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The Buffalo Bills have fired Sean McDermott, and D.A. takes on the hardest question of all:
Was it the right move?
This isn’t a surface-level reaction. D.A. goes deep — breaking down how much of this lost season truly falls on McDermott, what he got right, what he never fixed, and whether Buffalo finally hit the point where change was unavoidable.
He also dives into:
• Which coach should replace McDermott — and why that choice matters more than ever
• Whether the Bills fired the right guy… or simply the last guy left to fire
• And what this decision says about the Bills’ belief in their Super Bowl window with Josh Allen
This is the end of an era — and possibly the most consequential decision Buffalo has made in decades.
Sometimes firing a coach is about failure.
Sometimes it’s about exhaustion.
And sometimes it’s about admitting the road you were on wasn’t going to get you there.
This video asks whether the Bills finally made the hard, correct choice — or just stepped into the unknown.
#bills #billsmafia #buffalobills #nflplayoffs #nfl #nflnews
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0:00
Was firing Shawn McDermott the right
0:03
move? And the answer is no and yes. And
0:08
I'll explain what I mean in just a
0:09
moment. A reminder to subscribe to the
0:11
channel. Make sure you are connected
0:13
because we've got fresh football videos
0:15
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0:17
the off season. Make sure you are
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subscribed.
0:21
The reason it's not the right move is
0:25
because if this is a reaction to
0:28
Saturday and the elimination or even
0:31
this season in general, Shawn McDermad
0:34
is not the reason the Buffalo Bills did
0:37
not win in Denver. You can point to a
0:39
myriad of reasons why Josh Allen had a
0:42
poor day by his standards. The
0:45
officiating did not help. On and on and
0:47
on it goes. But Shawn McDermott's
0:50
coaching didn't feel like, didn't seem
0:52
like the reason that they lost. So, if
0:54
you are making this decision based on
0:58
this year not going farther,
1:01
aside from their slow starts, which
1:04
certainly was a problem the entire year
1:06
and digging yourself a hole, it did not
1:10
feel like coaching was the reason that
1:13
this year did not go further than it
1:15
did. Shawn McDermott's not responsible
1:19
for the interceptions, the officiating,
1:22
the fumble by James Cook. None of that
1:24
is on on Shawn McDermott. And if Josh
1:28
Allen hits Dawson Knox or if one of
1:33
those plays goes in the Bills direction,
1:36
then he's coaching in an AFC
1:37
Championship game and I don't think
1:39
there's any way he's getting fired at
1:40
that point in time. Maybe, maybe, but
1:43
doubtful.
1:45
Why this can be seen as the right move
1:49
is this kind of overarching narrative
1:52
that I spoke about that I spoke about in
1:55
my last video about the weight, the
1:58
crushing weight of this team and this
2:02
quarterback and this city right now. As
2:06
I pointed out and kind of explained in
2:09
the previous video,
2:11
Josh Allen owns a very unique role in
2:16
sports and certainly the NFL because he
2:21
is acutely aware and has willingly taken
2:24
on the pain and the trauma of the
2:27
football losses before him. this
2:29
drought, this championship drought that
2:31
everybody in Western New York is so
2:32
desperate to break, he wears. He wears
2:36
and that is unlike anywhere else. So
2:39
when Josh Allen breaks down crying after
2:42
this loss,
2:44
he feels the weight of all of these
2:47
losses and all of these exits and all
2:50
these missed opportunities. And then
2:52
Deion Dawkins and Brandon Cooks and
2:54
everybody else begins crying because
2:55
they wear the guilt of him owning all of
2:59
that knowing it's definitely not on his
3:01
shoulders entirely of why the Buffalo
3:04
Bills lost.
3:06
You look at this wide swath of football
3:09
since 2020 in Josh's Peak
3:12
and this is the winningest franchise in
3:16
football. most wins,
3:18
most points scored, fewest points
3:21
allowed, greatest points differential.
3:24
They are the model over these six
3:27
seasons
3:29
of consistency and success without a
3:32
Super Bowl appearance. And so the reason
3:34
why the yes, this is the right move is
3:39
because Saturday was so crushing.
3:43
I think it would have been really hard
3:45
to run it back in 2026
3:48
with the same group in the same roles.
3:52
Even though Shawn McDermott probably
3:54
didn't deserve to get fired for 2025,
4:00
a shakeup in some way, shape, or form
4:03
was needed for 2026.
4:06
Because if you just brought the band
4:09
back and said, "Hey, we've been really
4:11
good. Let's keep spinning the wheel." At
4:13
some point, the wheel comes up us.
4:16
You have to once again convince yourself
4:19
that fortune favors us. And that's a
4:23
really hard thing to keep selling
4:25
yourself on if you lose not only to the
4:28
Chiefs, but then other teams as well.
4:32
And so I think this is really more of a
4:34
move of what's the what's the grand
4:37
change that is going to spark
4:40
potentially a change in outcome. Now,
4:43
did Brandon Bean deserve to survive
4:45
this? Not based on 2025.
4:49
Injuries throughout the entire season, I
4:52
mean, just ripped apart Shawn
4:54
McDermott's defense and this this team
4:56
as a whole. And McDermott helped put it
4:58
together week by week by week, game plan
5:01
by game plan. The wide receiver room is
5:04
a problem. Has been. We know that.
5:06
That's a Brandon Bean thing.
5:09
If I was going to assign any blame to
5:12
this squad, I assign more of it to
5:14
roster build than I do to coaching this
5:16
season. I think blaming the coaching is
5:19
an easy out for the way that, you know,
5:23
this season ended.
