Should Sean McDermott have handled the end of the game against the Texans differently?
Matt Warren is Associate Director of NFL coverage for SB Nation and previously covered the Buffalo Bills for Buffalo Rumblings for more than a decade. If it has to do with math, he has covered it, from NFL playoff standings to salary cap analysis. He does weekly community questions to stay involved with the commenters on the site.
On Sunday afternoon the Buffalo Bills stopped the Houston Texans and got the ball back with 32 seconds left on the clock inside their own five-yard line. What happened in the final 32 ticks of the clock is up for debate, but it no doubt adds to the list of Sean McDermott’s late-game questionable decisions.
Why the Bills screwed up the end of the game
When it happened, I suggested the Bills take three kneeldowns, or at least run it up the gut. Houston had three timeouts, and could stop the clock, but the Bills would be punting it to the Texans. If Houston used all of their timeouts, they would have the ball near midfield and not be able to stop the clock.
Throwing it from your end zone invites holding calls or intentional grounding, which leads to a safety and loss. You need to convert a first down to make it worth it, but the Bills went with shot plays.
After the Bills threw three incomplete passes, stopping the clock for Houston each time, the Texans received the punt and ran it back to Buffalo’s 46. A weird-looking play from Houston resulted in a short completion, gaining 5 yards to get to the Bills’ 41-yard line. They took a timeout because they had one, something that could not have happened if the Bills ran the ball on their three plays.
On the next play, Texans’ kicker Matthew Fairbairn booted it through from 59 yards.
Counterpoint: Sean McDermott’s endgame decisions weren’t a mistake in Bills’ loss to Texans
It’s not about me accusing Sean McDermott or Joe Brady of being conservative. You’re backed up in your own end zone with zero shot of scoring points. The only thing that matters needs to be getting to overtime. The best way to get to overtime is to burn the Texans’ timeouts. Buffalo didn’t do that.
This wasn’t as bad as 13 seconds or the punt in the Snowvertime game against the Colts, but it was among the worst end-of-game management we have seen from Sean McDermott.
Though overtime is hardly a guaranteed path to good fortune, had McDermott handled just one of those three plays differently we may very well be talking about a very different ending for the Buffalo Bills in Week 5.
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