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Bill Belichick had a coaching masterpiece in Week 13's Monday Night Football game after his New England Patriots grinded out a 14-10 win over the Buffalo Bills. However, it seems Bills head coach Sean McDermott got tired of hearing all the praise for his counterpart.
The Patriots surprised a lot of people with their strategy against the Bills. Amid harsh environmental conditions, Belichick and Co. opted to emphasize their run game in the contest. Mac Jones attempted only three passes against Buffalo–completing two–while 46 of their 49 plays were all on the ground.
While it was not the most beautiful win, to say the least, the fact is Belichick guided his team well to the victory.
Nonetheless, during his postgame presser, McDermott seemed to take a shot at Belichick and his play-calling for the Patriots. The Bills coach appeared to suggest people are giving the legendary tactician more praise than he deserves:
“Let’s not give more credit than we need to give credit to Bill Belichick in this one. Whether it was Bill or anybody else, they beat us, right? But you sit here and you tell me when we start with an average starting field position of the 40-yard line and he starts with the 23-yard line—I’m rounding up in both cases—and we were 1-for-4 in the red zone and they were 0-for-1 in the red zone? You give me that ahead of time, I’d say I like my chances. I like my chances,” McDermott said, per NESN.
“I don’t think, with all due respect, it’s not a Bill Belichick-type thing. It’s, what are you doing with the opportunities you got? What are you doing with the opportunities you got? We turned the ball over on the plus-30-something yard line. Sloppy football. Sloppy football. I’m very comfortable in that situation.”
For what it's worth, Sean McDermott's remarks about Bill Belichick didn't stop there. He also questioned the Patriots' decision to have N'Keal Harry field the first punt of his career–in the middle of basically a tornado no less. Of course it ended in an epic fail.
Simply put, McDermott suggested that it was a bad decision:
“The same reason that they turned it over on their punt return team—I wasn’t willing to do that. So, I wanted to put a guy back there that I trusted that was gonna make good decisions with the ball,” McDermott added.
Criticisms aside, Belichick is unlikely to care about McDermott's comments. After all, they have every reason to celebrate after getting a much-needed win that solidifies their place at the top of the AFC standings. While the work is far from over, they'll be happy with the fact that they are able to quickly adjust and take the victory even in tough conditions.
As for McDermott and the Bills, they know the road just got tougher for them in their bid to make it to the postseason. Perhaps that's where the frustration is coming from?
