Though there were a lot of issues with the Buffalo Bills this past season, head coach Sean McDermott was handed the role of scapegoat. That is often how it goes. But did the Bills really have to scapegoat McDermott, their coach of nine years, so hard that they had to actually fire him after falling a bad call short of his third AFC Championship Game in six seasons? Probably not.
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No doubt Buffalo’s arrogant owner, Terry Pegula, would not admit to being influenced by anyone, but there is an argument to be made that the media narrative surrounding this Buffalo season contributed to the decision to end the McDermott era early in Western New York.
Former No. 1 overall pick David Carr believes that this “win now or blow it up” mentality around the NFL did impact the Bills’ decision-makers as they cut ties with McDermott.
“You see all those shows … saying, ‘Well, this is the Buffalo Bills’ best chance to win the Super Bowl,'” Carr said. “And that’s true. Mahomes is not in it, Burrow’s not in it, Lamar’s not in it. But there’s still good teams. So the owner sees that, and he’s like, ‘Well, this IS our best chance!’ And they don’t win, and he’s like, ‘Well, then we’re never gonna win with Sean.'”
Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs were unlikely to make the playoffs even before his injury. Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow also battled injuries and missed the playoffs. It seemed like everything had opened up for Josh Allen and the Bills to finally get over the hump. Because of that, many labeled this a do-or-die season for the Bills.
David’s brother, Derek, looked at it from a player’s perspective. Not only was all that talk of “this is Buffalo’s best chance” affecting the front office, but it was also affecting the players. That added pressure seeps into game day performances, as Derek outlined.
“You could feel the struggle,” Derek said. “Tre’Davious White, great player, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him lose it like that. I get the frustration. Josh’s emotion. Dion Dawkins’ emotion. Sean McDermott’s emotion. When that emotion starts coming out, you know the feeling wasn’t the free feeling that it had been for so long there. There was some kinda external pressure that they were feeling.”
The Bills’ faithful are understandably upset. But they are doubly so because they feel the wrong guy was scapegoated. Most believe that it was general manager Brandon Beane’s roster construction that was the issue, not McDermott’s coaching. They have even gotten 40k signatures on a petition to reinstate McDermott as the head coach.
That won’t happen, but it shows where Bills Mafia is at on this firing.
Beane and Pegula are heading the search for a new head coach (yikes), and they’ve already started kicking the tires on a few candidates. And they’ve actually been rather busy.
The top two candidates seem to be Bills OC Joe Brady and former New York Giants HC and Bills OC from 2018-2021 Brian Daboll.
They have also interviewed Indianapolis Colts DC Lou Anarumo, future Hall of Fame QB Philip Rivers, and former Dolphins HC and current L.A. Chargers OC Mike McDaniel. They have also scheduled interviews with Washington Commanders RB coach Anthony Lynn, Miami Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver, and Jacksonville Jaguars OC Grant Udinski over the next couple of days.
