BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott apologized Thursday for making an analogy to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 in a team meeting four years ago, which was brought to light in a new report earlier in the day.
“My intent in the meeting that day was to discuss the importance of communication and being on the same page with the team,” McDermott told reporters Thursday afternoon in an unscheduled interview. “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.”
The article, published by former Bleacher Report and Buffalo News reporter Tyler Dunne on his independent website, was part of a three-part series about the Bills that Dunne said was based on interviews with 25 unnamed former coaches, players, executives and other sources.
The article alleges McDermott “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 asked by reporters if his message specifically referenced the terrorists.
“It was mentioning 9/11 in the context of the team meeting, the goal of the team meeting was about the importance of communication and being on the same page as a team,” McDermott said.
McDermott said he chose to use 9/11 as a reference due to the “awareness around a horrific event,” but realized his error shortly after delivering the message and addressed it with the team at practice later that day. The incident was said to have happened during training camp in 2019.
“I didn’t make my point clear enough, so right then and there I said we’re getting together as a team and we’re talking and I’m going to address this with everyone,” McDermott said. “And that was before practice. So we have the team meeting and within an hour — this is a few years ago — within an hour, it was actually the start of practice, I brought everybody together and I 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, and that was about the importance of communication and that everyone needs to be on the same page, ironically enough. That was important to me then and it still is now.”
McDermott added that players came up to him afterward and thanked him for addressing the comments, and said some players even told him that addressing it wasn’t necessary.
McDermott said he had not read the series of articles, which were critical of his tenure as Bills head coach, but wanted to address the 9/11 detail because the issue is important to him. He said he plans to address his current players about the topic this week.
The Bills (6-6) are preparing to visit the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (8-4) in a game the Bills desperately need to win to keep their playoff chances afloat.
Details of the 9/11 story were revealed the day after the Bills announced pass rusher Von Miller will continue to play after turning himself in to police following an allegation that he assaulted his pregnant girlfriend.
McDermott, 49, is in his seventh year as Bills head coach. He has the third-most victories and the best winning percentage of any coach in franchise history, but is facing increasing criticism for the team’s lack of playoff success. The Athletic reported last week that team sources believed there was “zero” chance owner Terry Pegula would fire McDermott this season. The Bills have won three consecutive AFC East championships.