11 takeaways from Sean McDermott’s pre-summer presser

Takeaways from Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott and his final press conference before summer.

The Buffalo Bills have finished their recent “minicamp.” Well, actual minicamps were cancelled by the NFL this offseason due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But the league still held weeks of “virtual”meetings over video chats.

The Bills just wrapped those up and following that, Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott wrapped up his media availability for this summer as he virtually chatted with members of the western New York media on Wednesday.

Here are 11 takeaways from McDermott’s final pre-summer press conference:

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Virtual reflections

McDermott would’ve loved to be seeing his players in-person during minicamps, as would any coach. In fact, we’d all love to not have to change our lives due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Alas, we have. But McDermott gave his evaluation on how his team’s “virtual” offseason has gone. The coach thought things went well.

Here’s what McDermott had to say:

“To sit here now, if you would have asked me, ‘Would we be able to get this done?’ Back, four five months ago, to execute what we’ve been able to execute, and at the level we’ve been able to execute it at, I would have said that’s going to be a very heavy lift, and it has been. That said, it’s just been incredible to watch our team come together, not just our players, but the staff, the support that we get from our IT department, everyone in our building has had to do things, to make what used to be easy, become reality.”

 

Recent Sabres changes aren’t worrying Sean McDermott

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott on firings, changes at Buffalo Sabres with Jason Botterill, staff.

The thought of “One Buffalo” took a whole new life once Terry and Kim Pegula, first owners of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, took over the Buffalo Bills. So when the hockey club has some big headlines surrounding it, the football team is certainly aware of that.

Recently the Sabres made wholesale changing causing a lot of speculation. Many members of the organization were revealed of their duties recently. Most notably, Sabres general manager Jason Botterill was let go, just weeks after co-owner Kim Pegula backed his return.

But that’s just scratching the surface as changes were even made even all the way down at the minor league level of the hockey club.

Playing a part there for the hockey team is certainly the club now not playing a game until the start of next season after it missed out on the playoffs once again. So far, the Bills aren’t in such a situation as the NFL is planning on a status quo start to the year.

But even if it doesn’t, Buffalo’s football head coach in Sean McDermott isn’t overly concerned that the Pegulas will have to make changes on the Bills front office.

“We’re all human and it’s unfortunate it happened,” McDermott reflected upon with the Sabres. “As much as I’m focused over here, I support what’s going on over there and root for the Sabres.”

“Terry and Kim have modeled to me that they’re committed to winning,” McDermott added. “All I can go off is my experience and what they’ve communicated with me first hand.”

With the much bigger business the NFL is as opposed to the NHL, it might be awhile until the Pegulas make any wholesale changes. But the big factor here is the comparison between the two leagues currently. Hockey has had a massive makeover and creation of a 24-team playoff (which the Sabres missed out on) to help bring the sport back after it was postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus.

With that in mind, many folks at the hockey team lost their responsibilities, and combined with loss of revenues from actually playing games, led to their unfortunate removals. Or at least that likely played a part. For the football club, everything and everyone’s jobs are still happening, albeit remotely.

McDermott is likely a ways away from needing to worry about any sort of similar changes.

 

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