McDermott’s firing suggests the Bills hold him to blame, but observers collectively point to Buffalo’s shortcomings on both offense and defense as a significant factor in its departure, questioning Pegula’s decision to retain general manager Brandon Beane, whom Pegula rewarded with McDmott’s additional title the same day he was McD’s president.
Pegula remained steadfast in his belief in Beane, who sat next to him on Wednesday.
“I want to express my confidence in the man sitting next to me, Brandon Beane, and the work he’s done to bring this franchise back to life,” Pegula said. “I’m not going to sit here and defend everything we’ve done as a franchise. But the bottom line is we’ve attracted good people here.
“I know there’s criticism out there about our franchise. Does anyone know what the numbers 5, 2, 3, 2, 2, 2, 6 represent? … That’s our seeding for the last seven years in the playoffs. 5, 2, 3, 2, 2, 2, 6. Organization without having a great player without having a great player. to have that kind of success without having good project list.”
While Pegula is right to acknowledge Beane’s accomplishments in turning the Bills into a perennial contender, it’s important to acknowledge that Buffalo’s 2025 team was one of the weakest in the last five years. Injuries to receivers exposed their lack of depth at the position — a group that has lacked a true top target since moving on from Stefon Diggs and trying to trade him for Keon Coleman, the 33rd overall pick in 2024 — and defensive ends like Joey Bosa failed to produce in the most important games. Even beloved cornerback Tre’Davious White — a veteran who proved indispensable in Buffalo’s Wild Card weekend win over Jacksonville — found himself on the wrong end of a key play in the divisional loss when Marvin Mims Jr.
That streak — as well as an earlier key play in which Allen was intercepted (which is still disputed by mainstream Bills fans and Pegula himself) — condemned Buffalo to an all-too-familiar fate. This time, the aftermath of playoff heartbreak was accompanied by coaching firings, the result of too much postseason pain for one franchise to bear.
“I didn’t fire a coach based on a bad refereeing decision,” Pegula said. “If I can take you into the locker room, I felt like we were going to the proverbial wall in the playoffs, year after year. Thirteen seconds. Missed field goals. Catch. So I just sensed in that locker room, like, where do we go from here and we have? And that was the basis of my decision.”