Sean McDermott praises mentor Andy Reid after Bills beat Chiefs

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott probably wouldn’t say it, but topping Andy Reid had to have a little something extra on it this past Sunday. Reid was the first coach to hire McDermott, and the first to fire him.

“I have learned a lot from him, on and off the field,” said McDermott after the game. “Any time you can beat an Andy Reid coached football team, that is saying something. But you go back to a lot of the things we do, I learned from Andy and that is not going to change. He laid out a blueprint for me for 12 years of how to do things the right way and that is why he is where he is in terms of the all-time wins list. I think he is top 12, top 10, somewhere up there. That does not happen by mistake or by accident.”

McDermott’s first NFL job was as a scouting administrative coordinator with Reid’s Eagles, eventually being promoted to defensive coordinator in Philadelphia. Two years later Reid fired him but obviously the relationship has stayed strong. In all, they spent over a decade together in Philadelphia.

"When he called me in, he said, 'Hey, you grew up here, you replaced a legend. I'm not sure it's ever going to be enough,'" McDermott told reporters this July when asked why he was fired.

"I think some of that has to stay between Andy and I," McDermott continued. "We know sometimes thing happen. But the part that I took from it was what I could learn from it to better myself. It was a defining moment for my career and one that I'll use to help my kids as they go through their careers also."

McDermott didn’t come out on top when he faced his other mentor, Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera, this September.

Several of Buffalo’s coaches worked under Reid at some point, as well.