BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott was not scheduled to speak to the media on Thursday but made an impromptu appearance in the media room to address a report that cited his previous comments to the team on the terrorists on September 11, 2001.
Tyler Dunne, of GoLongTD.com, published a three-part series based on 25 conversations titled "The McDermott Problem, Part I: Blame Game," "The McDermott Problem, Part II: Lost in translation," and "The McDermott Problem, Part III: Let Josh be Josh."
In one of the reports that has now gone viral, Dunne cites comments McDermott made when addressing the team which said in part:
"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. One by one, McDermott started asking specific players in the room questions.
'What tactics do you think they used to come together?' A young player tried to methodically answer. 'What do you think their biggest obstacle was?' A veteran answered, 'TSA,' which mercifully lightened the mood."
In response to the report, McDermott said Thursday:
"I want to reference a team meeting that has been brought up. My intent in the meeting that day was to discuss the importance of communication and being on the same page with the team. 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."
McDermott then said he would answer any questions reporters may have. In response to another question that was asked, he said:
"To be honest with you, I'm not here to discuss the article that's out there and the things that are mentioned other than this right here because this right here is very, very important to me and something I take very seriously."
When asked if he had to have conversations on Thursday with anybody within the organization about the article, McDermott responded:
"I do plan on meeting with the team. It is important to me, as I've discussed here, that we are on the same page and even guys that weren't here understand how I feel about the 9/11 event and as I mentioned to the team then, that I regretted and apologized for me not doing a good job of clearly communicating my point. And I'm going to do the same with the team today... when they're done meeting, so that if there's anyone new that they understand how important that is to me and my family, because it's an important event, a horrific event in our history and I think that's important."
You can watch McDermott's full press conference below.
