The Bills are spiraling out of control
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The Buffalo Bills took their second straight loss to the Houston Texans this past Sunday, Oct. 6. Although the 23-20 score may not suggest it, this game was an absolute disaster for Buffalo. From coaching mistakes to lackluster on-field play, there are plenty of talking points to come out of Buffalo's performance, and none of them are very positive.
Some have raised concerns about the Buffalo Bills’ coaching staff and direction if they want to get on track. Bills head coach Sean McDermott has received widespread criticism for his coaching efforts this Sunday, especially regarding the fourth quarter. The Bills received the ball in a 20-20 game with less than a minute left on their own three-yard line after a punt from Texans’ punter Tommy Townsend. The safest and most common way to approach this type of situation is to kill the clock and play the game out in overtime. The Bills decided against playing it safely despite having a very inconsistent offensive performance up to that point in the game. This resulted in the Bills deciding to throw the ball on first, second, and third down from the three-yard line, with all passes being incomplete.
Since all three pass attempts were incomplete, Buffalo never stopped the clock and was forced to punt out of their end zone with 16 seconds left. The punt is returned, Texans Quarterback C.J. Stroud throws a short pass to get the Texans into field goal range, and just like that—the Texans hit a walk-off field goal to steal a game that should’ve continued into overtime.
Sean McDermott is taking the blame for this mishap. The awful clock management displayed by McDermott is very concerning for a team that does not have much time to regroup and recover. The Bills will take on the New York Jets this Monday on the road in a big divisional matchup. A divisional rivalry in the Miami Dolphins could become even more tense, with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa being eligible to return from the injured reserve in week eight of the season.
Although the clock management from the Bills coaching staff was a huge catalyst in the loss, it’s not just the part of the team on the sidelines that should take the blame. It is very easy to blame the team's personnel, but at some point, the players on the field must be held accountable for their inconsistencies. Josh Allen has now thrown for sub-200 yards over the past two games and had an abysmal 30 percent completion percentage against the Texans. Even Josh Allen’s lone touchdown pass to wide receiver Keon Coleman, which accounted for more than a third of his total passing yards for the game, probably should have been called back for Coleman’s foot being out of bounds.
Buffalo's offense had an overall bad performance last Sunday, however, the defense is also ice-cold right now. The Bills have given up 58 points in their last two games due to a poor defense line—10 more than they gave up in the first three games of the season. Combining that statistic with the fact that the Bills are averaging 426 yards given up per game in the last two weeks makes it easier to see where fans’ concerns about this iconic team are coming from.
The Bills need to fix their glaring problems before it gets too late. Some of the Bills American Football Conference (AFC) East counterparts have a lot to look forward to, and the Bills will need to take a lead in the division to keep up. The Bills will play the New York Jets in Metlife this Monday to determine the division’s leader.