Buffalo Bills press conferences haven’t been short on headlines over the last few days. Last week in announcing the firing of coach Sean McDermott, team owner Terry Pegula pointed the finger at his former coach for drafting wideout Keon Coleman, who’s had an underwhelming start to his NFL career.
Then on Thursday, the team held the introductory press conference for the man who is replacing McDermott: former offensive coordinator Joe Brady. However, it wasn’t Brady who generated headlines but rather the team’s franchise player, quarterback Josh Allen, who took to the podium and just like his owner, assigned blame for the Bills’ heartbreaking playoff defeat to the Denver Broncos.
However, unlike his owner, the 2024 NFL MVP shouldered some of the blame himself for both the loss and the McDermott firing. Allen revealed that the Bills ownership had called him to say they were moving on from McDermott, and Allen then immediately called McDermott to express his condolences.
Prior to this season, most of Buffalo’s heartbreaks in the playoffs had little to do with Allen’s performances, as he was most often the reason the Bills had a chance to win. But that wasn’t the case in the Divisional Round defeat to Denver. Allen committed four of Buffalo’s five turnovers with a pair of interceptions and a pair of fumbles.
That included an untimely lost fumble on Buffalo’s final possession of the first half, which immediately led to Denver kicking a field goal with no time left in the second quarter. The Broncos would go on to win by three points.
“I still believe that we had the team to win the Super Bowl, and again, we didn’t make one more play, and that’s pointing the thumb right at me,” Allen said. “Everything moving forward is, how do I clean my stuff up? How do I be the best quarterback, the best teammate, the best leader that I can be for the Buffalo Bills moving forward? What does that look like? It’s asking questions, it’s being uncomfortable with some of those answers, and then adapting and moving forward based on that.”
McDermott was in his second season in charge when the Bills drafted Allen in 2018, so he’s the only head coach the latter has ever known. However, Allen does have a strong rapport with Brady, who first served as Buffalo’s quarterbacks coach (2022-23), then interim offensive coordinator (2023), before landing the full-time OC role in 2024.
Allen was also involved in the Bills’ interview process for all of their head coaching candidates, so he clearly gave Buffalo’s brass the approval to appoint Brady. As for Brady, during his press conference, the new head coach emphatically said, “Josh Allen is the best player in the NFL.”
While Brady’s part of the press conference featured him fielding questions from the media while standing, Allen’s portion had him sitting behind a table while answering questions. That’s because he had right-foot surgery just three days earlier in Birmingham, Ala., which, coincidentally, is where his counterpart in that Divisional Round game, Denver’s Bo Nix, had surgery on his ankle one week earlier.
Allen revealed that he actually broke a bone in his foot in Week 16 and continued playing through the injury. He said the operation shouldn’t hinder his status for offseason workouts or Organized Team Activities, but it did cause him to decline his appearance in next week’s Pro Bowl Games.
Brady has a franchise quarterback in Allen but still has several holes to fill on the Bills. One is his old role, because even if Brady decides to still call plays next season, the team will have to fill the offensive coordinator position.
Also, defensive coordinator Bobby Babich has left to accept a coaching position with the Green Bay Packers. And the team’s special teams coordinator, Chris Tabor, left his role for the same one with the Miami Dolphins, so Buffalo, Brady and Allen are facing a staff overhaul for next season.
