Are the Bills looking for different personalities

0:00I wouldn't say the Buffalo Bills in general haven't had an edge, but there's certain personalities I was looking for. You know you got to find a happy medium, right? You want some guys on your team that they check all the boxes. You want some guys that are going to start the locker room a little bit or we go out to practice and it doesn't matter what it's going to look like, how late it is in the season they're going to go. And I feel comfortable as a head coach knowing that I can kind of talk to those guys and relate it. But I told being when we went through this process that's not take anyone out of an evaluation just because of their background. Let's talk through it. Let's figure out what their issues might be and the guy like Chansey has the edge that I think will be a great force. Joe Brady, right there, he said everything. He starts by saying, I'm not saying we didn't have an edge and men from there, we want that. But you know we don't want it. We want to make sure we don't assume anything about it and then we, you know, says it all. I think he is saying they didn't have an edge, but he doesn't want to say they didn't have an edge because I think he doesn't really want to say anything.

1:02I think, but you know, that's fine. That's a lot of coaches prerogative. Yeah. It'll be interesting to say the least whether or not he's got more to say, you know, I mean McDermott needed time and he never really became that open. No. That's right. That didn't make him like you're saying, just now it doesn't make him an exception. Rather, that's the rule. Like coaches are not going to tell you everything. Brady's new. He's also, he's kind of stuck a little bit because he's not entirely new. Like he's been a part of these last few seasons. And if he's critical, is he kind of criticizing himself in some way? Like he doesn't want to do that, but like he's got a toe align here that he has since he was hired, which is like, this is going to be different, but not that different. There's a lot of a lot of a lot of the guys. I mean, there's always turn, there's always turnover and you know, if he's fortunate enough to have this job for, I don't know, three years.

2:04It's possible like Josh Allen or maybe like a couple other guys are the only people that will date back to McDermott. Like roster's turnover that much, you know, it's a handful of guys, maybe in three years. But right now he's inheriting a team that has done a lot of winning and players who had, I'm sure not every guy loves Sean McDermott, but plenty of those guys had very healthy good relationships. And I think would probably credit McDermott and the coaching staff in general, the organization largely built by McDermott for helping them get where they are, right? So you don't want to walk in and be all like, oh, it kind of like wreck shows up. I've got the number two defense in the league. Oh, we're going to be number one. The number two is for losers. I don't think he actually said that, but basically that was the idea. We're going to be better than two is, is right, you know, I really need that from you right now. They weren't where they know and I would think they were good, you know, Rex had good,

3:05he knows he can coach defense, they had good defenses, but they did not improve on being the second best defense in the entire league with shorts, with Jim Schwartz, his predecessor as coordinator. Schwartz wasn't that coach here. So Brady has to be I think pretty, pretty cognizant of that. And maybe that just comes naturally because he might qualify for as much of that as anyone else than any player, you know, I mean, he got an opportunity here. He was going to get an opportunity somewhere, you know, to grow his coaching career after what happened in Carolina and maybe fortunate for him, it was Carolina where that happened because the bills have a direct pipeline to Carolina and he ended up here and has worked his way up to replacing the head coach. I think you want to be, yeah, like pretty, you should be, I think, deferential to an extent about that. And that should just be, I hope, natural. But you definitely want to avoid going out of your way to make it sound like, you know,

4:05this was a problem. We're not doing that anymore and those days are over or anything like that. You haven't accomplished anything. This guy, you know, one, whatever, one lot of games. Victor, I'm, yeah. 98 and 50. Yeah. Thank you. I'll never forget that. Yeah. And I wasn't as big as Finn, but 98 and 50 over nine years, right, humility is called for. Yeah. And I think Brady gives you that. He doesn't offend in that area. And you know, that's where you really want to see what happens because especially if he's going to talk a lot, there could be times when sort of reveals something about his feelings that he doesn't want to necessarily. I mean, McDermott, I would say about him, and I really don't mean this as a criticism either. I think there were two McDermott's when he started and maybe for a while, for years, where there was publicly, he was very safe, intentionally safe and, you know, careful with what, what was

5:08he really giving up by answering questions, you know, just thought it was better. He told me this. It was, you know, safer, better to be really, you know, kind of boring, boring, right, closed in, you know, but I think you just naturally, it's a combination of years go by and you're successful where you would feel like you have more license to speak openly because you've been winning and you're just more comfortable doing it and more experienced at it. So that would kind of come naturally to, and I think by the end, well, credits to you. Through last year, you thought McDermott was basically telling us, he didn't like his roster that much in some areas, important receiver, you know, and he wasn't, that isn't a quote, but you noticed it, and it happened enough times at Jacksonville Week. We just kept hearing about how he was talking about Jacobi Myers every day, right? And in the end, Jacobi Myers really, it does really feel like those were, those comments

6:14are evidence of whatever fracture there was in the relationship between McDermott and Bean and it led to, you know, I think a power play that pushed McDermott out and got Bean promoted and more secure. So Brady, rather, could be two ways. That's what I was thinking of when I mentioned McDermott at the beginning of his career, I think, you know, like I was saying, outwardly, he was those things, but, you know, on the inside, there were stories about like he was kind of hostile and, you know, I experienced I had one episode with him, other people I know did too. And I don't know if it was different what it was like to be a player under him, but, you know, he had an ego. I think almost all of them do, you know, I think to get to head coach, I think you kind of have to. So that's not a problem. And Brady probably does too, I mean, he's been around good teams, LSU would do a lot for your ego when you're not even 30 yet, for sure.

