Buffalo Bills Coach Sean McDermott Explains Second Blitz Call on Game's Final Drive
If you heard loud noises outside of your Western New York home, there’s a half-decent shot it was Bills Mafia calling for Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott’s job.
In what was an incredibly disappointing performance in front of the home fans, Buffalo fell to the Denver Broncos 24-22. The offense couldn’t hang onto the football, the defense faltered in the end, and a costly special teams penalty ultimately destined the Bills to a shameful loss.
A legitimate portion of the blame should be attributed to the coaching staff, whether it be for mismanagement of substitutions or yet another offensive showing that lacked cohesion. Teams with superstar quarterbacks aren’t supposed to get embarrassed by lesser teams on national television, but when quarterback Josh Allen is having an off night, the coaching staff cannot compound the issues that creates.
Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson was sacked four times on Monday.
© Mark Konezny, USA TODAY
On Denver’s final drive, quarterback Russell Wilson was able to march down the field. He hit a checkdown to running back Samaje Perine for 18 yards and three completions later found himself at Buffalo’s 39-yard line. The Broncos had one timeout remaining.
The Bills defense, beleaguered by injuries and fatigued by continuous stops with unfavorable field position, made the play it had to. They brought a nickel blitz that instantly sacked Wilson, wasting a timeout and pushing them out of field goal range.
Then, McDermott made the questionable call to send a Cover-0 blitz again, out of a nearly identical look.
Wilson adjusted, immediately lofting up a prayer to receiver Jerry Jeudy. A good throw would have scored a touchdown. Wilson’s underthrow all but won the game. Cornerback Taron Johnson was beat off the line and when Jeudy came back for the ball, Johnson was called for defensive pass interference. Shortly after, the field goal extravaganza commenced.
Frankly, blitzing the second time was reckless, at least according to some. McDermott defended the decision after the Week 10 loss.
“The field-goal line we thought was the 40-yard line, so you’re not working with 35 yards of real estate, you’re working with a set window of real estate,” McDermott said. “So, Russ had done a good job against the four-man rush, scrambling and making plays with his feet.”
Both of those statements are true. Buffalo could not afford to give up many more yards, and Wilson burned the defense repeatedly with his legs, finding guys out of structure and scampering for 30 yards on the night. Even so, the call was questionable.
The Broncos were already pushed out of field-goal range, losing six yards on the initial sack. Rather than containing an offense that struggled to move the ball most of the night, the Bills doubled down.
Cover-0 gave Wilson the ability to adjust to the play he had just seen. This time, he was well-equipped to attack it. With no deep safety help, Wilson was able to pick his favorite matchup—Jeudy on a streak—and let chaos ensue.
Jeudy’s talent advantage got him enough of a release off the line of scrimmage to warrant a throw and from there, multiple good things could have happened. Again, he was open, so a score was there for the taking. If not, the penalty was there to bail them out. Johnson was not put in a position to win. Predictably, it didn’t go in his favor.
Ultimately, McDermott’s decision was one baked into his, and his team’s, identity.
“Hey, if we’re gonna go down, we’re gonna go down being aggressive," McDermott said.
That they did. In what is possibly (though not particularly likely) his final press conference as the head coach of the Bills, he stuck to his guns. For better or worse, Buffalo knows what it has in its head coach. On Monday, that head coach played a pivotal role in coming up short and falling to 5-5.
