It’s never good when week after week, a team’s head coach has to repeatedly provide a vote of confidence for an assistant coach.
Well, that’s the point the Buffalo Bills have reached with Sean McDermott, Joe Brady and the team's offense following another disappointing loss, this one coming at the hands of the Houston Texans.
The day after Buffalo's latest defeat, McDermott was asked to evaluate Brady’s status as the team’s offensive coordinator, and as he did weeks prior, the Bills’ head coach stood up for his OC.
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Sean McDermott Joe Brady
Bills head coach Sean McDermott talks with offensive coordinator Joe Brady during drills on the opening day of Buffalo Bills training camp at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford Wednesday, July 24, 2024. / Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK
“Very confident in Joe and our offensive staff,” said McDermott to reporters at One Bills Dr. on Friday. “We’ve got a good offensive staff and they will continue to put together a plan each week that allows us to win and play our best.”
He continued, “And I just believe in those guys, I really do. And they’ve had success in years past, and I just really believe in what they do and how they do things. And I feel like we’re in a good spot.”
Brady and the Bills’ offense seemed to have figured things out during an explosive victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 11, when Buffalo scored 44 points and put up 414 yards of total offense behind Josh Allen’s six total touchdowns. But on Thursday night, the Bills reverted to their old ways, with Allen throwing two interceptions and being held without a touchdown while scoring just 19 points and recording 326 total yards against the Houston Texans.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t have to make adjustments,” McDermott added. "We’ve got to continue to make adjustments week-to-week and then within the game. And that’s what we’ll be looking for as we continue to move forward here.”
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Joe Brady, Ken Dorsey, Sean McDermott
Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey (center) with head coach Sean McDermott and quarterbacks coach Joe Brady (left) during minicamp. / Jamie Germano / USA TODAY NETWORK
When asked why he continues to have confidence in Brady, the Bills’ head coach fell back on the team’s history under its current offensive play-caller, dating back to when Brady took over midway through the 2023 season for a fired Ken Dorsey.
Brady helped right the ship immediately upon taking over for Dorsey, with the Bills averaging 27 points per game in their final seven games that season, all under the tutelage of their new OC. Then, Brady helped Allen finish the 2024 campaign as the NFL MVP, when the Bills averaged 30.9 points per game for the season. But this season, the wheels have fallen off at times. Still, McDermott remains assured that Brady is the best man for the job.
“You look at the history and what they did, let’s just go back to last season and the season before that, when Joe was new on the job, the back-half of the year and what our offensive staff, led by Joe, was able to do,” said McDermott.
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Joe Brady
Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady walks around the field looking over the team as they stretch before Bills Training Camp at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford on Aug.6, 2025. / Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Bills' head coach added, “He didn’t all of a sudden become a bad coach. Do adjustments need to be made? Clearly, they do, and I count on those guys to make those appropriate adjustments as we move forward as a football team.”
It’s been a Jekyll and Hyde-type of season for Brady’s offense, which will once again be searching for answers entering next Sunday’s meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
For fans who want Brady to be fired, it doesn’t appear as if they will get their wish anytime soon. With McDermott fully backing the Bills' offensive coordinator, Buffalo will have to get things solved with the group they have by the time the playoffs roll around, or we could be looking at an early exit followed by one incredibly long offseason for this team.
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