By Jordan Long
The Buffalo Bills are in training camp. Assuming the season starts on time, they will face the New York Jets on September 13th. The Buffalo Bills organization decided to extend Head Coach Sean McDermott’s contract.
McDermott has been the Buffalo Bills Head Coach for the past 3 years. The Bills hired McDermott on January 11th, 2017. The job was open because Buffalo fired Rex Ryan 15 games into the 2016 season. Ryan was a disappointing 15-16 in his 2 years with Buffalo and didn’t earn a playoff spot. The Bills were hoping McDermott would be the answer to turning the franchise around.
In 2017, the Bills went 9-7, earning a playoff spot for the first time since 1999. Unfortunately, they lost in the Wild Card round to the Jacksonville Jaguars 10-3. 2018 McDermott coached them to an unimpressive record of 6-10.
Last year, the Bills started 6-2. At that point, it looked like they were going to compete with the New England Patriots for the top spot in the AFC East Division. The Bills ended up at 10-6 while New England finished at 12-4. Buffalo luckily made the playoffs as the Wild Card team yet again, but lost to the Houston Texans 22-19 in overtime.
The Bills thought McDermott had done enough to earn a new deal. According to bleacherreport.com, Bills owner Kim Pegula said, “Sean’s leadership on and off the field has been nothing but genuine and transparent, qualities we appreciate as owners. He is the same great person to us, the players, and everyone across all our organizations. We will never forget how impressed we were during his first interview. Sean’s attention to detail was apparent back then and his process driven approach has brought great stability to our organization. We are happy to extend his contract and keep him in Western New York for many years to come.”
The new agreement keeps McDermott in Buffalo through the 2025 season. McDermott’s body of works shows he earned this long-term contract. He is the first coach to make multiple playoff appearances with the franchise since Wade Philipps did in 1998 to 1999. McDermott’s overall record with the Bills is 25-23, a winning percentage of .521.
The Bills know McDermott is the right coach for them. It is possible if the Bills start to trend downwards and miss the playoffs for a few consecutive years, they will fire McDermott. The Bills are anticipating he can lead this football team to their first playoff win since 1995 and maybe a Super Bowl appearance. Their last came in 1994 in Super Bowl XXVIII when they lost to the Dallas Cowboys 30-13.
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