Was firing McDermott the right decision for Bills?
Mike Florio and Devin McCourty react to the Bills firing Sean McDermott, reflecting on the head coach's nine-year tenure in Buffalo.
Video Transcript
Every team takes on its own identity.
Some are, Some are finesse, some are physical.
This team was physical.
This team was tough.
This team, you know, it was next man up quite a bit of the.
Of the year.
We grew from it, and that's that.
And they grew from it, and that'sI think that's the, A remarkable thing about them.
And to come here and, and battle like they did, even in the midst of, Again, injuries right from the first play with Dorian and... Um, you know, I think that's, uh... You know, I love these guys.
I really do.
They, they gave us all they had.
Had.
Sean McDermott took the Bills to the playoffs for the first time in 18 years.
In his first year on the job in 2017.
The next year, They acquired Josh Allen, and they have been to the playoffs since 2019.
2020, '21, '22, '23, '24, '25.
That wasn't enough to bring Sean McDermott back for a 10th season.
Devin McCourty.
The news broke yesterday after we went off.
The air.
Chris Simms addressed it on Unbuttoned.
I did a PFT PM before I left Chicago, but that's still the news resonating.
Throughout the National Football League.
At a time when there was so much already On, boom, Sean McDermott, after all those playoff appearances, After all that success in Buffalo, is out, the total number of openings this cycle hit 10.
Some have been filled; more have been filled since yesterday, but nearly a third of the league is changing coaches for 2025.
2026.
And good morning, good to see you made it back.
From Chicago.
I hope it's warmer in New Jersey Chicago.
It's as cold in West Virginia as it was in Chicago, but, and we'll talk about this later, we have the closest gonna have a football national champion in Kurt Signetti.
Former West Virginia quarterback.
His dad was head coach of the Mountaineers.
And Kurt Sinnett is now the king of college football.
And again, good morning.
Yeah, we'll discuss that later.
It has nothing to do with West Virginia.
I know you got on your little West Virginia quarter zip and all that.
This is, it's Indiana University's Day.
We're not, We're not somehow bringing West Virginia into this thing.
I love how you did that.
He played quarterback at West Virginia!
But he played quarterback at West Virginia.
Where was the former Rutgers quarterback last night?
Rutgers' former linebacker was from Miami, so we kind of were in a national championship.
Too, so, uh, in this transfer portal, right, life, we'll take it.
Uh...
But for me, being in New England, I witnessed The Sean McDermott complete turnaround from, I think it was, Like, 14 years in a row at one point, they had beat Buffalo.
New England.
It was some crazy stat how many times, You know, they beat Buffalo before I got there.
I got to be a part of it.
I think Buffalo beat us once when I was there in 2012.
Until McDermott got there, and then Josh Allen got there.
So, this complete flip of how we all view Buffalo is, is completely different.
This team is expected to make the playoffs, expected to be a contender year in and year out, and they were.
I think, one of only four teams to win six straight divisional playoff games.
Or whatever it was, or wildcard games.
Like, the Buffalo Bills' whole organization Felt like it was going back to the Jim Kelly 1990s era because of Sean McDermott had done at a time with his time being there, and I know that included Brandon Beane and different people coming into that organization.
Brian Daboll came, left, and got a head coaching job.
Joe Brady's name is heavily involved in all these different coaching searches.
And that was all brought together by Sean McDermott and what he had done.
So I was shocked to see that, and I know his name had been brought up.
And I think it was this feeling with all these different teams and quarterbacks not in playoffs that Josh Allen needed to reach the Super Bowl this year.
Even though so many of us had discussed, "Hey, man, this team has been through a lot."
know if it's the best-assembled team, even prior to the injuries they faced.
And they still got there, and they were, you know, a few bad calls away from Playing this past weekend, you know, in the, uh, playoffs.
So, I don't know.
I continue to wonder when we see these things, especially for Buffalo.
Because now they've got to make that decision at the tail end.
So now you see the coaches who were fired, you see who's available.
And they still decided to say, "Hey, we need to move on."
I do wonder.
Where do they think McDermott lacked, that their next head coach must find?
Was it time management?
Was it situational football?
Like, I think those are the things that I want to say.
Okay, where do they want to go next?
Do they look at the Baltimore Ravens and say, Hey, they had Mike McDonald in their building, and they didn't make a move.
And now he's coaching in the conference championship in Seattle?
Do they look at Joe Brady that way, "Hey, we can't lose Joe Brady," or Hey, Brian Daboll's free.
Josh Allen loved him.
We can't allow him to end up somewhere else," like, you know.
It felt like the New England Patriots did last year with Jerod Mayo moving on.
Get Mike Vrabel.
It feels like that kind of situation.
More than anything, for a reason to move on from McDermott at this point.
In my view, there has been this question over the past few years.
With the Bills knocking on the door, but unable to kick it in.
And I think there's a danger in getting close enough to tantalize ownership.
To make the fanbase.
Yes, just kind of like, Can we get this done?
And you get to a point where the The question arises: Do we need someone else to get us over the hump?
And it's a question we had brought up from time to time.
And I've been mentioning it over the past few years.
And I know the people in Buffalo, in the organization, got nervous when it came up.
Because the question, Devin, is talent or coaching?
Is there not enough around Josh Allen, or is there enough around him?
But the coaching staff, led by Sean McDermott, is failing to get enough?
That was the question.
So, does the coach need to go?
Does the GM need to go?
Do both need to go?
Do neither need to go?
And those were the permutations.
As we went to the playoffs, as the Bills were getting ready to face Jacksonville, Jaguars' Josh Allen had never won a road playoff game.
The Bills hadn't won a road playoff game since the 1992 AFC Championship.
Once I saw them beat the Jaguars, I took my foot off the pedal of Sean.
McDermott could be fired if he loses in the playoffs, and in hindsight, We shouldn't have, because going into the playoffs, yeah.
He could be in trouble if he loses in the Wild Card round.
Or Division Round.
But, you know, the issues were still there.
The factors were still there.
No Mahomes, no Burrow.
No, Lamar.
This is your chance.
If you don't make it, Josh Allen's gonna take the blame, but Sean McDermott's gonna take the fall.
And that's exactly what happened.
