Losing To Mike Tomlin's Steelers In 2021 Is Still Painful For Bills' Sean McDermott: "Yea, It Sucked"

As one of the oldest franchises in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers are no strangers to close relationships across the football landscape. As football has expanded its footprint since its birth over a hundred years ago, the ties and personal networks have become more prevalent and close-knit. As the evolution of collegiate football has also expanded, those relationships and connections that begin on college campuses carry over into the NFL extremely often.

Steelers Head Coach, Mike Tomlin is one of those coaches who actively seeks new relationships while cultivating current ones. In addition to players, Tomlin’s relationships with coaches also spreads wide. As a young wide receiver at William and Mary, Tomlin began to create his incredibly unique, one-of-a-kind personality that led him to his current head coaching role in Pittsburgh. That personality garnished one of his best-known relationships in football that has grown into must-watch television whenever it is in the spotlight.

Buffalo Bills Head Coach, Sean McDermott, joined Tomlin at William and Mary. The two were close teammates from 1993 to 1994 and often squared off against each other in practice. McDermott was a stand-out safety, while Tomlin was a premier pass-catcher and captain of the team. The relationship between the two was born on a college football field and has since blossomed onto NFL sidelines as the two are a couple of the best coaches in football. McDermott joined Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take crew with Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter and described what he appreciates most about his Pittsburgh counterpart.

“I had the honor and the pleasure of playing with Mike in college and he was the same way back then,” McDermott explained. “Great leader, had great command of the English language, and had great control of his eyes at all times, which I love watching his press conferences, just watching those two things. Hearing what he says and watching his eyes. I love that guy.”

With the two coaches being in the AFC, Tomlin and McDermott’s paths cross frequently. Ironically enough, the two coach teams that are built on tough, gritty, hard-nosed mentalities with mirroring fan bases. On the field, the teams’ playstyles are fairly similar and Bills quarterback, Josh Allen has even drawn comparisons to Ben Roethlisberger. Since McDermott took over the head coaching duties in 2017, he’s constructed a Bills team that has been one of the best in recent years.

Facing Tomlin's Steelers Means More To McDermott Than Any Other Ordinary Matchup

Since 2017, Tomlin and McDermott have played against each other four times. The first came in 2019 in Pittsburgh with Devlin Hodges playing quarterback for the Steelers in their all-black Color Rush uniforms. The next matchup came a year later in 2020. McDermott’s squad won both of those games and built a 2-0 coaching record against Tomlin.

But when the Steelers and Bills kicked off their seasons in 2021 against each other, Tomlin got some revenge against his old college teammate. In what was slated to be a resounding Bills victory, the Steelers upset the then-conference champion favorite in the form of a 23-16 victory. Any time friends face each other in a competition, there is always an extra sense of competitiveness that isn’t really felt in other circumstances.

As relationships grow in football, similar instances arise for different coaches. But for McDermott, he takes matchups against Tomlin more seriously than others. When asked about how it felt to lose the game to Tomlin’s Steelers, McDermott detailed that the loss in 2021 still stings him.

“Yea, thanks for bringing that back up,” he scoffed. “Yea, it (sucked). There’s always that, its like in some ways going against your brother in the backyard, and as much as you pull for them when you’re not playing them, when you play them, you want to beat them. And they want to beat us, beat me. Yea, you kind of put a little more into it.”

That increased sense of competitiveness could arguably derive from the profound respect the two coaches have for one another. Another way to word it could be as simple as, “to be the best, you have to beat the best." Although there may be better teams in the league in a given year on paper, Tomlin and McDermott view each other as two of the best coaches in the NFL and game plan under that notion.

After the dominate Bills victory in 2022, McDermott currently holds a 3-1 record against Tomlin as a head coach. Although they won’t be meeting in the upcoming 2023 regular season, Tomlin and the Steelers are set to host McDermott and the Bills in their second preseason game on August 19th. But after hearing McDermott and knowing now how he approaches games against his friend Tomlin, we can expect that matchup to take a similar shape of a potential forecast for an upcoming playoff game. We may see a preseason game that means a little bit more than merely a dress rehearsal for the upcoming season.

Did you know about the relationship between Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott? What are you expecting from the upcoming preseason game? Let us know in the comments below!

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