ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The accounts from the beginning of the Sean McDermott era in Buffalo always include similar notes.
He had many rules to follow — a strictness that came from establishing a new culture.
Video games, billiards and air hockey tables were taken out of the locker room.
Explicit music wasn’t allowed.
Hats were barred from meetings. Players had to dress up for plane rides to away games.
Players were announced out of the tunnel all at once before home games — which some veteran players took issue with.
McDermott, now nine seasons in as head coach of the Bills, has built an AFC contender year after year — led by quarterback Josh Allen for the past eight of those seasons. There have been two AFC Championship Game appearances, five straight division titles and countless records broken.
As time has passed, cornhole has become a mainstay in the Bills’ locker room. There’s a hockey game table in the middle of one section of the locker room across from a small golf putting area and a table for card games.
In recent seasons, a DJ was brought in to play music in the locker room.
Plane attire varies from player to player.
Starters are announced one at a time on game day.
These are the elements that McDermott, 51, has let up on. He has passed on some of the expectations of leadership to players who have been in the building for many years.
“He came in and set the foundation that he wanted, and then he got the vets that he wanted to lead the team the way he wanted it, and that was a rite of passage … like, here you go,” defensive tackle Jordan Phillips said. “You guys have earned my respect. I’mma lay off a little bit.”
McDermott’s background working under then-Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid from 1999-2010 gave an example to McDermott of how to achieve success. He observed Reid not putting himself in the spotlight and wanted to emulate.
“There’s coaches that create distractions for their team and then they can’t focus, and so, there are already distractions,” McDermott said. “You just try and limit those as much as you can. Now, there’s a delicate sweet spot in there that I’ve tried to find lately, because I also saw where you want people to really know the true you, in particular, the team first. And that’s a moving target, I think, too.”
But the questions mount over the Bills not reaching a Super Bowl during his tenure.
The Bills came into this season with the highest of expectations and are off to a 4-1 start ahead of Monday’s game at the Atlanta Falcons (7:15 p.m. ET, ESPN). McDermott sat down with ESPN in the summer and discussed, along with those who work alongside him, how his views and mental approach have changed over time, from his coordinators to work-life balance.
A RECENT MODELING campaign McDermott did with local men’s clothing store and tailor BUREAU received attention online. The photos and video campaigns feature McDermott in a variety of outfits, including tailored suits, a professional track suit, a shacket and a collared shirt and baseball hat.
Wide receiver Gabe Davis quipped to McDermott that he hopes that he looks like that when he is the coach’s age. Left tackle Dion Dawkins, who was part of McDermott’s first draft class in 2017, said that he never thought the day would come when McDermott would be comfortable showing himself that way.
Linebackers coach Al Holcomb said that McDermott’s personality hasn’t changed since he met him when both were with the Carolina Panthers, but Holcomb has seen McDermott be a little more flexible as he has grown in his role. Running backs coach Kelly Skipper, who has been with McDermott during his entire tenure in Buffalo, noted how as the head coach, you learn that the role is more about the players.
“You learn the players and how you practice, whether it’s sports science, incorporating all that stuff,” Skipper said. “It’s all encompassing in what you do, how you practice, different things like that. But he’s always been very detailed on what he’s doing. That hasn’t changed.”
The players have appreciated the approach, with his recent addition of “dad joke Fridays” — it’s agreed that the jokes are terrible and cringy, but beloved at the same time.