Bills owner feels team hit ‘proverbial wall’ after latest playoff loss

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane,Left and owner Terry Pegula look on during NFL football practice in Orchard Park, N.Y., Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula felt his team hit what he called “the proverbial playoff wall” in leading to his decision to abruptly fire coach Sean McDermott this week.

Speaking at a season-ending news conference on Wednesday, Pegula said he made up his mind immediately following a 33-30 overtime loss at Denver in a divisional playoff on Saturday.

He based his decision in part on seeing how distraught many Bills players, including quarterback Josh Allen, appeared in the locker room in the aftermath of the loss.

“I saw the pain in Josh’s face at his (news conference). And I felt his pain,” Pegula said. “I know we can do better. And I know we will get better.”

Pegula then listed many of Buffalo’s more memorable playoff defeats over the nine seasons under McDermott.

“It was where does the leadership of the team on the field and in the locker room, where do we go from that moment -- another playoff failure,” Pegula said. “That’s why I decided Sean had to leave.”

Pegula spoke alongside general manager Brandon Beane, who was promoted in adding the title of president of football operations.

And it’s now on Beane to lead Buffalo’s first coaching search since McDermott took over in 2017 after two seasons under Rex Ryan.

The coaching search process has already started, with the Bills already set to interview several candidates including former Giants coach and former Buffalo’s offensive coordinator Brian Daboll; Commanders running backs coach Anthony Lynn, who finished the 2016 season as Buffalo’s interim coach; and Bills current offensive coordinator Joe Brady.

Pegula said Allen had no input in McDermott’s firing, but added the quarterback will play a role in the coaching search.

Pegula credited McDermott for transforming a franchise that had endured a 17-season playoff drought into a perennial winner.

“We all remember the playoff drought before Sean got here,” Pegula said. “Sean has definitely left the Buffalo Bills in a better place than when he arrived in 2017. He gave his heart and soul trying to win a championship.”

Ultimately, it was the lack of a Super Bowl appearance that wore on Pegula.

“It was one year after another. I just couldn’t see us doing that with Sean,” he said. “It’s not an easy decision trust me with that success. But what is success? Is it being in the playoffs seven years in a row with no Super Bowl.”

Despite a 98-50 regular-season record, and seven straight double-digit-win seasons, McDermott was 8-8 in the playoffs. Each of Buffalo’s past three postseason losses were decided by three points.

Buffalo ended the drought in 2017 and reached the playoffs in eight of nine seasons, but only advanced to the AFC title game twice, losing both times to Kansas City. The Bills became the NFL’s first team to win a playoff round in six straight years but not reach the Super Bowl.

Pegula’s appearance was rare as he’s not taken questions from Bills reporters since at least 2019. He said one major reason he’s taken a more behind-the-scenes role is due to dedicating time to his wife, Kim, who continues her lengthy recovery from a debilitating cardiac arrest in June 2022.

Pegula otherwise backed Beane, and disputed there being any sort of a rift that grew between the coach and GM.

“Our roster is a direct reflection of the hard work that Brandon and our scouting staff has done through the years,” Pegula said, particularly noting it was Beane’s decision to draft Allen in 2018. “One may complain over a deal, over a player, over a result. But the bottom line is, success over a long period of time means we’re doing something right.”

Beane said Allen is considering having a procedure to repair an injury to his right foot, but said it shouldn’t prevent the quarterback from practicing this spring.

Beane is conducting his first coaching search. He took over in Buffalo in May 2017, five months after McDermott was hired. The two were connected in having spent the previous six seasons in Carolina -- McDermott as defensive coordinator and Beane in a front office role.

“Obviously, this is the start of a new chapter, but Sean’s a heck of a football coach, and we’ll always root for him and his family,” Beane said. “I bear guilt, blame, responsibility. There’s no finger-pointing. I understand there’s things I could have done better.”

Beane shared part of the blame in constructing a roster this season that was young and injury-depleted on defense and featured a middling group of receivers.

Despite Beane’s insistence in April that he judged this year’s group of receivers as better than in 2024, the production did not bear itself out. Buffalo’s wide receivers accounted for just over half of the team’s 3,981 passing yards this season, as opposed to more than 60% in 2024, when Allen earned AP NFL MVP honors.

Offseason free agent addition Joshua Palmer spent much of the season limited because of an assortment of injuries. Second-year receiver Keon Coleman’s development regressed in part because of disciplinary issues. He finished with 38 catches for 404 yards and four touchdowns, and was twice disciplined by the team this season for arriving late for meetings.

Before Beane could answer a question about Coleman, Pegula interjected and said it was “the coaching staff” that pushed for the player’s selection. Buffalo traded back twice before choosing Coleman with the first pick of the second round in 2024.

“I’m not saying Brandon wouldn’t have drafted him, but he wasn’t his next choice. That was Brandon being a team player and taking advice of his coaching staff who felt strongly about the player,” said Pegula, who later clarified to The Associated Press that he wasn’t referring to McDermott. “He’s taken, for some reason, heat over it, and not saying a word about it, but I’m here to tell you the true story.”

Beane said Coleman was “my pick,” before suggesting what Pegula meant is Buffalo could have considered addressing another position with the selection.

“It’s up to us to work with him and develop him,” Beane said of Coleman.

“His issues have not been on the field. They’ve just been maturity things that he owns,” Beane said. “I give him credit. He doesn’t make excuses, which I appreciate.”

John Wawrow, The Associated Press