Credit: USA Today Sports
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott took responsibility for the team’s clock management in their 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday, which allowed the Texans to kick a winning 59-yard field goal.
“That’s on me, the end-of-game situation on offense,” McDermott said after the 23-20 loss. “We’re in a tough situation … they were holding three timeouts; they got a good field goal kicker. We needed to run the clock and move the chains, and that’s on me. We didn’t do that there, and that’s my fault.”
Missed Clock Management
With the game tied 20-20, the Bills forced a Texans punt with 41 seconds left after Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud was called for intentional grounding. McDermott chose not to take a 10-second clock runoff that could’ve followed the penalty. He said they considered it but decided against it.
After getting the ball at their own 3-yard line with 32 seconds left, the Bills had three straight incomplete passes from quarterback Josh Allen. According to ESPN Research, the Bills are the only team in the last 45 years to be tied or leading in the final minute, inside their own 5-yard line, and throw three straight passes.
“I love Josh with the ball in his hands — you know I do,” McDermott said. “And again, efficient offense was the right approach there and … I didn’t have us do that. And so again, we learned from that. Tough situation.
“… You go back and forth, and, hey, I probably should have run it on the first play and just said, ‘Hey, where are we now?’ Either way, we’re probably going to have to move the chains one time, right? To not give them a chance. But again, those are situations and that’s on me.”
Allen’s Passing Woes
Allen’s first pass to rookie Keon Coleman was incomplete, and Coleman was called for offensive pass interference, though the penalty was declined. Allen then threw deep to Mack Hollins on second down, but the ball fell short. On third down, Allen targeted Curtis Samuel, but Samuel slipped and the ball hit the ground.
When asked about the play calls, McDermott said, “Overall, again, that’s on me,” And so, we just gotta do a better job, I gotta do a better job in that situation.”
Allen and offensive linemen Connor McGovern and David Edwards said they agreed with the decision to be aggressive.
“Coach is going to trust us to go out there and do that,” Allen said. “Obviously, would love to convert there and hindsight’s 20-20, but yeah.”
After a 13-yard punt return, the Texans got the ball at the Bills’ 41-yard line. Houston ran one play, gaining 5 yards, to set up a 59-yard field goal. Bills linebacker Dorian Williams was late getting onto the field, and cornerback Rasul Douglas said Williams didn’t seem to know the defensive call.
“We were trying to go nickel defense, and Dorian was on the side,” McDermott said. “We didn’t have the communication we needed right there, and so because of that, he was late onto the field and getting the call in that situation.”
Receivers Struggle
The Texans won on the next play with Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 59-yard field goal as time expired.
Bills receivers had a tough day, catching only 4 of 18 targets — their worst catch percentage since 2009 and the worst by any team with at least 15 targets since 2016. Allen finished 9-of-30 for 131 yards and one touchdown, to Coleman. The Bills were also without their top receiver, Khalil Shakir, due to an ankle injury.
Allen recorded the lowest completion percentage for a quarterback with at least 30 attempts in the last 30 years. He admitted he needed to be more accurate and mentioned communication issues as a reason for the struggles.
“I would never, ever criticize Josh ever,” Edwards said. “He is the heartbeat of our offense and our football team. We go as he goes. He is the man. I could easily point to myself on one of those third downs, not being able to pick up one of the stunts. So, this game is not on Josh.”
This report used information from ESPN.
