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Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott finishes second in Coach of the Year voting

The Associated Press went a different direction.

Matt Warren is Associate Director of NFL coverage for SB Nation and previously covered the Bills for Buffalo Rumblings for more than a decade.

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was named the league’s Coach of the Year by the Associated Press at Saturday night’s NFL Honors ceremony prior to the Super Bowl. Coming in second place was Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott followed by Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores in third place.

McDermott guided his team to a 13-3 record in the regular season and the AFC Championship Game. Over the last several years he’s built a great culture inside One Bills Drive and this year they took a big step on the field, winning the AFC East for the first time in a generation. That wasn’t enough for McDermott, who also didn’t win the award when the Bills broke their 17-year playoff drought.

Conversely, Stefanski was rewarded for ending the Browns’ 17-year playoff drought in 2020. The Browns finished the year 11-5 and third in their division with a negative point differential. He is Cleveland’s seventh coach in the last nine years.

Flores and the Dolphins went on a great run to the cusp of a playoff berth of their own, but were steamrolled in Week 17 by the Bills and knocked out of the playoffs. They finished the year 10-6.