Sean McDermott, the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, is taking heat for comments he made four years ago. In a report from Tyler Dunne of Go Long, McDermott told players in a 2019 speech to model coming together like the terrorists on 9/11, asking the players questions about how the attacks were executed and mentioning the hijackers getting on the same page. Some players who were on the team at the team confirmed the story to ESPN, while others told the outlet they didn’t remember that happening. On Thursday, McDermott spoke to reporters and confirmed the story. He then said he “immediately apologized” to his players.
When asked why he mentioned the 9/11 attacks during his speech, McDermott said, “It was mentioning 9/11 in the context of the team meeting. The goal of the team meeting was the importance of communication and being on the same page as a team.” McDermott also said he made the reference for “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.”
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McDermott said one player during the meeting made it seem like the coach didn’t make his point clear enough, leading to him getting the team back together to talk about it. “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,” McDermott said. “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.” McDermott added that he would talk to the players later on Thursday to let those who weren’t on the team at the time know he regrets making the comments.
McDermott, 49, has been the head coach of the Bills since the 2017 season. In his seven seasons with the Bills, McDermott has led the Bills to five playoff appearances, three division titles and an AFC Championship game appearance in 2020. The Bills are currently 6-6 on the year and would miss the playoffs if it began today.
