Written by Mykail Mereau
SInce 2017, head coach Sean McDermott has never loss after Bills bye week. His record after by week is 8-0 after last Sunday’s win over the San Francisco 49ers at home in snow to clinch the AFC East for a fifth consecutive year in a row. Let’s take a look at every single win for McDermott after a bye week including the game from last Sunday.
2017: Week 7 vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Following up the loss to the Bengals on the road two weeks prior, McDermott led the team to a thrilling win over the Buccaneers on a late game winning field goal from then Bills kicker Stephen Hauschka from 30 yards. The Bills superstar running back at the time LeSean McCoy had 91 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns from that game. This was the first of many wins coming after a bye week for Sean McDermott and the Buffalo Bills.
2018: Week 12 vs Jacksonville Jaguars
The returning of then rookie quarterback Josh Allen led the Bills to a nail bitter victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-21. In this game rookie Josh Allen had a big time throw to speedster rookie wide receiver Robert Foster for 75 yards resulting in a Bills touchdown. Also Allen made the Jaguars star cornerback Jalen Ramsey eat crow after the star cornerback made some comments during that offseason when he thought that Allen was “trash” and “stupid draft pick” to him. Another good win for McDermott after bye week moving him to 2-0.
2019: Week 7 vs Miami Dolphins
Buffalo returns back to home after the bye against their AFC East rival Miami Dolphins. This game had the fans in Buffalo scared as they were struggling against a team who had no wins and was clearly tanking for the top draft pick. Luckily, Bills safety Micah Hyde iced the game with onside kick return for a touchdown from 45 yards extending the Bills lead to 31-21. Allen had two touchdowns from wide receivers John Brown and Cole Beasley on the day. So the game had Bills fans panicking throughout the day, but in the end they sealed the victory over Miami as McDermott improves his bye week record to 3-0.
2020: Week 12 vs Los Angeles Chargers
After a heartbreaker in Arizona, the Bills move on forward to led past the Chargers after the bye week 27-17. This was a sloppy game for the Bills offense as Josh Allen had a average day with two touchdowns (one passing and one rushing) and one interception, but the only highlighted play from the offense was the trickery play from Cole Beasley throwing a touchdown to rookie wide receiver Gabriel Davis. The Bills defense was the only reason why Buffalo was still in this game as they had a interception by Tre’Davious White from then Chargers rookie quarterback Justin Herbert. The game was hard to watch but Buffalo came away from the win.
2021: Week 7 vs Miami Dolphins
Bills avoids a Halloween nightmare as they win ugly against the Dolphins 26-11 in Orchard Park. In the first half of the game, Bills offense didn’t look good at all, Allen about to have another bad game under 200 yards against Miami as he had the lowest quarterback rating of that season. But he found his grove in the second half of the game as he threw to two touchdowns to former Bills star wide receiver Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. And Allen ran in the endzone to seal the victory on Halloween against the Dolphins. McDermott moves on to 5-0 after bye week as the team’s head coach.
2022: Week 8 vs Green Bay Packers
After big time win over the Chiefs in Arrowhead, Buffalo comes off the bye week move over to another big time victory against back to back reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. The first half of the game was total dominance for the Bills as they were completely giving Rodgers a tough time and putting pressure on him. However in the second half of the game, Green Bay made adjustments and the Bills looked sloppy and had no adjustments made of their own. But in the end they did somehow came up with the victory over Rodgers and Green Bay on that Sunday night at home.
2023: Week 14 at Kansas City Chiefs
The Buffalo Bills season on the line coming off the bye week after losing a game they should’ve won against the Philadelphia Eagles in Lincoln Financial Field. The Bills were 6-6 around this time last year and need to win out for the remainder of the season or else they will be out of the playoff picture. So the first opponent in the last five game stretch for Buffalo was a familiar one their arch rival the Kansas City Chiefs. As usual Bills and Chiefs came down to the wire where which team would have the ball last which was the Chiefs and by many surprise Kansas City end up losing in the end as the Bills came away with heart racing win over their nemesis. And this was important for Sean McDermott after a whole week of being criticized by the national media over some comments he made to the team back in 2019. Everyone won that game for coach McDermott and had his back.
2024: Week 13 vs San Francisco 49ers
After ending the Chiefs undefeated season, the Bills gets healthy during the bye week and gets ready to play the 49ers in the snow at home last Sunday night. This was probably the best win for a coach Sean McDermott led Bills team coming off a bye week. Buffalo had total dominance over San Francisco all night long in Orchard Park. They completely manhandled the 49ers through the air and on the ground. This was a complete team effort from both sides of the ball as the Bills blizzards the Niners 35-10 at home. And also running away with the AFC East for a fifth straight year in a row. The Bills becomes the fourth team to clinch their division with five games left on the season joining the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles, 2007 New England Patriots, and 2009 Indianapolis Colts. Sean McDermott improves his record to 8-0 after a bye week.
