INDIANAPOLIS - Bills second-year head coach Sean McDermott was one of the first few men to step to the microphone Wednesday morning at the Indianapolis Convention Center for the first day of media access at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine.
The Buffalo leader arrives in Indy coming off his franchise's first playoff appearance since 1999, bringing some momentum to the organization. But a Wild Card Weekend loss like last month's is obviously far from the end goal.
That's especially true in the AFC East, where the Bills and the rest of the competition continue to chase a Patriots team that annually advances to the AFC title game or beyond.
"We've got a lot of work to do," McDermott declared. "You mention the Patriots and the season that they just had. Congrats to them and their organization and the Philadelphia Eagles, congrats to them as well. I think we all work to get to where they are. That said, we had a good season and yet we have a lot of work to do. And so hungry is a great word. We have to stay humble and hungry and embrace that mindset."
As the Bills strive to advance and evolve, they'll do so with a bit of the Patriots success being added to the program. Buffalo hired former Patriots assistant coach Brian Daboll, who won a national title fall in his first and only season leading the offense at Alabama, as the team's new offensive coordinator. Daboll spent two different stints on Bill Belichick's staff in New England, from 2000-2006 and again from 2013-2016. He brings that experience as well as previous coordinator jobs with the Browns, Dolphins and Chiefs, to his new role in Buffalo.
"Well there are a lot of benefits to adding a coach like Brian Daboll," McDermott explained. "Obviously he's been around winning, much like I have, being around a great coach in Bill Belichick and myself with Andy [Reid]. When you look at his experience now in the college game adding to what he already had in terms of his acumen and knowledge and wisdom of the pro game in that system. So for us it was a good fit. Obviously him being from Buffalo was an added benefit as well."
It will be interesting to see just how much of what Daboll installs in the Bills new offense will resemble what he was familiar with from more than a decade in New England working in the Patriots Tom Brady-led attack.
