Bills ‘Hard Knocks' takeaways: Sean McDermott tries to rally sluggish team

New York Times

a day ago

Sean McDermott is getting upset.
It's one thing to be 0-2 in the preseason. It's another to play so poorly that 'Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills' finds it appropriate to use Public Enemy's 'The Hits Just Keep on Comin' as the background music to lowlights of your team getting drummed.
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That was the main undercurrent of Tuesday night's episode. The Bills' head coach was frustrated with what his players had yet to show even before the Chicago Bears mauled their backups 38-0 Sunday night at Soldier Field.
'Hard Knocks' opened with McDermott delivering to the entire team a speech about a mindset that still hadn't surfaced.
'Offensively, we're always trying to score,' McDermott said. 'We always should be on the attack. Defensively, I want you to attack. Special teams, I want you to attack. You think about that. When you face a team that you feel is on the attack, you can feel it. That's the type of mindset we have to have. How hungry am I? How hungry am I that I want to attack?'
Then came a quasi-challenge.
'When you're good one year, it does not guarantee … that you're going to be good the next year,' McDermott continued. 'I'm just telling you that, right? We had a really good offense, had a great offense last year. There is no guarantee that we're going to be a great offense this year.
'It does not happen in the NFL that way, and some of you guys need to start to understand that and wake up. That's the truth.
'This league is hard. It's hard to sustain success, and it's hard to be good two years in a row. People study you. They study you as an individual. They study us as an offense, defensive, special teams. We've got to get going.
'I want to feel some more guys that I'm used to feeling but I haven't been feeling this year yet. We need to feel you. We need to feel your hunger and how bad you want it and what you're willing to do to go get it. That's how this thing's been built, and that's who you are. Start being you.'
All that talk about hunger, coupled with Chicago scoring touchdowns on four of its first five possessions, led usually mute linebacker Matt Milano to utter his first words of the series. And it was a food reference.
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Milano's rare quote came after a montage of false starts, dropped passes, blown assignments, missed tackles and bad throws.
'Bro, 27-doughnut is crazy,' Milano said to linebacker Terrel Bernard and left tackle Dion Dawkins, both of whom just nodded, before the extra point made the score 28-doughnut.
The Bills failed to move the chains on eight third-down and two fourth-down attempts.
We're live with Coach McDermott after our preseason game against the Bears. #BUFvsCHI | #BillsMafia https://t.co/TvywFhECn9
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 18, 2025
McDermott articulated his aggravation again in postgame news conference (briefly touched upon by 'Hard Knocks') and his media availability Tuesday afternoon (too late to make the show). He made pointed comments about needing players to step up, particularly at safety.
Sounds like a good subject for next week's episode.
Newly signed linebacker Jimmy Ciarlo and defensive back Ja'Marcus Ingram received early attention and were monitored throughout the show, including highlights in Chicago.
Ciarlo, undrafted out of Army in 2023, spent time in two New York Jets camps without seeing game action. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 2024 preseason opener.
McDermott, in a team meeting, highlighted Ciarlo's dramatic tackle on a kickoff return against the New York Giants.
'Whoever is on the field, it doesn't matter,' McDermott said to the room. 'This is what we're looking for: physical, nasty, making plays, flying around, being a difference-maker.
'There's going to be three guys that make this team solely on special teams because of plays like this.'
McDermott asked where Ciarlo was sitting in the theater. Ciarlo raised a hand.
A new exemplar emerged to prove McDermott's grand point from the opening scene.
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'That's a heck of a play, man,' McDermott said. 'I know you just joined us a couple days ago, man, great job. That's playoff-caliber work right there. So your reps are going to move up; I'm just telling you. You make plays like this in any capacity, in any phase, you earn more playing time.
'I don't care what your name is, where you were drafted, what your status was last year. Don't really care. You earn the right to play on this team.'
Ingram, the relentless University at Buffalo alum, was spotlighted for his dedication to the mental side of the game. He talks to himself a lot, offering constant reminders to stay within that given moment. Visualization and manifesting are principal to his training. Ingram's post-practice routine includes walking a lap around the field with team psychologist Desaree Festa to sift his thoughts.
'I've done it since my second year, just talking through how my day was, how my practice went,' Ingram said. 'It helped me iron it out and try to make it better.
'When I take that lap, it's like a spiritual aspect, putting my positivity out, visualize what I want to see happen. So it puts you in a good space so that you can be better today than you were yesterday.'
Sunday night, Ciarlo made three tackles on 31 defensive snaps and another return stuff on his game-high 16 special-teams plays. Ingram made one tackle on 42 defensive snaps and eight special-teams plays.
After spending three combined minutes on the subject over the first two episodes, 'Hard Knocks' dedicated five whole minutes to running back James Cook ending his hold-in with a four-year contract extension.
But even better was defensive tackle Ed Oliver taking running back Ty Johnson horseback riding out in the bucolic countryside, although not until after Oliver made him shovel out a stall.
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Oliver also revealed some of his 30 horses' names, including Chaos, Don Julio and Panty Snatcher.
At the Bills-Bears joint practice Friday, veteran cornerback Tre'Davious White wrung what seemed like 8 ounces of sweat from each of his socks, while rookie Max Hairston looked on in a combination of amazement and semi-horror.
'I can't even plant and break,' White said as he grabbed a fresh pair to put on his feet. 'He gave me the Dollar General socks!'
'All in a day's work, Max. I love this s—-, bruh.'
You are NOT prepared for how much sweat comes out of Tre White's socks 🫢🤢
New #HardKnocks: Training Camp with the@BuffaloBills tonight at 9pm ET on @hbomaxpic.twitter.com/k5VlN0ENVc
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) August 19, 2025
Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich obviously took some notes from McDermott, stopping practice to tear into his players for going through the motions.
'We talked about it at the beginning of this,' Babich yelled. 'We need leadership and tone-setters! Ball is bouncing outside of us! That was f—— garbage! I'm going to be flat honest. That was garbage. It's a f—— mentality every day! Every day! Do we understand that? Does anybody disagree that s— was not acceptable?'
Based on what happened a few nights later in Chicago, they did not, in fact, understand that.
(Top photo of Sean McDermott: Matt Marton / Imagn Images)
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