It’s always difficult to assess an NFL head coach, and the Buffalo Bills‘ Sean McDermott is no different.
On paper, McDermott is one of the league’s most successful HCs. Only the Kansas City Chiefs have posted a better winning percentage since 2019 than Buffalo. The Bills have struggled this year, but they’ve regularly been in the postseason conversation throughout McDermott’s tenure.
And then there’s everything behind the scenes, the interpersonal relationships and conflict management that rarely makes front page news. Tyler Dunne of GoLongTD took a deep dive into McDermott’s reign in Buffalo, and the takeaways weren’t kind to the seventh-year HC.
The Bills are 6-6 and outside the playoff picture heading into a critical Sunday game against the Chiefs. If Buffalo misses the postseason in 2022, can McDermott survive?
Buffalo Bills HC Sean McDermott Under Fire
By now, you’ve probably read the McDermott stories that created the most conversation, including his use of the 9/11 hijackers as an example of cooperation and teamwork in a speech to the Bills’ roster in 2019.
McDermott has since confirmed he cited Sept. 11 and apologized for using the national tragedy as a motivational tactic. He indicated he regretted using the story then and apologized to Buffalo’s players in 2019.
Still, it’s challenging to move past an anecdote like that, especially when it speaks to the message of Dunne’s piece: McDermott is a socially awkward coach who has trouble relating on an individual level and tightens up in crunch time.
“This job’s too hard to fight from within, and that’s what you do there,” one ex-Bills assistant coach told Dunne. “You’re fighting against the head coach. You’ve got to overcome the head coach.
“This job is already hard enough. You’ve got to overcome all your opponents, all the dynamics. You’ve got to overcome so much s—. But then you’ve got to overcome the guy who’s supposedly steering the boat.”
Not every word in Dunne’s story is critical of McDermott, and plenty of players and coaches have come to his defense.
But there are tales of retribution, such as when former Bills defender Trent Murphy essentially lost his place on the team after calling out McDermott for taking play-calling duties away from ex-DC Leslie Frazier — and then blaming Frazier for the unit’s performance.
MORE: Will the Bills Fire Sean McDermott?
Or how about when Buffalo’s receivers chipped in to buy WRs coach Chad Hall a truck as a Christmas gift in 2020? Dunne said it was a “dark day at One Bills Drive,” as McDermott may have believed his coaches were getting too close to the team’s players. Hall is now working for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Everybody wants out of that place,” a former Bills assistant told Dunne.
Is McDermott on the Hot Seat?
While the exodus hasn’t necessarily stopped in 2023, McDermott has largely forced the defections.
Frazier stepped away from the Bills in the offseason, but it was never clear whether he was let go or chose to leave his role as Buffalo’s defensive play-caller. While Frazier’s departure was billed as a semi-retirement, Dunne reports that McDermott wanted the longtime coach gone.
However, it would’ve been difficult for McDermott to fire a coordinator who led a defense that ranked first in scoring and third in yards during the previous season. So McDermott and Frazier landed on a “kumbaya agreement for all to save face.”
And then there’s offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, who McDermott fired after Buffalo’s loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 10. The Bills’ offense was hardly an issue — the unit ranked third in EPA per play after that Broncos defeat.
Now, there’s no one left to blame. McDermott is coordinating a defense struggling to stop anyone after season-ending injuries to LB Matt Milano, CB Tre’Davious White, and DT DaQuan Jones. Former QBs coach Joe Brady is running an offense performing just as well as it did under Dorsey.
“It was clearly, to me, an attack on my character,” McDermott said of Dunne’s article. “And that’s important to me, very important. As much, if not more, very clearly more than wins and losses. Wins and losses are important. But what’s important to me from day one is how you handle yourself. It doesn’t mean I’ve been perfect. No one’s perfect.”
The Bills are unlikely to make the playoffs in a season where they were viewed as clear Super Bowl contenders. Buffalo will have to win a Wild Card spot to enter the dance, but ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) gives the Bills just a 23.5% of getting into the postseason.
“I know who I am,” McDermott added. “I know how I try and do things. Am I without flaw? No, I’m not without fault, and I say that humbly. I believe we try and do things right here. It doesn’t mean that everything we do is right. People are going to have their own opinions.
“I believe we’ve won a lot of games here since we’ve arrived, and I’m confident in that. I’m confident in this football team. People are going to have their opinions. I can’t control that.”
This summer, McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane inked extensions through the 2027 campaign, so the Bills’ ownership group would have to be willing to eat money in order to clean house and hire new decision-makers to lead the franchise.
But if Buffalo misses the postseason with a perennial MVP candidate like Josh Allen at quarterback, and the Bills’ owners start to dwell on the revelation in Dunne’s piece, McDermott’s seat will be on fire.
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