5:25
But if Brandon Bean sold a certain
5:28
vision
5:29
to Terry Pagula and Terry Pigula feels
5:33
like this is the pivot we need,
5:37
then it is on Brandon Bean to enact
5:40
whatever this is, this this change, this
5:44
theoretical
5:46
dynamic change that is needed. And it's
5:50
probably a young offensive coordinator.
5:54
I find it hard to believe they would go
5:56
defensive coordinator again like Shawn
5:58
McDermott.
6:00
I think if now you've hit Josh Allen's
6:02
year 30 season, I think now you go we've
6:06
got five great Josh Allen years left. We
6:10
need an offensive mind.
6:12
And it would strike me that the most
6:16
obvious comp to what is happening with
6:18
Josh Allen is John Elway. And John Elway
6:22
banged his head against the wall of the
6:24
AFC and then the Super Bowl, the NFC
6:27
champs three times before finally
6:30
breaking through. And what helped him
6:31
break through?
6:33
offensive-minded Mike Shanahan, who did
6:36
have a brief head coaching stint of the
6:39
80s with the Raiders, but really was a
6:41
coordinator, an offensive coordinator
6:43
with different counterintuitive
6:46
schemes or creativity to what was
6:49
traditional football at the time. And so
6:52
I would imagine if you are Brandon Bean
6:55
and you are looking and seeking what the
6:58
answer is here to capitalize on Josh
7:00
Allen, it is that blueprint. Finding the
7:04
comp to Mike Shanahan
7:07
who is a creative offensive mind that
7:11
can help on that side of the football.
7:13
You hire a strong defensive coordinator
7:16
if you don't feel like you've got that
7:17
in house and you are pivoting to what
7:22
these last nine years have been have
7:24
been really good but unable to close.
7:27
There has to be a change for us to have
7:29
a different outcome. And I don't
7:31
necessarily disagree with that.
7:34
I might disagree with Brandon Bean being
7:35
the guy that survived this, but I don't
7:38
necessarily disagree that a change in
7:41
some dramatic form was the only way you
7:44
could really keep selling the optimism
7:46
outside the building to the fans and the
7:48
public and inside the building. Don't
7:50
worry, it's going to be different
7:52
because Saturday, the reason that the
7:54
tears were there, again, to go back to
7:57
my previous video, the Bills have
7:59
cornered the market on traumatic playoff
8:03
losses, and Josh included. It's not like
8:05
they haven't been here before. So, why
8:07
did this one break the dam of emotions?
8:10
Because this one was
8:14
it ended the same way that it always
8:17
does and it wasn't even the Chiefs this
8:20
time. And we're wearing the weight of
8:23
this. I say the weight of the weight.
8:26
The heaviness of the weight wiit
8:29
the drought. And the heaviness of the
8:32
drought is being worn by one guy right
8:35
now in Josh Allen heavier than everybody
8:38
else. And when it breaks him, it breaks
8:41
others. And how do you alleviate some of
8:45
that that heaviness,
8:47
that burden? How do you alleviate some
8:50
of the burden so that it feels fresh and
8:53
lighter and newer? And I would just add
8:55
this as a postcript.
8:58
Shawn McDermott is a hyperfocused,
9:01
intense guy. And I think he's learned a
9:03
lot of lessons since 13 seconds. I think
9:06
he's become a better coach since then,
9:08
even in lateg game situations as well.
9:11
But I do think the hyper intensity of
9:14
Shawn McDermott might then expand out to
9:17
a team that feels real tension in tight
9:20
moments as well. And you felt it last
9:25
year on that final drive in Kansas City
9:27
in the AFC Championship game. And
9:30
there's been there's always that vibe of
9:32
when it gets really tight and
9:34
everything's on the line, the Bills play
9:36
anything but loose. And something like
9:39
Liam Cohen and Ben Johnson and to a
9:42
certain degree Dave Canales, I think has
9:46
re-calibrated
9:47
owners and GM's minds of expectations.
9:50
and that is a young firsttime offensive
9:54
head coach
9:56
can change things dramatically almost
9:59
overnight. And if you're looking to
10:02
alleviate the burden and the heaviness
10:05
going away from the intensity and the
10:07
pressure of what McDermott brings to the
10:10
table, which is absolutely what was
10:12
needed when he took this program over to
10:15
now, how do you alleviate some of that?
10:19
I do think pivoting to a younger
10:21
offensive-minded creative mind at head
10:24
coach is a potentially really good
10:26
solution. Easier said than done. You got
10:29
to find the right guy. And you don't
10:31
know if Liam Cohen is going to do it
10:33
until Liam Cohen does it. You don't know
10:34
if Ben Johnson's going to do it until
10:36
Ben Johnson does it. But if that's the
10:39
idea and that's the vibe, this this job
10:41
should be wildly appetizing to that type
10:45
of coordinator. Cuz you're not
10:46
inheriting Caleb Williams or Trevor
10:49
Lawrence. You're inheriting
10:51
a future Hall of Famer in Josh Allen who
10:54
is still at his apex and is a great
10:57
leader and doesn't complain and doesn't
10:59
point fingers and doesn't doesn't get
11:01
frustrated with coaching. And what more
11:04
could you ask for? And I've always said
11:06
this. I think you run to jobs like the
11:10
Browns, the Lions, and the Bills. Cuz if
11:12
you do it, ask the 04 Red Sox and ask
11:16
the 16 Cubs. You live forever.
11:21
All right, that's going to do it for me.
11:22
Appreciate you watching everybody. Make
11:24
sure you're subscribed to the channel.
11:25
Click on this button below me. That way
11:27
you know we've got fresh football videos
11:29
all throughout the season and the
11:31
offseason every single day. Appreciate
11:33
you watching. I'm DA. See you next
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