Getty Image
Plenty of NFL coaches harness analogies in order to get their message across to players. That includes Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills, who reportedly decided there was no better way to illustrate the importance of good teamwork than highlighting the hijackers who perpetrated the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Sean McDermott has been the coach of the Buffalo Bills since 2017 and (along with Josh Allen) has been largely credited with reversing the fortunes of a franchise that hadn’t made the playoffs in 17 years until punching its ticket to the postseason during his first year at the helm.
The Bills have gone 68-41 under McDermott’s watch and finished at the top of the AFC East three seasons in a row, but they’re currently sitting at 6-6 and are in danger of heading home for the year when the regular season wraps up unless they’re able to find their footing.
Buffalo’s decline has led to plenty of people trying to figure out what’s gone wrong this year, and Go Long‘s Tyler Dunne recently decided to do exactly that by taking a look at the approach McDermott has harnessed during his time with the Bills.
The fact that the three-part series in question is titled “The McDermott Problem” should tell you everything you need to know, as the pieces examine the controversial philosophy the coach has harnessed while allegedly passing the buck when it comes to the blame game and rubbing plenty of his players the wrong way.
However, nothing stands out quite like an excerpt from the second installment concerning the time he attempted to stress the importance of teamwork at training camp in 2019 by using the 9/11 hijackers as an example of people who were able to come together for a common good:
“At St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., McDermott’s morning address began innocently enough. He told the entire team they needed to come together.
But then, sources on hand say, he used a strange model: the terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. He cited the hijackers as a group of people who were all able to get on the same page to orchestrate attacks to perfection.”
The wildest part of that decision is that the passengers who were aboard United 93 on that fateful day came together to prevent the hijackers aboard from crashing the plane into their intended target while sacrificing their lives in the process.
While he probably could’ve avoided 9/11 altogether, that probably would’ve been the better move if he really felt the need to go that particular route.