Getty Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott looks on during a game against the New England Patriots.
Sean McDermott is taking cues from a former Buffalo Bills coach, not wanting to kiss Bill Belichick’s ring after the New England Patriots ran the Bills into the ground on Monday Night Football.
Belichick adopted an unusual — and antiquated — style of football to defeat the Bills 14-10 on a windy night in Orchard Park. The Patriots called just three passing plays for rookie quarterback Mac Jones, instead rushing 46 times for 222 yards on a night when wind gusts reached 50mph and throwing was dangerous. Belichick earned praise for adapting to the elements and adopting an unorthodox approach, but McDermott pushed back at the idea of giving his counterpart too much credit.
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McDermott Takes Blame
After the loss, McDermott admitted to reporters that the Bills had every opportunity to win but just couldn’t seize it. Because he felt it was Buffalo’s game to win, McDermott pushed back on the idea of crowning Belichick a genius for running the Bills off the field.
“Let’s not give more credit than we need to give credit to Bill Belichick in this one,” McDermott told reporters, via NESN.com. “Whether it was Bill or anybody else, they beat us, right? But you sit here and you tell me when we start with an average starting field position of the 40-yard line and he starts with the 23-yard line — I’m rounding up in both cases — and we were 1 for 4 in the red zone and they were 0 for 1 in the red zone? You give me that ahead of time, I’d say I like my chances. I like my chances.”
The statement was reminiscent of former Bills head coach Rex Ryan, who Pro Football Talk noted once said that he “never came here to kiss Bill Belichick’s, you know, rings.”
Belichick was more straightforward with his assessment of the game, saying the team simply took on the approach that the conditions dictated.
“We played kind of the way we felt like we needed to play to win. In the end, we scored enough points,” Belichick said. “Just have to give the players a lot of credit for being tough, being disciplined, being resilient and dealing with a really good football team and conditions that were somewhat challenging.”
Bills in a Corner
The loss to the Patriots dropped the Bills down to seventh in the conference, holding onto the final playoff spot and looking up at New England atop the AFC East. The Bills will have the chance to rebound with another big test, taking on old nemesis Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Sean McDermott: “Did we have opportunities to win the game? You’re darn right we did.” @Batavia_Daily #BillsMafia
After the loss to the Patriots, McDermott said the Bills need to be tougher, especially in the trenches. In both the loss to the Patriots and the blowout at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, the Bills lost battles up front that allowed opponents to dominate the line of scrimmage, something McDermott wants to change.
“That has not been my message from day one, I can promise you that. If you were in the team meetings in training camp, you would know what style of offense I want,” he said, via The Athletic. “That identity needs to embody toughness.”
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