mitch said that as an important mindset to players from the HC. Seems like it is backed up by evidence. For example, Cook fumbled in the Denver game and didn't see the field for a long stretch of time. Fast forward to the Chargers game. Cook fumbled but he came out onto the field in the next series. Even in the Steelers game, when asked about Elam in the presser, McDermott pretty much said trust your instinct, play free.

With the defense side injuries, you will see more young backup players play important roles. I'll say this, if McDermott is able to get the defensive unit to limit Reid and Mahomes to 20 points or less again this Sunday, I'd consider him over-achieving this season.

[Chet]

Re: McDermott to players: don't be afraid to make mistakes

That was such a great segment. Bills players always kill it on the PMS

[notacon]

Re: McDermott to players: don't be afraid to make mistakes

This is a very revealing and encouraging interview with one of the hearts and most respected of the Bills veterans.

What Mitch said about how McD and the team addressing the devastating and searing article by Tyler Dunne has made me respect Sean McDermott to the nth degree.

The overriding message from Dunne's well researched and detailed piece is that McD coached "tight". Too tight!!!. This is what I wrote after the article came out that....

So, basically, it comes down to ownership.

...snip...

I am not going to speculate what Mr. Pegula's mindset is. But I will say this.....that article needs to be required reading (every one of the 20,000+ words) by both Brandon Beane, Terry Pegula and especially Sean McDermott.

McD has to take a hard, honest, long look inwardly and question his methods and either change some of his ways or step away.

Beane has to look at his own interplay with McD since it is extremely doubtful he did not already know the gist of the problems with McD.

Mr Pegula has to take these revelations extremely seriously and judge his own shortcomings as either being blissfully unaware of what is going on within his organization, or knowing and letting it fester. I'm not sure which is worse.

Lastly Josh Allen has to take a long hard look to his own leadership and outsized power (correctly so...he IS the heart and soul of this team) he holds and either sit by and watch his career be a shadow of what is possible, or exert that power with either McD, Pegula or both.

Josh, more than anyone else MUST realize what time it is. Mr. Dunne ended part 2 of his series with this that delves into the franchise QB/Head Coach dynamic....

It sure seems like not only did McD (if not read the whole thing, certainly knew exactly the message it contained) and McD DID "take a hard, honest, long look inwardly and question his methods and either change some of his ways or step away."

The "message to players: don't be afraid to make mistakes" is the OPPOSITE of the traits that Dunne (and 25 sources) observed of a coach too tightly wound to allow his players to play the game up to their capability. Not only did McD change some of his ways, but the whole event turned into a catalyst for the turnaround of this season.


As Mitch said...(I think it's critical to pay close attention to what he said so I have transcribed the exchange)....


"When it came out (the article) it had the opportunity to polarize the locker room and it did the exact opposite which was kind of rallied the guys not only around the coach but each other. I mean it really felt like it was us against the world to a certain extent not only were we sitting in a position where we had to win, but everything seemed to be you know the Buffalo is you know a terrible place to be, the coach is **** and it's just not the case like it was....we really felt like that was a narrative that wasn't what we were experiencing and then we just kind of told him (Dunne) to piss off and we just kind of did our thing which was beautiful man."

The question posed to Mitch was basically McD taking off the pressure...."how did that happen...was it something he actually addressed..."


Mitch's response tells us all we need to know about McDermott's character and his ability to coach these men....


"That's a good question. He addressed it and I think that's one of those things that's one of those topics you have to address as a coach. You can kind of by osmosis you can kind of feel at times but when he truly says like hey, the night before the game 'go out here play free you have the green card to not make, you know, not be afraid to make mistakes' and to hear that from a coach, it's powerful and because you hear about it and you want to believe that but to actually feel that and then the next day, 24 hours later you know you hear that message the night before and you say, okay, well let's take with a grain of salt when the bullets are flying let's see if that actually goes down. And to his credit he doubled down on it when the stakes are their highest and the emotions are flaring getting on the sidelines".


It takes a real man to take the very public (national news!!!) body blows of extremely blunt criticism and instead of getting all defensive and going into a shell of denial, McD took that hard look and addressed the criticism and rallied the team to do what few thought was possible. Go from a deflated team with a 6-6 record to five wins (three vs very good teams) and not only win the AFCE but grab the all important #2 seed.

McD has gotten a lot of (mostly (but not all) deserved) criticism, but it's imperative that he get the deserved kudos of leading this team out of the gutter and into the thick of Super Bowl contention.