Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott just issued a mea culpa ... telling media members Thursday he's truly sorry for bringing up the 9/11 attacks in a motivational speech a couple years ago.
According to GoLongTD.com's Tyler Dunne ... McDermott's tone-deaf talk to his players happened during the Bills' 2019 training camp -- when he was trying to emphasize to his squad how it needed to communicate to come together.
Sean McDermott just addressed the 9/11 meeting referenced by @TyDunne's article published today. He said he plans on addressing this with the team later today once they get out of meetings. Here's the first few minutes of his comments from moments ago @WKBW pic.twitter.com/lKBdGVd8GV
— Matthew Bové (@Matt_Bove) December 7, 2023
"Sources on-hand say, he used a strange model: the terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001," Dunne wrote in a lengthy three-part piece about the coach that was published on Thursday morning.
"He cited the hijackers as a group of people who were all able to get on the same page to orchestrate attacks to perfection."
When McDermott addressed the issue with reporters Thursday afternoon ... he didn't deny making the making comments.
"I regretted mentioning 9/11 in my message that day," he said, "and I immediately apologized to the team." He added that his goal was to get his guys to understand the importance of "being on the same page."
ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg reported the coach also said he has plans to apologize to his current roster over the comments later Thursday.
"Not only was 9/11 a horrific event in our country's history," McDermott said, "but a day that I lost a good family friend."
He continued, "I'm not here to discuss the article that's out there and the things that are mentioned other than this right here, because this right here is very, very important to me and something I take very seriously."
McDermott's Bills are currently floundering -- they're just 6-6 this season ... and need a win over the Chiefs on Sunday to keep their playoff hopes high.