Former Bills OC Ken Dorsey Breaks Silence About Being Fired in Buffalo
Following a good start to the 2023 NFL season, the Buffalo Bills began to struggle. Bills quarterback Josh Allen appeared to have lost his electrifying spark. With a 5-5 record, the Bills fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey.
The move came as no surprise given how fragmented the Bills offense had been for the majority of the season. While no one knew what to expect when the Bills promoted Joe Brady to temporary offensive coordinator, the team began to thrive. Buffalo went 7-2 during Brady’s tenure.
On Monday, February 5, he addressed reporters as the Cleveland Browns’ new offensive coordinator for the first time, discussing his departure. While not specifically mentioning Sean McDermott, he put the firing fully on his shoulders.
“Look, at the end of the day, the head coach decided to make a change and that’s something I have to turn the page on,” Dorsey said in a statement. “I’m really excited to be here and more focused on this opportunity than what happened there
.” This is consistent with what McDermott told reporters the day Dorsey was dismissed, November 14. “This decision was made by me and me alone,” McDermott stated.
Dorsey, who was hired by the Browns on January 28, stated that he spent the rest of the NFL season thinking on his work in Buffalo. “One of the big things is, it gave me time to kind of go back and look at it like, ‘OK, here’s what we were doing schematically and how we were utilizing our personnel,’ and really evaluate what we were doing,” Dorsey was quoted as saying.
“When I did, I felt like we were accomplishing a lot of fantastic things. There are always things that make you think, “Hey, maybe I should do this differently in the future.”
Bills quarterback Josh Allen felt responsible for Ken Dorsey’s firing.
Allen looks distraught the day after Dorsey was fired. “I love Dorsey. He’s a decent human being.” Allen also confessed that he felt sorry about the coordinator’s firing.
“Without a doubt,” Allen answered when asked if Dorsey would still have his job if the offense performed better. “I take it extremely personally. It aches. It hurts a lot to witness someone you care about go through something like that.
“I believe he is responsible for most of my professional success. He’s been a significant part of it. It’s sad to see him go. The reality is that if we improve as a squad, we may not need to make such a move.”
“He’s played an important role in what we’ve been doing here over the last four years. I spoke with Coach McDermott, and I understand why we are doing this. It is unfortunate. But, at the same time, we have a game against a division competitor on Sunday, so we still have time to turn this around.”
