Sean McDermott has, arguably rightfully, been considered the savior of the Buffalo Bills in the 21st century, leading them to their first continued run of success since the days of Jim Kelly, including a franchise-record five straight division titles. But like all coaches, he can also occasionally commit a blunder worthy of rebuke, such as his call on Sunday.
Down nine with just over a minute left in their Week 14 game at the Los Angeles Rams, the Bills found themselves at the opposing one-yard line. So they tried a Josh Allen sneak, which failed. This caused their head coach to burn a timeout, drawing the ire of Fox analyst Tom Brady:
“To me, take three shots throwing it, don’t use a timeout. And then you can kick it deep, use your three timeouts and still get the ball with good time… Try the long field goal. That changes the entire complexity of the last 1:02 of the game.”
He concluded:
“I did not like that one bit. That could’ve just cost them the game right there.”
Tom Brady was FED UP with McDermott.
“That may have just cost them the game.” 🤣👏 https://t.co/fZhiFA3nBi pic.twitter.com/swug2Lgvno
— Pats Buzz (@PatsBuzz) December 9, 2024
And it did. While Allen did eventually score on the rush, the Rams recovered the onside kick to seal the game, 44-42.
After the game, Sean McDermott commented on his late call:
“When you’re in that situation, holding three timeouts felt like we were underneath, where we felt like we could get the ball back with a legit chance to win the games with no timeouts.”
Sean McDermott believes Bills lacked defensive urgency at Rams
If Sean McDermott is asked, Sunday was a bad loss – especially for the defense, which is supposed to be his area of expertise.
They allowed a season-worst 44 points – more than they did at the Baltimore Ravens (the game that saw Derrick Henry destroy multiple defenders for an 87-yard touchdown rush); forced just a single punt from Ethan Evans; and failed to sack Matthew Stafford even once, allowing him to feed Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp a combined 254 yards and two touchdowns.
After the game, McDermott said that he thought his team lacked urgency:
“When you come out and you don’t win the line of scrimmage, that’s not a great way to start a game. At the end of the day, we didn’t come out and win the line of scrimmage like we need to, to win the game.”
The Bills conclude their spate of NFC assignments with a visit to the Detroit Lions next Sunday.