A motivational speech that the Buffalo Bills' Sean McDermott gave to his team four years ago is now coming back to haunt him. Per NBC News, journalist Tyler Dunne published a recent article on his Go Long portal about a 2019 meeting during Bills training camp in which the head coach tried to inspire players on the subject of teamwork—and decided to invoke the terrorists' actions on 9/11 as the foundation of his pep talk. "He cited the hijackers as a group of people who were all able to get on the same page to orchestrate attacks to perfection," Dunne wrote, noting that McDermott was said to have asked the team questions such as "What tactics do you think they used to come together?" and "What do you think their biggest obstacle was?"
"A veteran answered, 'TSA,' which mercifully lightened the mood," Dunne writes. He notes that as players recalled McDermott's comments, "one player's eyes [widened] into saucers, horrified. One almost [fell] over, clapping and laughing hysterically. One [cut] the question off before it's asked, as if pleading the Fifth: 'I ain't talking about that.'" McDermott said Thursday that he apologized to the team about an hour after the speech, and that after Dunne's article was published this week, he felt the need to address it again.
"My intent in that meeting that day was to discuss the importance of communication and being on the same page with the team," an emotional McDermott told reporters. "I regretted mentioning 9/11 in my message that day, and I immediately apologized to the team." He described 9/11 as a "horrific event in our country's history" and added that he lost a "good family friend" on that day. The AP notes that McDermott "paused on several occasions, choosing his words carefully while tears welled in his eyes." (More Buffalo Bills stories.)
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