Ex-Bills OL Takes Dig at Sean McDermott, Says Team Fired ‘Wrong’ Person

Getty Sean McDermott looks on during a Buffalo Bills game.

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott may have kept his job amid the team’s struggles this season, but he is losing the support of some former players.

The Bills made a big shake-up this week, firing offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey following a crushing loss to the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. Though McDermott came under criticism for the team’s miscues including a 12-men on-the-field penalty that wiped out what would have been the game-deciding missed field goal, Buffalo News reporter Ryan O’Halloran wrote that a source close to the team said McDermott’s job is safe for the time being.

“I also asked the league source if firing Dorsey is a sign McDermott is feeling the heat from ownership about his job status beyond this year and they didn’t believe so, citing McDermott’s successful regular season track record,” O’Halloran wrote.

McDermott’s job security has not stopped some former players from speaking up, with running back Fred Jackson calling out his in-game personnel decisions and now former offensive lineman Quinton Spain hinting that it should have been McDermott who was fired.

Quinton Spain Takes Aim at Bills

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Spain reacted to Dorsey’s firing by hinting that McDermott should have been the one getting the axe.

“That the wrong person,” Spain wrote while sharing a tweet from ESPN’s Adam Schefter regarding Dorsey’s firing.

While Spain did not specify exactly who he was referring to, commenters connected it to McDermott and Spain then opened up about his difficult exit from the team in 2020.

Spain had left the team on somewhat controversial terms, being released in October 2020 after he had signed a three-year contract in March of that year. As NFL.com reporter Kevin Patra noted, Spain had been cut after a cryptic statement on social media saying it was “time for a change.”

Spain is not the only former member of the Bills to take aim at McDermott. During the team’s November 13 game against the Broncos, Jackson criticized the coach’s decision to bench running back James Cook for much of the first half after he fumbled on the first play from scrimmage.

“Worse thing you can do to an RB,” Jackson wrote on X. “Gotta get Cook back in game. Sets a bad precedent.”

Sean McDermott Speaks Out After OC Fired

McDermott spoke about Dorsey’s firing on Tuesday, telling reporters that it was his sole decision to fire him.

“Just felt like it was time for change,” said McDermott, via Katherine Fitzgerald of the Buffalo News. “We need to be a confident football team and find consistent production. And that’s really what it came down to.”

The Bills fell to 5-5 with the loss to the Broncos, with a rough schedule ahead that includes games against the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys. McDermott said that the team would need to turn things around quickly and find new energy on offense.

“We’ve got to find that confidence, we’ve got to find that energy, we’ve got to find that consistent level of production,” McDermott said.