Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott has apologized following the revelation of certain comments he made to his players referencing the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
According to a report from Go Long’s Tyler Dunne, McDermott was speaking to the squad during a training camp session in 2019 when he used the 9/11 hijacking as an example of individuals working together. The head coach is also said to have asked the players questions about the methods used in the attack.
Multiple players who were with the team at the time have confirmed this to ESPN, though some said they did not remember.
McDermott expressed regret over the comments in an unscheduled news conference after practice on Thursday and said he apologized shortly after using the analogy.
Per ESPN, the 49-year-old “regretted mentioning 9/11 in my message that day and I immediately apologized to the team. Not only was 9/11 a horrific event in our country’s history, but a day that I lost a good family friend.”
Asked why he chose 9/11 as a reference, he said, “It was mentioning 9/11 in the context of the team meeting. The goal of the team meeting was the importance of communication and being on the same page as a team.”
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“I brought everybody together and said this was the goal, this was the intent, and I apologize if anyone whatsoever felt a certain type of way coming out of that meeting,” he explained.
“If anyone misinterpreted or didn’t understand my message, I apologize. I didn’t do a good enough job of communicating clearly the intent of my message. That was about the importance of communication and that everyone needs to be on the same page, ironically enough. So that was important to me then and still is now.”
That anyone would use a terrorist attack as such an example is baffling. After all, there are thousands of well-known instances of people getting on the same page for positive outcomes.
What was McDermott thinking?
