I first started watching sports in 1987.  Baseball was my first love, but football was my second love.  As a Yankees fan and a Buffalo Bills fan, as a kid, I expected the Bills to win (not including Super Bowls) and the Yankees to lose.  Then I went to college, and the Yankees started their dynasty years, and the Bills ended their run of greatness.  Then, after college, the Yankees kept on winning, and the Bills went on a 17-year playoff drought.  But something strange happened in 2017.  Sean McDermott was hired as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, and they made the playoffs, and the Yankees were still good, too!  

So since 2017 (with two exceptions, 2018 for the Bills and 2023 for the Yankees), I have gotten to see my MLB and NFL teams make the playoffs, and their post season track records are not too different, except that the Yankees actually made the World Series in 2024 (and lost), while the Bills made it to the AFC championship game, and do to poor officiating on a QB sneak (and the play before it), but not the Super Bowl.  So, it begs the question, should the Yankees do what the Bills did and fire their manager (i.e., head coach)?  Let’s look at how the two compare:

They both know how to win regular-season games

Let’s be honest, it is way more fun watching your team win a game than watching them lose (especially if you have to take the subway to get to a game).  Both of these guys were good at winning.  Sean McDermott was fired after going 98-50 from 2017 to 2025 in the regular season.  Aaron Boone, by comparisonis 697-497 in the regular season from 2018-2025.  So, McDermott has won a higher percentage of games, but in the NFL, you can go undefeated or win 80 percent of your games, which you can’t do in a 162-game baseball season.

They both do not know how to spell the word “champion.”

Now, when it comes to the postseason, it’s different.  McDermott was 8-8 in the playoffs, but he did manage to win at least one postseason game in the last 6 seasons.  Aaron Boone has a similar record of 25-27 in the postseason, but the Yankees have done the one-and-done thing and have actually made it to the World Series.  Expectations, however, have been the same for both teams in the past 7 years: it’s win a championship or bust, and both teams have busted (and many times in heartbreaking fashion).  

They are both loyal to their players

If there is one thing I hate about Aaron Boone (along with his love for his relievers), it’s the fact that he always defends his players no matter what.  In the 2025 season, it bordered on gaslighting, for example, when he told us how good the team was defensively.  Well, McDermott was the same way, rarely, if ever, criticizing his players.  Because of that, both of these individuals had strong support in the locker room.  I suspect if Boone were ever fired, the players would be upset, just like the Bills players are.

McDermott changed a franchise; Boone didn’t

Here is the biggest difference.  McDermott changed the culture in Buffalo and made the team a winner again.  Boone, on the other hand, has just kept on leading a winning team to winning seasons.  Not much of a change at all from Joe Girardi and Joe Torre.  For McDermott?  Let’s just say it was not pretty before he arrived.  So, McDermott clearly had a bigger impact on histeam.

Conclusion

So when you look at McDermott vs. Boone, they have a lot in common as first-time leaders of their teams (heck, they are also just a year apart in age).  The difference is that one has a job, and the other just lost their job.  So, it begs the question: Should Boone lose his job?  Well, in the end, that decision is made by the owner, and the two teams have different owners with very different personalities.  When you look at performance, though, the parallels really are there.  So, if the Yankees want to take the next step to a championship, perhaps they should follow the Bills’ lead.  Of course, they are one year behind Buffalo (Boone was hired a year later), so maybe they should see what the Bills do in 2026 and go from there!