When Buffalo Payments proprietor Terry Pegula stepped into the crew locker room after their playoff loss to the Denver Broncos on Saturday, January 17, he was significantly struck by the sight of quarterback Josh Allen in tears. Two days later, head coach Sean McDermott was fired.
“My determination to herald a brand new coach was based mostly on the outcomes of our recreation in Denver,” Pegula, 74, stated in a press convention on Wednesday, January 21. “I wish to take you within the locker room after that recreation. I appeared round, the very first thing I observed was our quarterback together with his head down, crying.”
Pegula continued, “He sat there sobbing. He was listless. He had given the whole lot he needed to attempt to win that recreation. And looking out round, so did all the opposite gamers on the crew. I noticed the ache in Josh’s face at his presser, and I felt his ache. I do know we will do higher, and I do know we’ll get higher.”
Pegula added that when he approached Allen, 29, the quarterback “didn’t even acknowledge I used to be there.”
The Payments misplaced to the Broncos, 33-30 in additional time in Saturday’s AFC Divisional recreation, marking the seventh straight yr they completed first or second of their division, however failed to achieve the Tremendous Bowl. It was additionally their fourth loss in 5 years within the divisional spherical.
A essential second within the recreation got here when Allen appeared to attach with vast receiver Brandin Cooks on a 44-yard catch earlier than Cooks, 32, had the ball taken away by Ja’Quan McMillian of the Broncos.
What Pegula stated he thought ought to have been referred to as a catch was as an alternative dominated an interception, establishing the Broncos’ successful drive.
“I didn’t fireplace Coach [McDermott] based mostly on a nasty officiating determination,” Pegula stated. “If I can take you into that locker room, I felt like we hit the proverbial playoff wall yr after yr — 13 seconds, missed area purpose, the catch. So, I simply sensed in that locker room, like, the place can we go from right here with what we have now? And that was the idea for my determination.”
Buffalo Payments quarterback Josh Allen has no laborious emotions about Patrick Mahomes’ latest post-game meltdown. “He reached out to me, and I used to be similar to, ‘It’s soccer, it’s a recreation of emotion.’ I do know he didn’t imply something by it,” Allen, 27, informed reporters on Wednesday, December 13. “I do know the cameras sort of caught […]
Pegula additionally praised the consistency that his crew confirmed underneath McDermott’s management.
“You see groups within the league — I’m not going to say crew names — however they’ve an incredible yr, good yr, and the subsequent yr the success doesn’t proceed,” he stated. “You don’t get within the playoffs seven straight years on this Nationwide Soccer League, the place there are only a few blowouts and dozens and dozens of shut video games yearly. You don’t get there with out having expertise and an incredible group, and Brandon and his employees have introduced in, frequently, gamers.
Pegula informed reporters that he had a dialog with Allen earlier than asserting his determination that he wished to maintain non-public, however that the previous MVP didn’t have a say. He did, nonetheless, say that Allen would have enter on who the crew hires subsequent.
“We’ve an MVP quarterback in Josh Allen,” Pegula stated. “I’m wanting ahead to having a profitable teaching search. I do know this can be a fascinating job. Our telephones are ringing and we’re going to start that course of.”
