Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott said that this week has been “mind spinning,” but he believes he is taking steps to keep the team focused.
On Thursday, McDermott held a meeting with the team to address his 2019 remarks that cited the 9/11 terrorist attacks as an example of team building and communication, as first reported by Tyler Dunne of Go Long. McDermott said Thursday that he had apologized for the analogy in 2019 the same day, but that he wanted to get all players – those who were there and those who have joined the team since – on the same page.
“I thought it went as good as one could expect – as I could expect,” McDermott said Friday of the meeting. “It was important for me to address the players that are new to us since 2019. And may not have been around that day and so they understood that situation and how it unfolded and that based on who I am and what they’ve seen – my hope and how I try and do things and how I handled that situation.
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“So, it went well. Their support was clear and much appreciated.”
In interviews across the locker room, Bills players from veterans to rookies voiced their support of McDermott on Friday, saying the meeting went well. Safety Micah Hyde, who spoke up in the meeting to back McDermott, was adamant that it was a non-issue.
General Manager Brandon Beane said Friday that he was not present at the meeting in 2019, and had only heard things offhand about the remarks. Beane said McDermott had already apologized in 2019 by the time he got word of it. Beane felt McDermott was “very vulnerable” in Thursday’s meeting.
“Obviously, you know, when you’re in leadership positions, you’ve got a lot of people looking up to you, and none of us are perfect, OK?” Beane said. “I think Sean acknowledged that. I went into the team meeting yesterday, I think he talked to you guys first, went into the team meeting and I thought it was very authentic. I thought the guys all saw that, felt that, and know Sean for who he is. I think you guys that have been around here some years know who Sean’s character is. I’ll stand by his character every day of the week.”
Beane said team owner and president Terry Pegula has been involved.
“Sean and I talk to him regularly,” Beane said. “So, he’s very up to speed from the minute we learned about the situation with Von (Miller) to when Derek (Boyko) let us know about this yesterday and we got on the horn with Terry right away. He’s very involved and he’s up to speed.”
A few players noted that McDermott did not go into elaborate detail on the 2019 comments, but he did open the floor for any questions at the end. At that point, Hyde took the floor to speak in support of McDermott, players said.
“I just know that we had a team meeting, we kind of talked about it. He didn’t go into detail of what he said, but at the end of the day, for me, personally, I know who Sean is,” said wide receiver Trent Sherfield Sr., who joined the Bills in March. “I know what whatever was said or whatever was said in detail, that I don’t believe any ounce of that was him supporting that, what happened on 9/11.”
McDermott said making players who were not there in 2019 aware of the incident was a priority, so that they weren’t just hearing about it secondhand.
“From my perspective, it was just kind of him letting us know as a team how he feels about us, and how he feels about his job and how much he cares about us,” rookie lineman O’Cyrus Torrence said. “He just kind of opened up to us a little bit and didn’t go into much detail, but like I said, I wasn’t here (in 2019), so I can’t really depart much of what he said, since I was kind of in the dark about it.”
Veteran running back Latavius Murray, who joined the Bills this offseason, was not there for the 2019 meeting, but said he would stick to judging McDermott off his own interactions with the head coach. Murray said he came away understanding McDermott’s message from Thursday’s team meeting.
“I think, like, for the guys that weren’t here, and you just read about it, that’s one thing, so you make up your own conclusions,” Murray said. “So yeah, I think he did the right thing because it got brought back up, so if guys who weren’t here, to communicate like he did back then, I think just communicate again to the guys who were here, I get it. I understand it. By doing that, yeah, OK, I’m aware of whatever happened. I still trust you, I still believe in the guy that I know.”
McDermott said he heard from players who are no longer on the Bills, and even on other NFL teams, with messages of support. He heard from coaches and staff as well, he said. McDermott said the experience of the last 24 hours had been “disappointing” and “hurtful,” but there had also been some affirmation in hearing from those close to him.
“It was clearly to me an attack on my character and that’s important to me, very important, as much if not more, very clearly more than wins and losses,” McDermott said. “Wins and losses are important but what’s more important to me from day one, is how you handle yourself.”
Long snapper Reid Ferguson is the longest tenured Bills player, joining the team in 2016, and he voiced his support of McDermott.
“I thought coach did a good job, just trying to get everybody on the same page,” Ferguson said of the meeting. “And we – the guys that have been here, the guys that have gone through the ups and downs as a team, the guys that have signed extensions to continue playing here – those guys know what he’s all about and know the accountability that he takes. And we take that seriously.”
Linebacker Tyler Matakevich said he personally didn’t feel that the meeting was necessary, but he also said it did not distract the team from a “great opportunity this weekend” in Kansas City.
“We’ve got one goal. We’re focused on one thing, and that’s beating the Chiefs,” Matakevich said. “So, honest to God, like, we had that meeting, it was nice and all, but I mean, the only thing we’re focused on is beating the Chiefs. I think that’s what the whole team’s mentality is.”