BREAKING: Buffalo Bills Fire Head Coach Sean McDermott — Where Does Buffalo Go From Here?

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2:22Welcome to NFL Daily, where when you think this coaching cycle can't get any crazier, it gets crazier. I'm Greg Rosenthal. In my garage on a Monday morning on the West Coast, it is evening in Manchester where Ali Connolly joins us. You can check out Ali's work at the Read Optional Substack. But we got him on last second because we had some breaking news on Monday morning. Sean McDermott is out, fired after nine seasons as the Buffalo Bills head coach. Brandon Bean is not only staying as general manager, but he has been promoted to president and, I don't know, some sort of VP of football operations.

3:07So we didn't want to wait all the way till Tuesday afternoon to talk about this. Ali, I have a feeling you have all sorts of conflicted feelings about this after watching the ups and downs of what was a really successful nine-year run for Sean McDermott in Buffalo.

3:25Ollie Connolly:I do have a lot of opinions and I'm operating on three hours sleep, so I cannot be held responsible for any takes during the show, but that makes the show fun. It's a decision where I'm not in any way shocked. I am surprised this was the year they decided to do it after successive failures in the postseason this probably being the second most heartbreaking one after 13 seconds but this is not the year Sean McDermott deserved to lose his job it would be previous cycles where you could say okay maybe it's time for the full reset and if you're going to do a full reset keeping Brandon Bean and promoting him to me is just ludicrous yeah it is a lesson in managing up that you know This is true in all walks of life, not just the NFL.

4:08But sometimes it's not the guy or woman who deserves to keep or get the job. It's the one that does the best job keeping the job and cozying up to ownership in this case. Speaking of ownership, we'll just quickly read the statement that the Bills had sent out on Monday morning, announced that Sean McDermott has been relieved of his duties of head coach. Sean has done an admiral job of leading our football team for the past nine seasons, said owner Terry Bagula. So I am being a little bit of a jerk here, but to have a typo, five words into the statement, which was like an hour after the insiders had it, that you fired your head coach is absolutely brutal.

4:55Yeah, Sean has done an admiral job of leading the team. But I feel like we are in need of a new structure within our leadership to give this organization the best opportunity to take our team to the next level. We owe that to our players and to Bill's Mafia. And I do think beyond the typo, it is really relevant here, Ali, that Terry Pagula, the owner, led with the new structure. So Brandon Bean is now president of football operations and GM, overseeing all parts of the football operation and will be leading the search to hire the next head coach. And so it really is a decision that Brandon Bean is the guy.

5:39And I think you talked about, you know, deserve. And I thought McDermott did a better job this year, but the roster has been lacking, especially adding blue chip talent over the last few years. So it is fascinating to me that Bean not only stays, but gets an upgrade because there was There's always a push and pull here between McDermott and Bean. McDermott essentially hired Bean after McDermott's first draft, which was, by the way, probably his best draft. I know it didn't have Josh Allen, but he really started the rebuild right in 2017. So he hires Bean and then Bean eventually usurps him and twists the knife in on his way out.

6:17Ollie Connolly:And even in that statement, they imply essentially that Brandon Bean will hire the whole coaching staff, not just hire the head coach and the coach goes and picks his own people. So just shocking to me that this guy has managed to fail his way up in that regard. I think if you look at the failings of the Bills this season, particularly in a one-off postseason game, one sample size, you can pinpoint almost all those failings at the feet of the GM rather than the head coach. Now, we don't know exactly in those personnel meetings who was lobbying for who, who was setting the direction of the franchise.

6:44Ollie Connolly:But I think if you look at their cardinal sin as a team going into the season, it's the general construction of the roster. It's the philosophy of the roster. it's how they assembled an offense last season that was ahead of its time they raced to a new direction on offense that took the league by storm effectively kind of guided where the league went this season and then fundamentally misunderstood themselves defensively and didn't build anything that was designed to counter those meta trends that they themselves had set that is so hard to do to get the theory of your team wrong and i step back and look at what they built defensively as a roster and it screams to me that they built themselves to beat one team in the postseason and that team didn't turn up for the party and to me that is like a the the most fireball of all file is so arrogant and everything about brandon being frankly has been arrogant throughout his tenure but that ross construction is pure arrogance yes uh maybe the only team that was unhappy that patrick mahomes didn't make the playoffs it's hard not to think back though to Saturday, it's a rough way for Sean McDermott to go out in many respects.

7:48I gave him grief because I hated how hard he went in the paint, just only talking about that call, calling the reporters afterwards, saying he's standing up for Buffalo, but really inciting Buffalo and the anger over that call, which I guess you have to call it controversial just because enough people are upset about it. But of all the calls, it seemed pretty, it seemed like a pretty clear call. And it just bothers me. I hate when these men in leadership positions who always talk about principles and taking responsibility and owning up to when you struggle, when things really get hard and that's when we learn about you, just point the fingers.

