A day after the 27-year anniversary of the greatest comeback in the NFL history, the Buffalo Bills blew a 16-0 lead to the Houston Texans in the first AFC wild card matchup Saturday evening.
Where did it all go wrong? Who deserves the blame?
Below are the two reasons why the Bills’ season ended Saturday night.
The one position that receives all the praise when their team wins and all the blame when their team loses in the quarterback. On Saturday, we saw two completely different Josh Allens. In the first half, the Bills offense was clicking. The Bills scored the first touchdown of the game on a reverse to John Brown who lobbed it up to Josh Allen and jumped in for the score. The Buffalo special?
The Buffalo Special. #BUFvsHOU | #GoBills pic.twitter.com/Ie8dOTtTGl
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 4, 2020
Allen finished the game 24 of 46 for 264 yards and 92 yards on the ground. Not bad numbers, but not good enough. On a third-and-eight early on in the fourth quarter, Allen had the ball knocked out; it was recovered by the Texans, who kicked a field goal to narrow the gap. After the Texans took a 19-16 lead, the Bills had a third-and-eight play from the Texans’ 28-yard line. After trying to throw the ball instead of taking a sack which would have pushed the Bills back to the 43, Allen was flagged for intentional grounding. This resulted in a fourth-and-27 with 1:41 remaining in the contest. Like the previous play, Allen was sacked for a large loss, giving the Texans the ball back at the Buffalo 37. In a matter of two plays, Josh Allen set the Bills back 37 yards.
Allen was able to help drive the ball down the field which led to a Stephen Hauschka game-tying field goal, but not without some controversy.
I'd like to submit a play to Canton for consideration pic.twitter.com/8lo9ntGnFe
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) January 5, 2020
In overtime, Allen made some impressive throws on third down, including a third-and-nine scramble where he gave more time to his teammates to get open, eventually connecting with rookie running back Devin Singletary for a first down. At the end of the day, Josh Allen did not do enough for this Bills team to advance. It is hard to complain about this second-year player’s performance, but when the big lights are one, you need to perform.
The second reason for the Bills’ failure to win on Saturday falls on the shoulders of head coach Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. Everyone’s first issue with McDermott occurred late in the first half when the Bills were driving and eventually settled for a field goal instead of playing for the touchdown. On a first down and 10 from the Texans’ 23 with 30 seconds and one timeout left, veteran Frank Gore was in the backfield. Why was Gore in the game? Devin Singletary was your best running back all season. After spiking the ball, Allen looked for Duke Williams in the end zone but came up incomplete. McDermott had played it conservative all season long late in the first half when a touchdown was in sight.
McDermott has grown a lot as a head coach over these last few years. He’s been aggressive on 4th down, he’s incorporated more analytics into his coaching… now I hope he’s learned to not play conservative offense with a lead. I have faith he’s going to continue to grow. #GoBills
— Adam (@sharpndpensel) January 5, 2020
Sure, Brian Daboll deserves some of the blame with his packages during certain times in the game, but another play that had Bills fans scratching their head was when Allen threw a deep ball into double coverage to fullback Patrick DiMarco. Why is your fullback running a fly route? Why is he not in the backfield helping to block against J.J. Watt?
Daboll moved up to the booth midway through the season and it seemed to help him viewing the entire field, but it did not help him Saturday evening.
It took a while for the Houston Texans to wake up, but it was superstar J.J. Watt who created a spark and it carried over to their offense. Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins took off in the second half, having their way against Tre’Davious White. The Bills defense picked up seven sacks on the day, which was done mostly with just a four-man rush. It would not have heard if Leslie Frazier dialed up more blitzes in the second half, especially after Watson got cooking.
It will be a long offseason for the Bills Mafia, but they have plenty to look forward to. The Bills have $90 million in cap space, a first-round pick, and a young quarterback who has a playoff performance under his belt. Bills general manager Brandon Beane has been excellent in his role, with his acquisitions and Bills fans should expect the same to continue this offseason. This loss will hurt for a while, but the future looks bright in Buffalo.
