A CRAZY Press Conference in Buffalo + The Steelers' Identity Crisis

The Bill Barnwell Show

ESPN

Sports

4.4 • 660 Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2026

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bill and ESPN's Bills reporter Alaina Getzenberg react to a wild press conference in which Bills' brass explained the firing of Sean McDermott. Plus, Bill and ESPN's Brooke Pryor discuss the end of the Mike Tomlin era in Pittsburgh. 0:00 Welcome 0:53 Crazy Bills press conference 2:10 Surprised by McDermott firing? 6:03 Wild press conference moments 9:37 Brandon Beane's promotion complicates things 12:13 Was McDermott's message wearing thin? 16:46 Was there a rift between Beane and McDermott? 19:54 Bean's halo effect for drafting Josh Allen 21:36 The Keon Coleman situation 27:47 How does press conference look to potential head coaches? 35:35 Brooke Pryor joins 39:31 When did you get a sense that Tomlin was done? 49:06 Was there any scenario where Tomlin would have stayed? 57:42 Would Tomlin have stayed if there was a stable QB situation? 1:03:25 State of the Steelers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, welcome to the Bill Barnwell Show. I am from the Bargall. Oh, boy. Sometimes you book a guest on the right day at the right time. I wanted to talk about some coaches who have been fired recently. And we're going to talk with our friend
0:22.6	Brooke Pryor. A little later on
0:24.6	about the Pittsburgh Steelers. I thought him
0:26.3	fired, but he left the organization.
0:29.5	I also wanted to talk a little
0:30.7	more about the show of McDermott situation.
0:32.8	Yesterday, I booked our
0:34.6	friend Elena Getsonberg for
0:36.3	ESPN. There's a wonderful job covering
0:38.5	The Buffalo Bills
0:39.8	And then today
0:41.6	We actually were going to do this earlier
0:43.9	And then you were like
0:45.0	Oh, there might be a press caucus tomorrow
0:46.6	Little did we know
0:49.2	Not just any press conference
0:52.3	This feels like a old tyrant to me.
0:57.6	We're going to remember this press conference.
1:00.6	20 years from now.
1:03.6	Elena, do you think of back here?
1:05.8	So, as you were saying that, I was reflecting back,
1:09.2	I just left the Bill's media room to come and chat with you, Bill. And there was conversation amongst the media contingent that was here throughout the Bill's drought time. And they were like, yeah, this is somewhere like in the top five. Like, that's how crazy of a time they had during these bills years.
	...

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