7:16And then, you know, the last few years here, he's a part of their, their success. I just will be watching and listening carefully for what does he really think, you know, this clip is, and this is sort of what I'm used to from him, which is making, no stone is unturned. Yeah, we need a little bit more of this, but we had some of this. We want to try to do this, but we don't want to go to, and that is an area where I would say, I really hope that you do have what McDermott had, because I think to be that way, sort of, let me, let me give you all the answers, and you pick which one you, you, you want to decide, fits your narrative best, what story are you writing? I'm going to give you the answer you need, you might be writing a different story, and you might get the, you might get an answer from me that you want to use too. I think when you deal with, you know, players, and now you're dealing with not just the quarterbacks or not just the offense, now you're the head coach, I think you got to be

8:21careful about telling people what they want to hear, trying to keep them, you know, I mean you want everyone producing, but you can't just tell people what makes them happy every time you interact with them. And if, and I'm not at all saying that, that, that this has to be true, so I'm saying I hope that there is a different Joe Brady behind closed doors than there is in these news conferences because I think if you try to tell 90 players or the 60 that end up, you know, comprising your team or thereabouts with the practice squad mixed in, you try to tell each of them what they want to hear, you're not going to get anywhere, nobody's going to respect you because you're, you're never going to be straight with them. So I would expect that he knows that and like knows the media is one thing, dealing personally with individuals and with the collective is a whole other thing. You got to be consistent, you can't just give every answer every time. Hey coach, why, talk about not playing more.

9:21Well, you know, we drafted this guy in the second round, I mean, so there's that, but then, you know, you're, you're rebsing the Miami game, I don't know, there was some good and some bad, but, you know, I then, okay, what is it, you know, like what, what do I need to work on, how do I get to where I can play more? You want a boss that will tell you straight, right, that's it. And I think for whatever flaws, certainly everyone's got him. Whatever flaws McDermott had in that area, I think he did a pretty good job by, by accounts from, you know, people who were in those conversations was then conversations with them that he did a, a, a, I'd say above average job of connecting with the players as individuals. And that isn't the easiest thing to do. So I'm not at all saying this, any news conference with Brady, where he gives you every answer under the sun is evidence that he doesn't know how to do that. It's, to me, I just hope he knows it's got to be different behind closed doors. I would assume he does. He's been coaching a long time.

10:22Man, I would love there to be a video of that interaction today. Brady's faced throughout somebody's just shooting Brady and then Vrayble comes over, crumples the name plate and sounds like Brady just maybe got up. Or I don't know if he got up, but they just laughed about it. And it was a non-event. I wonder like if there was a second or two where he was processing that and deciding, what do I do now? I'm not going to get up and get this guy's face because that's kind of what I want to do. You know, you had your own press conference. Right. Go, go, go. If he's right, I don't know. Vrayble wearing one of those, I feel like I've seen him invest. Always invest. Do you got a vest down with a Patriot logo on it? Is it impossible to tear it? Go try to tear that Patriot logo off, but then, you know, if you can't do it, then that's embarrassing. You know, sometimes in those situations, you want to let the other guy think he has domination over you. You just want to let him think that. Sure. And then if you're focused enough, you just do your job.

11:25Not going to let the noise affect me here or any dumb personality element. Nell was there. We'll talk to Sal at four, Mike Vrayble, Joe Brady, two dudes having fun or something is what Sal described it as. I wonder, we have the Sabers tonight pregame at six. The islanders coming off an eight three blowout loss at home to the penguins last night. They're up three one kind of like mid second and lose eight three. No empty net goals either. I was gone by that. I was watching through three one and by the end of the second period, five three, I think and so I didn't look in again, but so I don't, I believe you that were no empty netters. They pulled Sirokin at seven three. There might have been 12 minutes left. Yeah, it was like 40, 47 minutes is what I saw he played last night. And I thought maybe they were going to come back to him the night. I mean, they need wins. Give him the rest of the game off. I'm not sure if they weren't planning on playing him already.

12:26This might be out there. I don't know, but that's the reaction I had watching it last night, just sort of splash some water on your face and we'll need you tomorrow. Yeah, we'll see. He's excellent, but not his night to say the least against the penguins. Mike Schopen, the bulldog here at 803-0550, this is WGR.