Sean McDermott isn't about to crown Bill Belichick for his coaching performance in Monday night's New England Patriots win over the Buffalo Bills.
Belichick beat McDermott and the Bills in Orchard Park while having quarterback Mac Jones throw only three times -- a record low for New England -- in the windy conditions. Jones handed the ball off 41 times in the 14-10 Pats victory.
McDermott wasn't all that impressed with Belichick's game plan despite it resulting in a win. In fact, he even told reporters during his postgame press conference not to "give more credit than we need to give Bill Belichick," per The Athletic's Matthew Fairburn.
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"Whether it’s Bill or anybody else, they beat us," McDermott said, via Fairburn. "You sit here and you tell me when we start with an average starting field position of the 40-yard line and he starts at the 23-yard line … and we were 1-for-4 in the red zone and they were 0-for-1 in the red zone — you give me that ahead of time and I would say, ‘I like my chances.’
“I don’t think, with all due respect, it’s not a Bill Belichick-type thing. It’s, what are you doing with the opportunities you’ve got? We turn the ball over at the plus-30 something yard line, it’s sloppy football. I’m very comfortable in that situation."
The Bills head coach also referenced Belichick's decision to put N'Keal Harry in as a punt returner -- which led to a muffed punt and Buffalo's lone touchdown -- and said he "wasn't going to let a mistake like that happen to his team."
Well then...
McDermott and the Bills clearly were in no mood to credit the Patriots or critique their performance after the loss. Two of McDermott's players, Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, had a bizarre media moment of their own as they took exception to a reporter's question about their defense.
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Belichick did get plenty of praise from some of his former players. Several ex-Patriots took to social media after New England's win to praise Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels' game plan.
The Patriots' win brings them to 9-4 on the campaign and keeps them as the top seed in the AFC. Next up is a bye week, followed by a Sunday Night Football showdown with the Indianapolis Colts.
