Bill Belichick raves about Bills HC Sean McDermott's defense

Bill Belichick made a habit of defeating the Buffalo Bills during his decade-long tenure as an NFL head coach, compiling a 37-12 record against the team during his 24 years at the helm of the division rival New England Patriots. The Bills have long been a doormat in the division for Belichick and Co., not posing much of a threat for nearly 20 straight years while the secondary boss built a dynasty in New England. Things began to change when Sean McDermott took the reins in Buffalo, as he was the one who would ultimately coach the team that would dethrone the Patriots as all-time division champions.

McDermott didn't get his first win against Belichick until 2020, but from that point on he never looked back, compiling a 7-2 record against New England (including playoffs) from the turn of the decade until the legendary coach said goodbye Patriots after the 2023 season. Belichick still leads his best head-to-head series against McDermott at 8-7, but the Buffalo coach gave the mastermind fits in the latter part of his career, something he said on a recent episode of The CW highlighted Within the NFL.

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The six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach dedicated a section to McDermott's defensive plan, explaining two plays the Bills' defense made in their Week 3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars that serve as a microcosm of his strategy.

You can watch the full clip below:

Belichick praised the unpredictability of McDermott's defense and the coach's ability to disguise plays, highlighting one play in particular in which Buffalo disguised a four-man rush as a blitz attack.

“We can’t predict what McDermott will call, we just don’t know,” Belichick said. “They have a lot of variety in what they do. They'll get great stealth with the linebackers and the corners will move on and off the outside receivers. We just won’t know what it is until after the snap.”

It would be remiss not to mention that Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich plays in Buffalo, but he grew up under McDermott's tutelage and essentially runs a version of the head coach's defense. Belichick summarized his thoughts with a later quote, once again raving about the unpredictability of McDermott's plan.

“It's just so hard to see this defense until after the snap,” Belichick said. “Then you know what they're doing, but if you try to guess with them before the snap, you're just going to guess wrong a lot.”

McDermott gets a lot of criticism from the Buffalo faithful, often with good reason; However, he is undeniably an outstanding defensive coach, so much so that one of the greatest defensive and general minds in the history of the game spent an entire segment of a television show praising his plan.

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