8:27The number one guy for me this year doing that was the Notre Dame athletic director. I forget his name now. All of Notre Dame really bothered me. It's just like, hey, when you actually come up short, just blame everyone else. But McDermott did a little bit of that. But ultimately, he was also quietly blaming Brandon Bean in press conferences, especially in the playoffs. But when I pointed out that he's been doing that lately, kind of talking about how he really missed Jacoby Myers, you know, or he really appreciated how great Jacoby Myers had done and the lack of cornerback depth they had. Darius Slay, by the way, when I was going through the free agents for them this year, it was just funny to see, oh, Darius Slay's a free agent for the Bills this year.

9:13That trade left them short at cornerback, and he was almost taking shots at Brandon Bean in public. And that speaks to what must have been a clear fracture between Bean and McDermott. At some point, they were hand in hand. I think McDermott was the more powerful one for most of, if not the entire tenure. But at some point, I guess Bean got the favored status in terms of ownership and that they were not really seen eye to eye. It's tough to wonder, though, where that comes up in terms of roster construction. Because, you know, the defense, in fairness, looks a lot like, you know, his defense from six years ago.

9:53A lot of his favorite players are still there.

9:55Ollie Connolly:It does. I mean, they had a ton of injuries. you're bringing guys. I mean, going down in your shield of Shaq Thompson and Tredavious White and actually being able to hang in a one-score game where the only way you give up explosive plays is you're rolling in the seventh and eighth cornerback and Sean Payton picks on them for deep rockets in the postseason. That's a pretty tough way to go out. I give McDermott a ton of credit. I was not in any way McDermott fan through the early phase of the Josh Allen experience where his defense was so static. It was sedate. It was the same group he had in Carolina.

10:21Ollie Connolly:It was not keeping up with the modern times in the league. And then he had this kind of epiphany. I don't know if he went on some ayahuasca venture, whatever he did. He starts going for it on fourth down. He kind of leads this disguise-based world that defense is in, and other guys get all the credit, right? It's Vance Joseph, it's Mike McDonald. He is going so far out on the extreme compared to other people. And one thing I admire about McDermott is he would throw people under the bus all the time, so I don't think he can be too upset about this decision. But every time he just kind of got into a room and said, this isn't working defensively with my DC calling it, I'm taking it over, their metrics would skyrocket to the moon like the stock market taking off.

10:55Ollie Connolly:The week after he stepped in and his ability to become midstream in the middle of his head coaching career, a specific designer game plan coach who gives you a serious advantage with no personnel, ill-fitting personnel to face the offense. No guys who can just play one-on-one matchup football and be able to grind through games without the right stuff. I thought was really, really impressive. So he became to me just kind of a neutral coach. He was a rah-rah culture guy to being a really additive coach on the defensive side of the ball. and had a great vision for where the league was going on offense before everyone else, everyone getting credit about big personnel and extra linemen.

11:28Ollie Connolly:They were there a year ago and were wrecking people. And then they just mis-evaluated it themselves for how they were trying to stop it if anyone tried to replicate it. And I do kind of want to get to the big picture. First of all, like where McDermott could go, where the Bills could go in terms of their coaches and just the tenure in general, because I do think it's fascinating what it says about the last decade in the NFL. But I don't want to leave Saturday quite yet because the crazy thing is he did in this game what you've been talking about him doing as a coach all year, which is adjusting in game brilliantly.

12:01And for a while in that game, he's sending pressure against the Broncos. It looks like they're going to be able to pull off another comeback. It's not just the Broncos have been pulling off these comebacks. It's been the Bills all season long. And they're so close. If Josh Allen doesn't one-hop Khalil Shakir, or if he doesn't miss that throw to Dawson Knox for the potential game-winning touchdown, obviously if Brandon Cooks holds onto that ball. And I do know when you looked at the all 22 that Allen might've had a hand in his face on that throw to Knox. It wasn't the simplest throw. There's a lot of what-ifs.

12:34But the crazy thing is, and this is just the NFL, and this is where you get to deserve, and sometimes the ball just doesn't bounce your way. I think I would take them over the Patriots maybe. At the very least, it's just at worst year, it's a 50-50 coin flip on the road in the AFC Championship. And we could be talking about this as the best coaching job that McDermott did. And they're in the Super Bowl and it would have been a fascinating moment. They would have been underdogs, I think, in the Super Bowl. But it would all be different. And that's just football. And so that is just unfair. But it is, I guess, ironic is maybe the wrong word, just that he goes out on one of his best jobs.

