In a 35-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers at home in Orchard Park, HC Sean McDermott’s record coming out of the bye week remained perfect and the Buffalo Bills looked the part of a playoff contender.
The team won its fifth straight AFC East crown as only the eighth team in NFL history to clinch a division title with five games still remaining in the regular season.
The club has scored 30 or more points in six straight games and won seven straight since total since early season back-to-back losses against Baltimore and Houston.
The Bills have punched their ticket to the postseason, and head coach Sean McDermott was feeling celebratory while being interviewed on the field after the victory by ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter.
When quarterback Josh Allen surprised him by trotting up and saying “coach of the year” into the microphone, McDermott replied, “I want to see an angel, a snow angel. C’mon. Let’s go.”
Just some Sean McDermott and Josh Allen snow angels while chatting with @notthefakeSVP pic.twitter.com/R0Yp4DyYT0
— Alaina Getzenberg (@agetzenberg) December 2, 2024
Allen happily obliged him, sharing a wholesome moment with his coach.
“He’s the one who got me to do it,” The QB said to the press postgame. “I was just trying to give him some flowers. He was live on TV and anytime coach asks you to do something you do it. I’m a good soldier. I’m not the biggest snow angel fan because you get cold down there. My toes are freezing right now. I’m just trying to get in the shower, but it was fun.”
McDermott made good on a halftime challenge made by backup tight end Zach Davidson.
“We were coming down the tunnel at halftime and Zach Davidson tapped me on the hip and said ‘Hey, if we win this game you got to do a snow angel.’ I said ‘Alright, you got it,’” The coach shared. “I guess I followed through on my promise.”
By clinching their division the Bills are now guaranteed a home game in the playoffs in Buffalo, though with McDermott and the team’s record coming off a bye week, another one might be in store, as could more home games in the postseason.
The players and coaching staff will next turn their focus to road matchups against the Rams and Lions, in pursuit of the No. 1 AFC playoff seed and first-round bye.
With the heartbreak, the Bills and their fans have experienced at home in the divisional round of the playoffs the last two seasons, McDermott knows all too well what a bye and a win to advance back to the AFC Championship would mean.
“I think this is this place that is starting to become a place around the NFL now that people come and they see this and they’re going, ‘I want to be a part of this.’”