WATCH: Beef Between Buffalo Bills' Sean McDermott & New York Giants' Brian Daboll?
It's tradition for NFL players and coaches to share postgame handshakes, but those formalities rarely become stories on their own.
Well, that's exactly what happened after Sunday night's game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants. After a controversial ending where many thought the Bills got away with a pass interference on the final play, Buffalo coach Sean McDermott met with New York coach Brian Daboll, his former offensive coordinator. Despite the two sharing a good deal of history together, they barely interacted at all after the game, just sharing an extremely quick handshake and a pat on the back.
A handshake that short would be strange enough, but it's even stranger when the two coaches worked together so extensively. This strange interaction has led many to ask the question, is there a rift between McDermott and Daboll?
McDermott and Daboll during a game in 2018.
Mark Konezny, USA TODAY Sports
Believe it or not, it's not the first time such a question has been asked. In March 2022, shortly after Daboll took the Giants job, speculation arose that he may not have been back as the Bills' offensive coordinator anyway. Even the infamous lawsuit by former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who accused the NFL of racial discrimination, claimed that the relationship between McDermott and Daboll was a tenuous one. Both coaches denied any potential feud, but the speculation was rampant nonetheless.
“Look, when you go through a season, there’s 17 games plus preseason," McDermott told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle at the time. "We’ve won a lot of games and through that there’s conversations that take place that get hard, right. Not every conversation on good teams and thriving teams, like we’ve been, are going to be easy. But no, I had no issue with Brian and I’m super happy for him and his family and the opportunity that they have in front of them.”
The whole interaction gets even stranger when looking at Daboll's postgame interaction with Bills quarterback Josh Allen. While Daboll barely acknowledged McDermott, he shared an embrace with Allen and the two even exchanged some apparently kind words.
It's entirely possible, if not likely, that the reaction to this handshake is completely overblown. After all, Sunday's game was very chippy, even including a fight in the second half, and following the controversial ending, it's not unreasonable that the coaches wouldn't be too chipper.
However, considering that McDermott usually takes more time to talk with opposing coaches, it's hard not to speculate about a potential rift.
