Culture Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott apologises for using 9/11 hijackers as example of teamwork - The 49-year-old reportedly said the attackers had carried out their plans to "perfection" as he gave a motivational talk to his players.

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Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott apologises for using 9/11 hijackers as example of teamwork
The 49-year-old reportedly said the attackers had carried out their plans to "perfection" as he gave a motivational talk to his players.

The head coach of American football team Buffalo Bills has apologised for using the September 11 hijackers as an example of teamwork during a talk with his players.

Sean McDermott said he regretted making the reference at a training camp session in 2019 and that he "immediately" said sorry to his team following the incident.

McDermott "cited the hijackers as a group of people who were all able to get on the same page to orchestrate attacks to perfection," according to a report by US journalist and blogger Tyler Dunne.

He then reportedly quizzed his players about what obstacles the attackers had faced, as well as asking them: "What tactics do you think they used to come together?"

Players were said to be stunned by the "strange" comments, with one member of the team left "horrified", Dunne said.

Nearly 3,000 people died during the September 11 attacks in 2001, when 19 men hijacked four passenger planes before crashing them into targets including the World Trade Center in New York.

The attempt to steer the fourth plane into a high-profile target, possibly the White House, failed when passengers staged a rebellion, causing the aircraft to crash in a field in Pennsylvania instead.

At a press conference on Thursday, McDermott appeared to admit he made the comments and acknowledged he "didn't do a good enough job of communicating clearly the intent of my message".

He told reporters: "My intent in the meeting that day was to discuss the importance of communication and being on the same page with the team.

"I regretted mentioning 9/11 in my message that day, and I immediately apologised to the team.

"Not only was 9/11 a horrific event in our country's history, but a day that I lost a good family friend."

He added: "If anyone misinterpreted or didn't understand my message, I apologise.

"That was about the importance of communication and that everyone needs to be on the same page, ironically enough. So that was important to me then and still is now."

 

[Irrational Exuberance]

I dunno, couldn't they have picked something more...American?

"Alright boys, here's what ya gotta do; when you see that fullback, that halfback, that quarterback--ya gotta canoe 'em, do ya hear me? Ya gotta get 'em straight in the ol' forehead. One Solid. Fucking. Shot--and if ya done it right, the palooka's noggin is split right open down the middle and their entire play's gone to shit, on account of all the grey matter that's spilled onta the field. And then, gentlemen...then is when you get your hatchets out - only all careful-like, so the ref' can't see 'em - and you start collecting some scalps. Don't none of youse give me that look; it's how we won the big game back in '11."

 

[Duke Nukem]

Without exaggeration, this is one of the most retarded statements I've heard in my life. On what planet would that analogy ever motivate anyone?

It's not the first time we've seen that analogy.

 

[Mordecai "3 Finger" Brown]

This reminds me of Toronto Blue Jays manager Tim Johnson in 1998 telling fake Vietnam stories as manager to motivate his team, only to be caught and fired.

Spoiler: Details

Former Red Sox star Mike Greenwell remembers Johnson doing anything he could to pump up the players. He'd tell them that life was tough in the trenches and he ought to know, because he'd been to 'Nam. It fired the players up. In the beginning, there were no specifics.

"I've heard the stories," Greenwell says. "To me, he was telling me you can survive, you've got to be tougher. It's so easy to go a little bit too far."

Kennedy noticed, as early as the first spring training, that Johnson was talking more about the war than ever before. Kennedy told reporters about his buddy living in rice paddies and dealing with Agent Orange.

When Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan did a story about Vietnam, Johnson had this to say: "I don't talk much about it. I never do. It's something that's past. Let it be. I've talked more about it now than I ever have."

He worried about getting caught. When he was hired as manager in Toronto before the 1998 season, it looked as if he had deftly ended the deception, casually telling a writer that he'd gotten out of Vietnam by playing baseball. It was over, the chain broken, and no one would ever know.

But Johnson didn't stop.

His Blue Jays were going to Boston's Fenway Park, and he wanted to pump up pitcher Pat Hentgen. With pitching coach Mel Queen listening in, Johnson told his guy there were often tough things to do in life.

He told a gruesome story of killing a girl and her little brother because they were in the line of fire.

Johnson had gone from a generic "in the trenches" speech to killing babies.

Johnson was in the military but never served abroad because he received an exemption to play minor league ball.

He ended up getting busted when superstar pitcher Roger Clemens wanted to buy him a motorcycle with his unit insignia on it. Clemens called his wife to ask about it, who told him Johnson never served.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

An analogy 15 years after the attack, a statement made 5 years ago? Nothing else happened this week at all? Someone took the time to write a story about this and publish it?

 

[Marvin]

I mean, it's not really all that impressive. At that time, plane crews were generally taught not to resist hijackers. The assumption is that if you give them what they'll want, they'll invert the bird, lay it down in a field somewhere and make off with their millions of dollars.

If you really want an impressive example of teamwork, consider Heaven's Gate.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

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The world needs less snow flakes and more 9/11 jokes.

From what I read on Reddit, we'll do 9/11 jokes on 12/29/2023 if we believe the South Park 22.3 rule.

https://www.reddit.com/r/southpark/comments/6zfqz3/according_to_south_parks_223_year_rule_911_will/

 

[The Connected Nose]

9/11 was 22 years ago. To the vast majority of players, it's only an entry in their history books from school.

Nobody flipped their shit when Sgt. Hartman used Charles Whitman and Lee Harvey Oswald as examples of "what one motivated Marine and rifle can do."

 

[Clusterfuckk2]

Sigh…..
People who suck the Jew dick never learn. You never, ever apologize. Notice the people who never apologized for stupid shit like this are still living and shit? The story dissipated faster than a group of niggers stealing an old ladies purse. (Now that would have been a better analogy)

 

[MrJokerRager]

Without exaggeration, this is one of the most retarded statements I've heard in my life. On what planet would that analogy ever motivate anyone?

He is right you know.

Getting a bunch of sand niggers to work in sync to hijack 4 planes at the same time.

That is a miracle by the Mossad.

 

[Grand Wizard Wakka]

This sounds like an idea for a comedy sketch.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Sigh…..
People who suck the Jew dick never learn. You never, ever apologize. Notice the people who never apologized for stupid shit like this are still living and shit? The story dissipated faster than a group of niggers stealing an old ladies purse. (Now that would have been a better analogy)

That or the one when they burned a Wendy's restaurant in Atlanta.

 

[The handsome tard]

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The world needs less snow flakes and more 9/11 jokes.

Its funny cuz you see, we had three phases

1- 9/11 jokes being taboo because it just happened
2- Eventually they became less taboo as enough time had passed
3- 9/11 jokes are back at being taboo because of peal clutching snowflakes who werent even born when it happened or did jokes during the "2" phase and now feel indocrinated to feel bad about it.