Joe Brady, Josh Allen Focus on Correcting Buffalo Bills' Biggest Week 2 Mistake

It simply can't happen.

The Buffalo Bills squandered a prime opportunity to score points, and, in the process, they allowed the Detroit Lions to sandwich a pair of scores around halftime on Thursday Night Football in Week 2.

Looking to increase its 27-7 lead, Buffalo faced a 1st-and-5 from its own 35-yard line with 59 seconds remaining in the second quarter. It's a situation where even if the Bills don't manage to score, they should be able to kill the entire first half clock without giving Detroit another possession.

"Fifty-eight seconds left, 1-and-5, there's no reason they should ever get the ball back and much less get points. I allowed them to double dip in that situation," said Bills' rookie head coach Joe Brady.

Quarterback Josh Allen proceeded to throw three consecutive incompletions as only 13 seconds ran off the clock. Buffalo punted the ball back to the Lions, who took over at their own 22-yard line with 39 seconds to play before the break.

Detroit took advantage of multiple Bills' defensive miscues, moving down the field for a 31-yard field goal at the gun. With the deficit trimmed to 17 points, the Lions proceeded to take the second-half kickoff and punch it in for a touchdown.

From potentially adding to a 20-point advantage, the Bills lead was cut down to 10 points before they even touched the ball again.

What went wrong for Bills

It sounds like a combination of questionable play-calling and poor execution causing the Bills to stall in a key spot.

"When you go back and watch the game and you're talking to the team afterwards, here's some of the things we did well, and then here's some of the things that have to be better, that would obviously be one thing that stands out that wasn't good enough, and it's a whole effort. Joe [Brady] will say it's on him, but again it's all of us as coaches and then making sure we're putting our players in good positions," said veteran offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael.

While one may argue Brady could've called a run play to get the clock rolling, it's understandable that the head coach was comfortable with putting the ball in the hands of a five-time NFL MVP finalist.

Essentially, it all comes down to Allen being able to complete one pass. Instead, the field general looked rushed and uncharacteristically sloppy. Allen missed Josh Palmer twice and Khalil Shakir once on a short pass over the middle.

"Really felt like we could have helped ourselves out. It's 1st-and-5 and we don't get a first down there. It's bad football by my part and got to find a way to keep moving the chains there," said Allen after the 41-31 win.

Should the Bills get a similar opportunity in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers, we'll see if they learned anything from their biggest Week 2 mistake.

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