It’s difficult for the Bills to sweep aside last year when the reminders remain, some in a more uplifting way. “And it makes you stronger moving forward.” “Every team’s a new team, but that being said, you grow through life’s experiences,” McDermott said. The Eagles opened the scoring in the third minute when Grace Gordon found the back of the net off an assist by Zayda Derganc. Little could McDermott have envisioned how important a role Festa and her staff would play last year, while also believing the effects have the potential of carrying over to this season. 12Ella Hafer netted a pair of goals to help lift the Joplin girls soccer team to a 4-1 victory over Cassville on Monday at Joplin High School. The Bills have since hired Desaree Festa to their performance science staff and are one of just six NFL teams to employ a full-time psychologist. It wasn’t until he landed the Bills job in 2017 that McDermott was able to apply his mental health philosophy by adding a psychologist to his staff, which the team initially shared with the NHL’s Sabres, who are also owned by Terry Pegula. “It led to an awareness of how important it is to equip people, in this case players, with the right tools for them to perform at their best,” said McDermott, who was rewarded for his leadership with a two-year contract extension that locks him up through 2027. He drew on his high school wrestling career, and the individual discipline it required of him to balance physical and mental strength in becoming a two-time time All-Catholic and national prep champion with a 61-0 record, while giving up just one takedown. McDermott grew to appreciate the importance of the psychological aspect in sports long before he got into coaching. “Yeah, that was tough, but look, we’re still here. A lot of times us as humans, we hold that in,” said Poyer, whose own dealings with mental health issues have allowed him to openly discuss his struggles with alcoholism to help others. But at the end of the day, that doesn’t really necessarily define each individual person.”Īnd perhaps, he said, a team that returns a majority of players from last year can grow from the emotional bonds players built collectively through the experiences. “Last year might have been tough, but I still think in the grand scheme of it, we’ll look back and be proud of how we handled it,” safety Jordan Poyer said.
What stood out was how McDermott’s approach allowed the Bills to persevere in a season they finished 13-3 to win their third straight AFC East title before running out of gas in a playoff loss to Cincinnati.
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