Bills Rightfully Ripped for Embarrassing Mistake in Sean McDermott Firing Statement

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The Bills announced a surprising move on Monday morning as they decided to fire Sean McDermott after his ninth season as head coach. The move came just a few days after Buffalo lost to Denver in the divisional round in a game that could have gone their way if not for a couple of controversial calls in overtime.
How the team announced the move came with a lot of criticism, and rightfully so. The Bills did the usual thing of putting out a lengthy statement from owner Terry Pegula in which he explained the decision while giving McDermott his flowers for the good job that he did during his tenure.
But people on social media were quick to notice a pretty bad typo in the first sentence. It read: “Sean has done an admiral job of leading our football team for the past nine seasons."
Admiral. Not admirable. Admiral. Five words into the statement! That's just a bad look for the Bills.
Here's the statement:
Statement from Bills owner Terry Pegula, via @BuffaloBills: pic.twitter.com/j9QWsk9cdL
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 19, 2026
The team apparently learned of that mistake and corrected it in the email blast that it sent out to fans.
Weird. The Bills fixed it in the email blast that just went out https://t.co/2zXM0HQ2k2 pic.twitter.com/1rHGK1aPzW
— Dave Greber (@DaveGreber4) January 19, 2026
While the Bills will now begin their search for a new coach (with a familiar name quickly being linked to the opening), social media had fun blasting them for making such a bad mistake in their statement about McDermott.
nightmare fuel: having a typo 5 words into the quote from ownership firing a head coach https://t.co/OX7ib3a8lN
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) January 19, 2026
Using "admiral" instead of "admirable" in the first sentence of a controversial head coach firing is a brutal mistake. Truly a captain offense. https://t.co/dHqk8wTPMs
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) January 19, 2026
At least McDermott can hold his head high knowing he did an admiral job. pic.twitter.com/14Os5U3rFT
— Bradley Gelber (@BradleyGelber) January 19, 2026
A multi BILLION DOLLAR company can't proofread its announcement about firing its multi-million dollar employee.#BillsMafia #BuffaloBills https://t.co/rJRCGJj8Jw pic.twitter.com/fjMl6bvxy8
— E.A. Bruce (@NeoMyers) January 19, 2026
“Admiral job” #BillsMafia https://t.co/3LRhTrM8Sc pic.twitter.com/vsOmVd2i80
— Craig MacCormack (@CraigMacCormack) January 19, 2026
The Buffalo Bills official statement ...
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano) January 19, 2026
But what is "an admiral job"? pic.twitter.com/2BVGpK39kt
“Admiral” 😬😬😬😬😬😬
— Adam Zuckerman 🦬 ⚾️ (@AZuckermanVA) January 19, 2026
Proof, proof, and proof again. #BillsMafia https://t.co/ETlM83mMbd
Tough few days for the Bills.
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Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.
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