After decades of toiling in the middle or bottom of the AFC East, Bills fans are used to seeing their team rank highly in the standings. But there’s one criteria, according to their players, where the Bills rank last in the NFL.
The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) released its annual “Team Report Cards” on Wednesday, where players can anonymously grade different aspects of their employer, from treatment of families, food/dining area and nutritionist/dieticians to the weight room, strength coaches, ownership and their head coach.
Buffalo graded fairly well in most categories — mostly Bs, one A — but had one glaring grade: team travel. The Bills players gave the franchise an “F-.”
That’s right: not just a failing grade but an F-minus.
That’s the kind of grade you might have expected to hear in Animal House, a zero-point-zero. Dean Wormer would have put them on double secret probation.
So what earned the Bills this dubious, league-worst in its category, grade?
“Last year the players were frustrated that they are made to sit in the smaller seats during travel while the coaches and auxiliary staff sit in first class,” the team overview on the NFLPA website reads. “The players’ dissatisfaction with this issue has grown, with 65% of players saying they have insufficient space or discomfort when traveling to away games, up from 55% last year.”
The report card states that players also believe their “their team travel schedule is inefficient.”
As a team, Buffalo was 23rd out of 32.
“Issues that players previously raised in yearly report card surveys have not been addressed and thus have become greater concerns to the players with the passage of time,” the NFLPA said.
While the travel issue jumps off the page, a few other categories are below average as well. They’re ranked 27th of 32 teams in nutritionist/dietician (B-), training staff (C) and — despite an impressive year on the field and a seeming softening of his serious public image — head coach (B).
Sean McDermott was slightly dinged in two aspects: 88% of Bills players believe he is efficient with their time (a seemingly high percentage), but only 24th of 32 coaches; and “the players feel that McDermott is moderately receptive to locker room feedback on the team’s needs,” placing him 27th in that criteria.
The ‘C’ grade in training staff, meanwhile, results from a perceived lack of staffing.
“The other issue the players asked to be fixed last year was an increase in the number of trainers/physical therapists in the team’s training room,” the NFLPA’s overview states. “In this year’s survey, even more players express that the current staffing is inadequate to help them recover.”
The lack of progress on these issues “may contribute to the slight dip in the ratings” for McDermott and owner Terry Pegula (B).
The top grade for Buffalo, however, came in the weight room, an ‘A.’ Players felt the Bills had both high-quality equipment and “more than enough space” in the room. Buffalo’s strength coaches received a B+.
Buffalo also received high marks for treatment of families with a B+ (ninth of 32 teams). Buffalo provides a daycare and a family room during home games and was fourth of 32 teams in the frequency of family events the team organizes.
It should be pointed out the Bills weren’t the only team with an ‘F-’ on their card, either: the Bengals got one for treatment of families and the Cardinals did for their locker room.
According to NFL players, the Jets’ Woody Johnson ranks dead-last among owners with an F grade. The best? Miami’s Stephen Ross, Atlanta’s Arthur Blank and Minnesota’s Zygi Wilf, who all got an A+. All three teams’ coaches (Mike McDaniel, Raheem Morris, Kevin O’Connell), along with Detroit’s Dan Campbell and Kansas City’s Andy Reid also received an A+.
Buffalo has some notable company in ranking in the bottom-third overall: Super Bowl champion Philadelphia was only 22nd and KC was 26th. So not every model organization on the field gets the same reviews off of it.