13:12Ollie Connolly:I mean, it's probably helpful for the coaching interviews he's going to have coming up. They did a great job rather than being viewed as a dunderhead down the line. But it seems like he just lost like the Game of Thrones or Dunkin' Egg, I guess now, power struggle in the building. And that typically happens because the GM gets to sit next to the owner in the suite and complain about the coach and ignore all the roster failings they've had. Not going and getting one-on-one winners at receiver. Every big ticket free agent item missing, right? We're going to go and import pass rush. Von Miller, dud.

13:38Ollie Connolly:Joey Bosa doesn't make a single play in the postseason until he hits Bo Nix 10 seconds after a play, trying to show he's a tough guy. And then coming out with all the stuff about, just his theory of the team, Brandon Bean, was so off, arrogantly talking about the receiver position, talking at the trade deadline, that all these young whippersnappers, GMs, they just played fantasy football. Well, those guys made some pretty impressive moves that made their teams better down the stretch of the season. Meanwhile, McDermott's going out with all these older defensive pieces, just guys he trusts and can communicate.

14:06Ollie Connolly:And whenever they have to throw Brandon Bean's young fellas out into the lineup, they get fried over the head. So it's it's tough one for him. I think it's a pretty brutal firing. But I think if you take the totality, it makes sense. I don't want to sound like I'm just defending McDermott completely. I mean, there's a lifespan for these things. It ran its course. I think it's fine to say they need a fresh new voice. But doing that while keeping the gym in place just makes no sense to me. Yeah, that that's the part that is tricky. And I know you're you're firing right now on three hours sleep. How much how much coffee are you just mainlining?

14:39because you're on like East Coast time and just staying up for these games and watching. Man, it must have been crazy to watch. Did anything stand out to you, by the way, from that Bill's Broncos game, re-watching it?

14:53Ollie Connolly:Standing out, re-watching it. Bo Nix is absolute nails throwing the ball down the field. That's a good point. I don't know what else there is to say. I love the Bo Nix. It took him until one postseason game in front of a ginormous audience to prove that he's not just some kind of like can move around a little bit, dump the ball out guy. like he can really rip the ball down the field. And Sean McDermott doesn't have a job because Boenigs can rip the ball down the field. It's crazy. He's the sixth winning, or of the six winningest active head coaches, so I'm not including Belichick here, four were fired or quit during this cycle.

15:27So that's Tomlin, Sean Payton, who's obviously still coaching, John Harbaugh, Pete Carroll was fired, and now McDermott. But McDermott finishes in Buffalo 98-50. Incredible record. Top 20 all time in terms of winning percentage. Only, quote unquote, 8-8 in the playoffs. It's a lot of win one, lose one playoff runs. I think they peaked really in that 20-22 window. They make the AFC Championship game lose to a better Chiefs team in 20. in 21 and 22, even though they only won 11 games in 21, they led the NFL in point differential in both of those seasons. And I've said it many times, but I'll always believe if they win the coin toss for that overtime against the Chiefs, I think they're winning the Super Bowl that year.

16:20Even though that was the 11-win year, they didn't make it to the conference team. That was a divisional round game. And then 22, they were excellent too. And that was the DeMar Hamlin season. and they ran out of gas and got beat pretty bad there.

16:34Ollie Connolly:And you've made this point plenty of times before, which I think is a great point, that often the team that isn't close to being the best one is the side that breaks through. And it really was that for them this year. Brandon Cooks just holds onto that ball. I do believe they go to the Super Bowl and then who knows in a 60-minute shot with Josh Allen at quarterback. But they've had significantly better teams. They've had better teams where he's been more at fault and they decided not to move on. Then they have a significantly worse team where they're only in the party to begin with because of Josh Allen and what he's done for them defensively, and they still decide to move on.

17:05I've asked around. I'm sure you have too a little bit. Josh Allen has to be consulted in this, right? They have to know his general feelings. Do you think that's fair to surmise?

17:18Ollie Connolly:Yeah, I think that's very fair. Yeah. I mean, you don't know the specifics of how much this or that, but I have seen some Bills fans, you know, wondering that basically. And I don't think this decision gets made without Josh Allen being involved, which kind of takes us to who could be the next head coach. Immediately, people throwing out Brian Dable coming back or elevating Joe Brady. It's hard to say if that's just people dot connecting. Do you have any gut feeling of where they might go next? I think from personal experience, the person throwing out a Brian Dable reunion is Brian Dable. And I admire him tremendously.

