On Thursday, Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott addressed a 2019 training camp speech that reportedly referenced 9/11.
A long-form series by Tyler Dunne of Go Long delved into different aspects of McDermott’s coaching style during his tenure. In the second of a three-part story, Dunne reported on the “9/11 speech.”
Dunne wrote: “At St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., McDermott’s morning address began innocently enough. 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.”
McDermott was not scheduled to speak Thursday afternoon, but he held a news conference with reporters in light of the story. McDermott said he has not read the article in full, but he was made aware of this specific portion.
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“My intent in the meeting that day was to discuss the importance of communication and being on the same page with the team,” McDermott said. “I regretted mentioning 9/11 in my message that day and I immediately apologized to the team. Not only was 9/11 a horrific event in our country’s history, but a day that I lost a good family friend.”
McDermott called 9/11 “a horrific event” multiple times in the 6-minute session with reporters.
“Just awareness around a horrific event more than anything and a situation that I lost as I mentioned a family friend, really multiple family friends. That was it,” he said.
McDermott said he planned on meeting with the team after its meetings later Thursday to make sure, “We’re all on the same page, and even guys who weren’t here understand.”
He said he did have a discussion with the team the same day that the speech happened.
“One player didn’t seem – that I didn’t make my point clear enough,” McDermott said Thursday. “So right then and there I said we’re getting together as a team and I’m going to address this with everyone. That was before practice. So we had a team meeting and within an hour – this is a few years ago – so within an hour, and it was actually at the start of practice, I brought everybody together and said this was the goal, this was the intent, and I apologize if anyone whatsoever felt a certain type of way coming out of that meeting.
“If anyone misinterpreted or didn’t understand my message, I apologize. I didn’t do a good enough job of communicating clearly the intent of my message. That was about the importance of communication and that everyone needs to be on the same page, ironically enough. So that was important to me then and still is now.”
This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.