ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — As Joe Brady in Buffalo navigates the turbulence of emotions and additional responsibilities that come with being a first-time NFL head coach while still in his 30s, he’s got an empathetic ear in Los Angeles.
Rams coach Sean McVay can appreciate what his Bills counterpart is going through after having been in a similar position not long ago.
“Welcome to the torment, Joe,” McVay said this week, when reminded of Brady entering this season as the league’s youngest coach, and with the Rams (2-2) hosting the Bills (3-1) on Monday night.
McVay was 12 days short of turning 31 in January 2017 when hired by the Rams in becoming the youngest head coach in the Super Bowl era.
So grateful was McVay for the opportunity, the 2021 Super Bowl winner often recalls the unforeseen obstacles he encountered — “I didn't even know the things to worry about,” he said — in rebuilding a franchise that had gone 12 years without a playoff berth.
The road ahead for Brady, who turned 37 last month, might be comparatively steeper.
Promoted to replace Sean McDermott in January, Brady inherited a contending team with an elite quarterback in Josh Allen, and the nagging flaw of falling short in the playoffs.
Brady embraced the expectations from the start, and he’s not deviated from his objective of demanding more from a 3-1 team that's now coming off its first loss.
“The result should not determine how I’m feeling about it,” Brady said on Monday, a day after a 29-26 loss to New England.
“There’s a standard by which we play. And we’re either playing to that standard or not,” he added. “And look, we may not ever reach what that is. But it’s my job to consistently set the tone.”
The Bills have much to clean up with an offense that’s committed a combined seven turnovers (three interceptions and four fumbles) in its past two outings, and a new-look defense that has yet to come together and dealing with injuries.
After three home games, the Bills head west, where they’ll stay next week, with games at L.A. and then Las Vegas.
The Rams face their own issues following a 2-2 start in which they rallied to score 14 points in the final four minutes of a 24-20 win at Philadelphia last weekend.
“We know that we need to play consistently cleaner football to go where we want to go,” McVay said. “If there’s one thing that I would say over the time that I’ve spent in this league, it’s a week-to-week league. How can you build some continuity?”
Though Brady and McVay have few personal ties, they’ve shared similar paths. Both were regarded as up-and-coming offensive specialists after serving under established coaches. McVay in Washington worked for Mike Shanahan and Jay Gruden. Brady got his NFL break as an assistant under Sean Payton in New Orleans.
One of Brady’s first memories of McVay was the Saints losing to the Rams in the NFC title game in the 2018 season.
“It’s pretty damn impressive,” Brady said of McVay’s resume. “There’s a reason he is who he is, and he’s going to go down as one of the greatest coaches and one of the greatest minds.”
Brady is no stranger to McVay, who said he’s been following the coach’s career path since New Orleans.
“You can see the players respond to him. He’s got a nice humility about himself,” McVay said.
Bills linebacker Michael Hoecht has played for both after spending his first four seasons with the Rams. He's captivated by how the two reflect their respective communities.
McVay drives a fancy car, lives in a posh, exclusive neighborhood, and carries himself with a brash, confident swagger.
Brady, meantime, is more practical in his choice of car, an SUV, and home in suburban Buffalo, and has a light-hearted “aw shucks” self-deprecating approach.
“You can always tell when it’s authentic,” Hoecht said. “McVay is perfect for that role in Los Angeles, the same way Joe Brady’s perfect for the role here in Buffalo.”
What the two have in common is a vast depth of offensive creativity, and willingness to take player input when adapting plays from the white board onto the field.
“It’s a testament to both of them and their ability to put their egos aside,” said Bills offensive lineman Austin Corbett, who also spent three seasons in L.A. “That’s something they have both done very well, taking feedback from players to understand what makes sense in the meeting room to what are you seeing on the field.”
For all their similarities and differences, Brady appreciates being at the starting point of his career.
”(McVay) has been doing this for such a long time. ... And he’s still young,” Brady said. “I’m just trying to find a way to get another win, much less figuring out what he was going through a long time ago.”
AP freelance writer Dan Greenspan contributed to this story from Los Angeles.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
CAIRO (AP) — A projectile struck a passenger terminal at the international airport in Riyadh on Sunday, a day after a missile hit the same terminal and killed 12 people, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said. The Houthis claimed responsibility for those attacks and others.
Saudi authorities said there were injuries in the latest attack on the King Khalid International Airport complex for terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights. Saturday’s missile attack was the deadliest in a Gulf Arab nation since the Iran war began, with another 300 people wounded, some critically. The airport was still closed Sunday.
