The Buffalo Bills bounced back from their Week 1 loss to the New York Jets in a major way. Josh Allen and Co. took care of business on Sunday, taking down the Las Vegas Raiders, 38-10, to mark their first win of the new season.
After the game, the Bills players had nothing but high praise for head coach Sean McDermott, who played a vital role in making sure his team would turn things around in Week 2.
Buffalo Bills HC Sean McDermott Challenged His Players
Pro Bowl safety Mitch Morse revealed McDermott’s rather unexpected reaction to Buffalo’s disappointing loss against an Aaron Rodgers-less Jets side in their season opener. Instead of lambasting his players, the veteran coach decided to take a different approach — one that would send a clear message to his guys.
“I think it started on Wednesday when we had that walk-through practice,” Morse said, via Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic. “We went out there and understood coach was giving us a bone by taking away some physical reps, and that’s tough for a coach after a loss. But that put the ball in our court.”
“… No one liked the taste in our mouths this week. That brought a certain edge to this week’s practice — nothing crazy or confrontational, but very intentional. We understood we had to come out here and play with an edge and tone. This team’s got the energy; it’s got the juice. It’s just sometimes the execution can vacate when you’re too amped up.”
As Morse said, the Bills heard their coach’s message loud and clear, and they showed it in their performance on the field against the Raiders.
Sean McDermott Fired Up the Troops
While Allen and the Bills offense did an outstanding job against Las Vegas by getting 38 points on the board, a lot of credit also needs to be given to Buffalo’s defense. This is Sean McDermott’s forte, and he knew that improvements on the defensive end were going to be key if his team wanted to come away with a win in Week 2:
“That’s as best as you can draw it up,” Epenesa said of McDermott. “This whole week we knew what we were about. Coach McDermott challenged us and said it’s a man-whooping-man day, we’re a man-whooping-man defense. That’s what we came out today to do. I feel like we did that.”
“… You can feel the juice from him now. It was always there but now that he’s hands on with the defense for real, it’s not so much so that you can feel it, but he shows it. He shows his intensity. He shows his juice. Not that he didn’t as a head coach, but now he feels a little more personable to all of the defense because he is directly connected. You can see the juice a little more. I love it. It gets me fired up seeing him in there. He’s just talking to a room full of people and he gets me jacked up.”
McDermott and the Bills face another tough test in Week 3 when they travel to the Capital to take on the Washington Commanders. If there’s one thing we’re sure of about Sean McDermott, it’s that he’s going to be demanding even more from his guys on Sunday.
For More Of My Content
Follow me on Twitter at @PaoloSongcoNBA. You may also reach out to me personally at pao.songco@gmail.com.