Bills head coach Sean McDermott praises Broncos who ‘earned’ No. 1 seed

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott has led his team against the Denver Broncos in the playoffs before.

And that was just last season in the wild-card round, a convincing 31-7 Bills victory.

But things have changed a lot in a year.

The Broncos are the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs after being the No. 7 seed a season ago. And Buffalo has fallen from No. 2 in 2024 to No. 6 in 2025.

And the game on Saturday in the divisional round will be at Empower Field at Mile High as opposed to in Orchard Park.

With all that in mind, Sean McDermott was asked on Monday about the Broncos and had nothing but praise. The question started about Denver earning the first-round bye while Buffalo had to win a thriller 27-24 in Jacksonville to advance.

“Yeah, I’m sure that feels good for them. You know, getting that rest and that No. 1 seed. They’ve earned it. They’ve got a great team, all three phases,” McDermott said.

The Broncos went 14-3 to earn the top spot in the conference and Denver head coach Sean Payton was a big reason why. McDermott went out of his way to comment on him.

“Very well-coached team. I have a lot of respect for coach Payton, he’s done it a high level, Super Bowl winning coach,” McDermott said.

Payton is looking to become the first ever NFL head coach to win two Super Bowls with two different teams. The first team that stands in his way is Sean McDermott and the Bills.

“We’re going to go out there and have to make sure we’re rested through the week as we try and prepare as well on the short week here. We’re going to have to play better than we did this past weekend in order to win,” McDermott said.

Buffalo needed a touchdown in the final minutes, then an interception, to finally close out Jacksonville.

And Sean McDermott didn’t provide any bulletin board material in Denver, as he seems to have a healthy respect for the Broncos.

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