Far be it from me to question the decisions of a successful NFL coach, but we can sure flag the optics.
On Tuesday, the Bills fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey after an embarrassing loss to the Broncos on Monday Night Football. This is, unfortunately, part of the business. Coaches who find themselves backed into a corner are often pressured to make moves or feel as if they don’t have a choice. Maybe that’s how Sean McDermott feels now. Buffalo, at 5–5, is trying to reenter the playoff picture and had one-time rising coaching star Joe Brady—the same LSU coordinator who birthed the Joe Burrow offense—sitting as a logical successor to Dorsey. At season’s beginning, Dorsey was certainly mentioned among coordinators who could wind up interviewing for head coaching vacancies in 2024.
But to fire the offensive coordinator the night after the Bills lost primarily because of two actions that trace directly from the head coach’s chair seems callous and a little off the mark. Again, maybe McDermott knows something we don’t. But maybe, just a little bit, he is also allowing someone to take the brunt of an oncoming bus.