18:03Ollie Connolly:This is the best head coach opening possibly in five years. You get to walk in with an MVP in his prime roster is not great, not in great shape. But you have a settled offensive line. They did lose their offensive line coach, maybe the very best in football, who retired after the game on Sunday, Aaron Cromer. That is a huge loss for them. As big a loss as losing the game, frankly, on Saturday, because he was such a force multiplier for them. and keeping Josh Allen clean and individual play development. So they ripped that out of the building. They lose the great defensive mind, but you still get to walk into an MVP caliber quarterback in his prime.

18:34Ollie Connolly:So to me, it's the best job opening in a long, long time. And who wouldn't want to put themselves up for the job? But if you go through the list of guys that they could look at, it looks like it's going to be offensive side of the ball. And that makes sense. They've kind of signaled that in their messaging. I don't think it's a job where you can have someone learn on the job, where you walk in following the guy, where the point is you've got to have a parade or it's a failure. and you're going to bring in what a 34 year old, a 30 year old who's never done the job before, who's been in the league three or four seasons like Nate Shields or Grant Udinski.

19:02Ollie Connolly:So you're going to have to go with a retread type candidate or promoting Joe Brady. The failing this season was not on the coaching staff. So maybe you just think you broke Joe Brady and you can fix things on the margins and you bring in a similar caliber guy defensively. You can get over the hump. Brian Dayball to me would be an absolute no go retread hire for them. But if it's just what Josh Allen wants and it makes him comfortable, that probably does have to come into the conversation. And I think it's a situation where the GM, in this case, Brandon Bean, is going to be wanting to hire the opposite of McDermott in that he's going to want to have a guy who he can control.

19:37Like Brandon Bean is in charge now. So who's going to go along with the program? Now that could be guys he knows. Davis Webb was in that building once, too. Was he a quarterback under Brian Dable or was he a coach under Brian Dable? I can't even remember.

19:49Ollie Connolly:He was a quarterback and he had that great famous profile where he self-proclaimed himself Josh Allen's best friend without consulting Josh Allen and who in fact is his best friend is. That's another one where I could see that happening. I could see him coming in as the offensive coordinator, assistant head coach to be alongside Josh Allen, depending if you bring him off a CEO type guy as just the head coach or you do end up with a defensive guy because you know you're getting Davis Webb in there. but you cannot put the best friend of the quarterback in the position of being the guy who must win a Superbowl as we open a new building of whilst it's a catastrophic failure.

20:20Ollie Connolly:That is unfair to do to that coach to me. That's a great call about the new building. I didn't even think about that in the, in the bills ownership situation makes me push back. I think the Ravens would be, is a better job. I don't know why I just trust the building more. You do have Lamar there as well. You could make, you know, the case for Josh Allen moving forward over Lamar or whatever. But I, I trust that I just feel a little more comfortable if I, if I was a head coach going into this, that the Ravens is maybe a better job, which also makes me think about, I wonder if John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski are looking at this and wondering, huh, that's interesting.

20:59Ollie Connolly:I think New York state law has like a 14 day cool down period on contracts. I wonder if John Harbaugh's calling the lawyers and seeing what is, I wonder if, you know, Kevin O 'Connell, Shane Steichen wishes he was fired in this cycle. He's looking around going, why didn't you just fire me? I could have been Lamar's coach. I could have been Josh Allen's coach. I wonder if Kevin O 'Connell calls the agent and says, you know what, first round pick, you get me away from JJ, you get me to Josh Allen. If you just go through the number of proven offensive commodities, which is what everyone wants, is some kind of scheme savant on the offensive side of the ball and people particularly on the certain side of the internet, just do away with all the head coach responsibilities.

21:33Ollie Connolly:Just scheme up football for Josh Allen and we'll take us to the promised land. it's a pretty thin bucket of guys you can look at i can't imagine they'd be in the mike mcdaniel businesses because of the uh seeing it up close and personal in the division that would be a massive swing from sean mcdermott to mike mcdaniel couldn't get more opposite personalities and so as you go through it it's a pretty thin list of candidates who actually would fit the model of maybe the best job opening in five six years which is where i would certainly start my proceedings by calling shane steikin calling kevin interesting and asking them if they just have any interest if we flow a first round pick out there.

22:06I mean, is that ink dry on the Matt LaFleur contract? I doubt it. That's just agreed to at this point. Why do you think it's better than the Ravens job? Something about the ownership situation has me... I mean, the Pagoulos have been good for Buffalo and everything they're getting in the stadium built, but it just feels also that Brandon Bean is there. And Brandon Bean feels like he actually will have juice. and so you're risking a little bit of the Raheem Morris situation that he just had in Atlanta where the GM is on a shorter clock than the head coach because the GM is out if this doesn't happen in the next two years I would think and then everyone is just out yeah the better I would