Patriots Top Division Rival Reportedly Hires New Head Coach

The New England Patriots are back in the Super Bowl, and one of the teams they managed to outlast this season was their own division rival, the Buffalo Bills. In the wake of their latest failed playoff run, the Bills surprisingly decided to fire their head coach, Sean McDermott. After a week-long search, Buffalo appears to have found its next leader.

While McDermott helped turn the Bills into one of the top teams in the league, he could never manage to get them over the hump in the postseason. Buffalo has advanced to the AFC Championship Game just once during Josh Allen’s time in town, and after losing to the Denver Broncos this year, that led to McDermott being shown the exit door.

The decision was a surprise, and the Bills quickly launched into a search for their new head coach. After bringing in a slew of candidates from across the league, Buffalo has reportedly decided to simply promote offensive coordinator Joe Brady to the head coach position.

“The Bills are promoting their own OC Joe Brady to head coach, per The Insiders,” Ian Rapoport of NFL Network shared in a post on X.

Brady’s latest promotion has capped his quick rise with the Bills. After being hired to be the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2022, Brady eventually ended up becoming the offensive coordinator midway through the 2023 season. During his time in charge of the offense, Brady has helped Allen turn himself into arguably the best quarterback in the league.

What Brady does now that he’s in charge of Buffalo’s operation will have an impact on New England, as these two teams will square off twice once again in 2026. For now, though, the Patriots’ only focus involves finding a way to beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX.