Bills HC Sean McDermott Delivers Perfect Response to Mike Vrabel’s Criticism

After beating the New England Patriots in a game with huge playoff implications, Sean McDermott is borrowing a line from Bill Belichick.

The Bills overcame a 21-point deficit in Sunday’s 35-31 win, keeping their division hopes alive in dramatic fashion. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel unleashed some criticism of officiating and suggested that the Bills got help in the outcome.

When asked about his rival coach’s complaints, McDermott did his best to channel Belichick.

Sean McDermott Looking Ahead

Speaking about his team’s second-half collapse on “The Greg Hill Show,” Vrabel suggested that the referees put away their whistles and may have let the Bills get away with some holding.

“It is a difficult job, they do have a difficult job,” Vrabel said. “The consistency… Sometimes I struggle with it. I’ll say this: the Bills lead the NFL in offensive holds, and I’ll leave it at that. And that would be hard for me to understand how the team that is coming into the game leading, and that’s how they play, didn’t have one yesterday. That’s hard for me to understand.”

While Vrabel may have been overlooking the holding call that wiped out a Josh Allen touchdown run, the Bills head coach didn’t seem willing to engage with the criticism. When asked about Vrabel’s statements, McDermott paraphrased a famous line from Belichick.

After a crushing 2014 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that raised questions about whether New England’s dynasty was coming to an end, Belichick repeatedly stated that his team was moving “on to Cincinnati.”

McDermott also said his team is looking forward to their next game.

“We go by what the officials call. We’re focused on the Cleveland Browns at this point,” McDermott said, via Syracuse.com reporter Matt Parrino. “So, Mike can talk what he wants to talk about, all due respect. We enjoyed a good game yesterday, hard fought game, and we’re moving on.”

Bills Carve Narrow Path Back to Division Title

The Bills faced division elimination on Sunday as the Patriots lost a chance to clinch the AFC East with a win, but instead McDermott’s squad goes into the final three games with a clear path to the division title.

The Bills will need to win one more game than the Patriots over the rest of the season, and one of New England’s losses must come in a division game against either New York Jets or Miami Dolphins. That task may have become a bit more difficult after the results of Monday Night Football, where the Pittsburgh Steelers eliminated the Dolphins from playoff contention with a win.

Despite the win, McDermott was upset at the team giving up some long runs and said they would need to correct that down the final stretch if they wanted to have a chance at contending.

“We were giving up some runs, and then because of that, they were a two-dimensional offense and keeping us off balance a little bit there,” McDermott said, via AtoZ Sports. “Run defense usually starts with gap integrity, so we’ll look at it and address it. We’ve got to be better, that’s for sure.”

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