Is It Time To Have A Conversation About Buffalo Bills Coach Sean McDermott?
With the Buffalo Bills clinging to their playoff lives, they had a chance to go on a game-winning drive with 20 seconds and one timeout.
Instead, Bills (6-6) head coach Sean McDermott opted to take a knee and take his chances in overtime. That decision ultimately backfired, as a Jalen Hurts 12-yard touchdown run sealed a 37-34 win for the Philadelphia Eagles over Buffalo on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
The decision to take a knee is one of many late-game decisions that have cost Buffalo in close games. Josh Allen had just led the offense on a drive that culminated in him and Gabe Davis connecting for a seven-yard touchdown to give the Bills a 31-28 lead with 1:52 left in regulation.
What makes the decision even more of a head-scratcher is the offense was in a similar situation last season against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. With 23 seconds left and all three timeouts, Allen got the offense into field goal range on just one play, and Tyler Bass made a game-winning 45-yard field goal.
The situations aren't completely apples to apples. The Bills only had one timeout, and they played in ugly conditions after it rained for most of the game against the Eagles. Regardless, McDermott could have given Allen a chance to drive the offense into field goal range to win the game instead of risking giving the ball back to Hurts and Co. in overtime.
It's also worth questioning why he used two timeouts on the Eagles' final drive that ended with Jake Elliott making a game-tying 59-yard field goal in the rain with 25 seconds left in regulation. Had McDermott just pocketed one of them, having another timeout could have been the deciding factor in giving Allen and the offense one more chance to win the game in the fourth quarter.
The Buffalo Bills are three spots out of the 7th seed in the AFC.
© Chuck Cook, USA TODAY
Instead, McDermott's decision to play for overtime resulted in Philadelphia (10-1) having a chance to tie or win the game after a Bass field goal, and you can only give the team with the best record in the NFL so many chances before it costs you.
"I thought about going for it," McDermott said. "With their pass rushers and 20 seconds, really I was trying to end the game a couple plays before, using the timeout on third down at the plus 41 [yard-line], trying to have the right defense to make it a tough field goal, which it was."
Of their six losses, three have come after the Buffalo defense blew a lead on the final drive, including its loss to the Eagles. The Bills also gave up game-winning scores in their losses to the New England Patriots (2-9) and the Denver Broncos (6-5), the latter of which they seemingly escaped from before having 12 men on the field gave kicker Will Lutz another chance to win the game.
Those losses are especially damning for a coach who hangs his hat on the defensive side of the ball and is the play-caller for that unit. The season would look much different if Buffalo was 9-3 heading into its bye week. The Bills would be the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the AFC minus the blown leads with under two minutes left in the game.
Instead, they're 6-6 and clinging onto their playoff hopes.
ESPN analytics only gives the Bills a 21 percent chance of making the playoffs. The Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and Broncos all have a better chance of reaching the postseason as a Wild Card team, according to ESPN.
After the 13-second blunder against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 playoffs and getting blown out at home by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2022 playoffs, completely missing the postseason would be disastrous for McDermott and the Bills. Super Bowl windows don't get bigger with the same coach and core group of players.
The only caveat to potentially moving on from McDermott is remembering what the Bills were before he and general manager Brandon Beane arrived. Buffalo didn't make the playoffs from 2000-2016, then made the playoffs in McDermott's first season as the team's head coach. They've made the playoffs in five of McDermott's six seasons at the helm and have won the division in three straight seasons.
While there's no disputing McDermott's impact in stabilizing a franchise that was once one of the more dysfunctional in the NFL, it's getting to the point where the mismanaged games and blown leads in big games are adding up. The team can't be so reliant on Josh Allen only for a defensive-minded head coach's defense to not show up when it matters most.
If the Bills are going to ever get over the hump, they need better from their head coach. There will be no bigger test for him than in the Bills' final five games when they play three Super Bowl contenders. Buffalo plays the Kansas City Chiefs on Dec. 10 on the road, the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 17 at home, and the Miami Dolphins in Week 18 on the road, in a game that may have playoff and AFC East implications.
If the Bills can dig themselves out of this hole and make the playoffs, McDermott should be safe. But if Buffalo is on the outside looking in when the playoffs begin, you don't need to look any further than the three-blown leads that led to losses this season.
And for that, Beane and the powers that be should have no choice other than to take a hard look at McDermott before deciding if he's the right guy to still lead the Bills.