The sharp escalation in the new front in the war threatens to draw in greater U.S. military involvement, as President Donald Trump has said he is weighing joining the fight against the Houthis. There was no immediate White House comment Sunday.
India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia said one of its citizens died Sunday of injuries sustained in Saturday’s attack, which would bring the toll to 13. Saudi authorities later said King Fahd International Airport in Dammam also had been attacked, with few details. The city is on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar.
The latest strike in Riyadh came shortly after the Houthis said the airport in the rebel-held Yemeni capital of Sanaa had been struck again, and blamed the Saudis.
At stake, again, in this escalation are global supplies and prices of oil as well as commercial shipping through a crucial alternative waterway to the Iran-threatened Strait of Hormuz — along with civilians and aviation throughout the region.
Trump on Saturday also said he planned to speak with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been seeking assistance.
A U.S. intervention could prompt the Houthis to halt shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea off Yemen and further restrict the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. The rebels seized key areas along the strait last month and the Saudi-led coalition has been trying to seize them back.
Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air defense support to the region, regional officials told The Associated Press last month, with one noting that the U.S. has seen its own stock dwindle during the war with Iran.
Sunday’s attack occurred as the Saudis hosted a major international energy conference in Riyadh, with other high-profile events including an investment gathering on the horizon. Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has sought to open more to the world as a business and tourism destination, but the Houthi attacks threaten those efforts.
“There is no way that somebody will break our back. We are like a phoenix, we come out of the ashes all the time,” the Saudi energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, told the conference.
He added that the kingdom is also working on pipelines in addition to the East-West one that was attacked and closed for days last month, with no details.
Earlier Sunday, the Houthi-run health ministry said a child was killed and six people wounded in a suspected Saudi airstrike on a house in Sanaa. The ministry also said 91 Yemenis have been killed by the Saudi-led coalition in five weeks, 60% of them women and children.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities on the claims.
On Sunday, the Houthis claimed the attack on the airport in Dammam as well as attacks on oil and gas facilities in the kingdom’s east. They have targeted the Riyadh airport, which has no military facilities, every day since Wednesday.
The rebels again warned “all airlines, experts, employees, workers and travelers against using Saudi airports and airspace, as they are vulnerable to attack and have become a theater of operations for our forces.” Several international airlines have suspended flights for varying periods.
Saudi authorities said the dead in Saturday’s attack included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a U.S. citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese.
The Egyptian woman was a flight attendant for Saudi airline Flynas identified as Azza Ramzy, according to Egyptian state-run TV.
The Syrian woman was a widowed mother who had been living in Saudi Arabia, relative Nisreen Oweida told The Associated Press. The Syrian Embassy identified her as Buthaina Ahmad Oweida.
Until recently, the Houthis had been largely on the Iran war’s sidelines, but they have developed their military capabilities in recent years to become one of Tehran’s most powerful allies. Now, they are helping Iran to pressure a key U.S. ally.
The Saudis and the Houthis began fighting in 2015, when the kingdom entered Yemen’s civil war on behalf of the internationally recognized government. Relative calm after a 2022 ceasefire ended in July when the Houthis resumed attacks, saying the Saudis fired on the Sanaa airport as a plane from Iran was trying to land.
The attack revived anger over the Saudi-led blockade that has largely isolated Houthi-run areas. The rebels say they have now imposed a blockade on Saudi Arabia.
Fighting has escalated, with the Saudi-led coalition providing air support for Yemeni government forces attempting to reverse recent Houthi gains near the Bab el-Mandeb, a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has attacked ships.
Ahmed Nagi, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Yemen, said the Houthi pressure tactics could backfire: “Rather than pushing Riyadh to step back, attacks on critical Saudi infrastructure could make the Saudis more determined to continue the campaign.”
A previous version of this report has been corrected to show that the Egyptian killed was a woman, not a man.
Frankel and Anna reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Victoria Eastwood in Cairo, Collin Binkley in Washington, Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Omar Albam in Maarat al-Numan, Syria, contributed to this report.
A displaced Yemeni family sits beside a makeshift shelter along a roadside in Aden, Yemen, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
A portrait of Buthaina Ahmad Oweida, the Syrian woman who died in yesterday's attack on the Riyadh airport, is displayed on the mobile phone of her nephew at her family house, in her hometown of Hafasraja, Idlib province, Syria, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
People gather outside a metro station on the road to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
People gather outside a metro station on the road to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
This image from video obtained and verified by AP shows thick black smoke and flames rising from a fire at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
