Archives for February 25, 2025

‘“To me there’s always been an injury risk with that play and I’ve expressed that opinion for the last couple of years or so when it really started to come into play the way it’s been used, especially a year ago,” McDermott said Monday at the NFL scouting combine. “I just feel like player safety, and the health and safety of our players has to be at the top of our game, which it is. It’s just that that play to me has always been – or the way that the techniques that are used with that play to me, have been potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players.”‘

‘I thought the objective was to gain a yard – or 2 yards – by any allowed means. For a team like the Bills, it’s using quarterback/armored tank Josh Allen with a push from running back James Cook, fullback Reggie Gilliam or even wide receiver Khalil Shakir. The rule should stand. It’s up to the defense to stop it by not letting teams get into third- and fourth-and-short.’

‘McDermott confirmed the firing of special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley. At his end-of-season press conference, McDermott had voiced his confidence in Smiley and said that he would be back. Shortly after, reports came out that Smiley had been fired. McDermott clarified that he wanted to fully sort through the decision before finalizing it. “Yeah, I did. I can confirm that,” McDermott said Monday. “It’s a hard business, right? Unfortunate part of the business, but a hard part of my job. And those decisions are hard decisions. And so, I know what I said after the season there, and for me, it’s wanting to take my time and go through it and making sure that I fully evaluate the position, but also where we need to go with that position. And so that was the reason for the timing on it. Matthew Smiley, he’s a heck of a person, a heck of a coach, and I can’t thank him and his family enough.”’

‘It is the team that has the authority to determine what groups get funding, and that funding won’t always be in cash or grants. Sometimes it will be in services or other forms, the team said. And the oversight committee, they said, functions only as an adviser.’