If Bills coach Sean McDermott isn’t facing a playoffs-or-bust mandate, a new series of articles from GoLongTD.com could change that.
Tyler Dunne has published a three-part series that explores the many issues that have arisen during McDermott’s time as head coach. Some of the examples cited in the article raise a very fair question.
Is he Michael Scott?
Consider this portion from Part II, regarding remarks McDermott made to the team during training camp in 2021.
“At St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., McDermott’s morning address began innocently enough,” Dunne writes. “He told the entire team they needed to come together. But then, sources on-hand say, he used a strange model: the terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. He cited the hijackers as a group of people who were all able to get on the same page to orchestrate attacks to perfection. One by one, McDermott started asking specific players in the room questions. ‘What tactics do you think they used to come together?’ A young player tried to methodically answer. ‘What do you think their biggest obstacle was?’ A veteran answered, ‘TSA,’ which mercifully lightened the mood.”
Dunne has quotes from multiple unnamed players and coaches regarding the incident.
“I don’t know why he’s that awkward but his social skills are lacking,” an unnamed player told Dunne. “Maybe he’s just wound-up thinking about ball. You’ve got to talk to the team every day. That’s one where maybe he heard it on a podcast. Next episode! That’s not the one to lead with. He was trying to bring the team together. It was a horrible, horrible reference. He missed the mark.”
Then there was the so-called “Niagara Falls” speech.
“In December 2021, locals will recall the news of a woman deliberately driving into the waterway that spills into the falls,” Dunne explains. “She drifted down the Niagara River before her vehicle was lodged against a rock about 50 yards from the brink. McDermott studied up and pieced together a speech. The coach explained how members from the Coast Guard did everything they could to save the woman. He built up the drama. Players held on tight for an inspiring apex, and . . . nothing. He said the woman died. End of story. The complete absence of a point had some players biting their tongues, trying their hardest not to laugh.”
It really does sound like the bizarro version of the time Michael Scott hit Meredith with his car and told the office the story in a way that sounded like she had died before ending it with, “And she is going to be OK.”
Said Stanley, “What is wrong with you?”
Dunne’s story will have many wondering what’s wrong with McDermott, and how long he’ll make it in his current job.
If the Bills don’t turn their 6-6 start into a playoff berth, McDermott’s employment quite possibly is not going to be OK. Dunne paints McDermott as someone who is always looking for someone else to blame. With defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier departing after 2022 and offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey fired last month, there might be no one else to blame.
