ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Joe Brady did not dismiss the past while looking ahead to leading the Buffalo Bills into the future as their head coach.
Before outlining his vision to bring the same attacking element to defense as he introduced to Buffalo’s Josh Allen-led offense as its coordinator for the past two-plus seasons, Brady first paid tribute to his immediate predecessor during his opening news conference on Thursday.
Brady acknowledged he’d otherwise be starting from scratch without Sean McDermott laying the foundation of sustained success and a winning culture over a nine-season tenure that ended with his firing last week.
The challenge now for Brady is taking a franchise that’s accomplished everything but reach the Super Bowl one step further.
“I understand that I’m walking into this role in a much better position than Coach McDermott did. I’m not naive to that,” Brady said.
“I also understand that the expectations are higher as well. I didn’t take this job to shy away from expectations. I sure as hell did not do that,” he added. “I’m embracing it. I’m understanding it. And I’m meeting it full on.”
The 36-year-old Brady has big shoes to fill after McDermott went 98-50 in the regular season and 8-8 in the playoffs — ranking second on the team in wins behind only Hall of Famer Marv Levy — and transforming the Bills from long-time losers to perennial winners.
And Brady has a challenge in addressing the team’s postseason shortcomings.
Owner Terry Pegula believed the Bills had reached “the proverbial playoff wall” in deciding to fire McDermott two days after a 33-30 overtime loss at Denver in the divisional playoff round. It marked Buffalo’s third consecutive playoff loss to be decided by three points. And the Bills became the NFL’s first team to win a playoff round in six straight years but not reach the Super Bowl.
Brady was hired on Tuesday following a six-day search process in which the Bills held nine interviews before deciding to hire their only in-house candidate.
Though he has no previous head coaching experience, Brady brings an element of continuity and familiarity to a team on a seven-year playoff run, and led by an elite quarterback in Allen.
“We all know Joe. Joe is a brilliant offensive mind,” general manager Brandon Beane said of an offense that produced the AP NFL MVP in Allen a year ago, and featured the NFL’s rushing leader in James Cook this season.
“Joe’s offenses know how to attack in many different ways,” Beane added. “But what I and our team learned through this process was Joe’s vision for how he would run an entire football team.”
Brady is from Florida, played collegiately at William & Mary, and broke into the NFL coaching ranks as an offensive assistant on Sean Payton’s staff in New Orleans from 2017 and ’18. Brady then left to become passing game coordinator on an LSU team — featuring Joe Burrow at quarterback — that won the 2019 national championship.
Brady returned to the NFL as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator before being fired before completing his second season in 2022, and hired as the Bills quarterbacks coach a year later.
Brady credited Payton, now coaching in Denver, for providing him “a doctorate degree on offense.” And it’s an approach he wants to carry over to the entire team.
“The mentality as we go forward that it is a nameless, faceless opponent that we’re going against, and they’ve got to play us and not the other way around. And I mean that with everything,” Brady said.
“It does not matter the day of the week. The time of the day. Is it outside? Is it inside? It doesn’t matter. Just put the damn ball down and let’s go play.”
Brady took the podium with Allen seated in the front row, and with the silhouette of the Bills new $2.1 billion stadium evident through the shaded windows of team’s training facility.
“Culture starts with them,” Brady said, pointing to Allen and several teammates in the crowd. “The men in the locker room set the culture, regardless of who the head coach is. And it’s my job to make sure I’m allowing them to be their personality, allowing them to play to their personality.”
Allen, walking with crutches after having surgery for a broken bone in his right foot, played a role in the search process by sitting in on candidate interviews.
The quarterback lamented playing a role in McDermott’s firing.
“If I make one more play that game in Denver, we’re probably not having this press conference right now. We’re probably not making a change and in all honesty,” he said, before backing Brady. “I’m very looking forward to Joe and guys getting behind him and rallying behind him and understanding his vision because I do believe in it.”
Brady’s immediate priority is building out his staff with openings at defensive, offensive and special teams coordinator and various other positions.
Brady’s hiring still raised questions over the team’s vision. Though he brings continuity and has a tight relationship with Allen, Brady’s also spent four seasons as part of a coaching staff that fell short of Super Bowl aspirations.
Though Buffalo’s offense scored 24 or more points in each of its past three playoff losses, the unit has struggled in the clutch.
Buffalo’s final drives in each of those losses ended with an interception in overtime against Denver earlier this postseason; turning the ball over on downs at midfield in a 32-29 loss to Kansas City last season; and a missed field goal in a 27-24 loss to Kansas City in 2023.
“I’m just as responsible, right?” Brady said, noting the five turnovers the Bills committed against Denver were on him, not the players. “Josh Allen is the best player in the NFL, and I have to grow.”
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