Bills coach has it in his hand, explaining how he blew it late in the loss to the Texans

“The end-of-game situation on offense that we needed, a difficult situation,” McDermott said. “We had to keep the clock running and the chains moving, and that’s my job. We didn’t do that there and that’s my fault.”

McDermott has a long history of game management problems. No incident enrages Bills fans more than the fact that he botched the sequence that led to the Kansas City Chiefs tying the 2022 playoff game with just 13 seconds left.

When asked if he gave Brady the green light to call three plays in a row a pass, McDermott said he didn’t think those details were relevant. If the Bills had played three times in a row and didn’t get a first down, they still might have given the ball back to the Texans, McDermott said.

The Bills’ offensive woes provided an interesting subplot to the game, as former superstar receiver Stefon Diggs caught six passes for a game-high 82 yards in a Texans win. The Bills leaned heavily into their new “everyone eats” model in the passing game, but the group only managed four receptions on 18 targets to wide receivers in the game.

McDermott wants to look at the tape, but made a comment about why the passing game was so difficult against the Texans, as the passing plays totaled 425 yards in the game compared to just 276 for the Bills.

“I just feel like overall we maybe threw too much down,” he said. “I thought it was better to get the ball out in the second quarter, maybe in the third quarter too. I thought that was effective for us and it seemed like maybe we were looking down the field. … We talked about it at halftime. We knew first down wasn’t good for us.”

The Bills were 3-for-14 on third down and averaged 3 and 8 yards in the game.

“It’s not healthy,” McDermott said.

Allen completed just 30% of his throws, which was the lowest number of his career. This is the lowest completion percentage by a quarterback who has attempted 30 or more passes in a game in the last 30 years.

Allen said the connection between him and his pass catchers was only slightly broken. He missed receiver Mack Hollins for what would have been a touchdown if he had a bad overthrow in the first quarter.

“Then just before halftime, Dalton (Kincaid) ran down the gap, had a chance there, an opportunity, we were slightly off the mark tonight,” Allen said. “That’s something I need to sort out and I’m proud of how we responded in the second half, got on our horses and gave ourselves a chance to win a football game.”

The Bills had a chance to win the game, but their offense ended eight of 12 possessions with a punt. Allen didn’t turn the ball over. He hasn’t thrown an interception all season, but the passing game hasn’t been good enough to win in the last two games.

When asked if he still has confidence in his receivers, Allen said he needs to make better decisions.

“I know I didn’t finish at a high rate tonight and didn’t put the ball in danger, especially early in the first half, but I trust our guys,” he said. “I know you’re going to be wild this week, but I love my guys and we’re going to keep working and this is not a defining moment in our season. It’s an opportunity to learn and grow, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

McDermott said the Bills were devastated after the loss and that there are no moral victories in the NFL. But he liked the way his team fought back, even if they didn’t win.

“To fight back after going down like we did. We have a lot of young guys, especially in defense, who fight in all three phases and give us a lot of effort,” he said. “The margins in the NFL are slim and we have to keep working to improve and get some guys here healthy at some point. I think that would help, and yet that’s no excuse. We have to find ways to get these out.”