Bills’ Sean McDermott takes blame for late clock management

HOUSTON — Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott took responsibility for the game management that led to the Houston Texans getting the ball back in time for a winning 59-yard field goal Sunday.

“That’s on me, the end-of-game situation on offense,” McDermott said after the 23-20 loss. “We’re in a tough situation … they were holding three timeouts; they got a good field goal kicker. We needed to run the clock and move the chains, and that’s on me. We didn’t do that there, and that’s my fault.”

Tied 20-20, the Bills forced the Texans to punt with 41 seconds remaining after quarterback C.J. Stroud was called for intentional grounding. McDermott chose to decline a potential 10-second runoff that could have come with the penalty, but he said they did contemplate it.

After getting the ball back at the Buffalo 3-yard line with 32 seconds remaining, the Bills’ offense had three straight incomplete passes by Josh Allen. The Bills are the only team in the last 45 years to be tied or leading in the final minute of the game, inside their own 5-yard line and throw three straight passes, per ESPN Research.

“I love Josh with the ball in his hands — you know I do,” McDermott said. “And again, efficient offense was the right approach there and … I didn’t have us do that. And so again, we learned from that. Tough situation.

“… You go back and forth, and, hey, I probably should have run it on the first play and just said, ‘Hey, where are we now?’ Either way, we’re probably going to have to move the chains one time, right? To not give them a chance. But again, those are situations and that’s on me.”

Allen’s first pass to rookie Keon Coleman in tight coverage was incomplete — the receiver was called for offensive pass interference on the play, but the penalty was declined. With 27 seconds remaining, on second down, Allen threw deep to Mack Hollins, but the ball fell to the ground just ahead of him. On third down with 21 seconds left, Allen targeted Curtis Samuel in the middle of the field, but he slipped before the ball got there and it bounced to the turf in front of him.

“Overall, again, that’s on me,” McDermott said when asked if he was onboard with the playcalls. “And so, we just gotta do a better job, I gotta do a better job in that situation.”

Allen, as well as offensive linemen Connor McGovern and David Edwards, said they were on board with trying to be “aggressive” in that situation.

“Coach is going to trust us to go out there and do that,” Allen said. “Obviously, would love to convert there and hindsight’s 20-20, but yeah.”

After a 13-yard punt return to the Texans’ 41-yard line, Houston ran one play to gain 5 yards and set up a 59-yard field goal. On that play, Bills linebacker Dorian Williams didn’t run onto the field until 12 seconds before the snap, and cornerback Rasul Douglas said after the game that he didn’t think Williams knew the playcall.

“We were trying to go nickel defense, and Dorian was on the side,” McDermott said. “We didn’t have the communication we needed right there, and so because of that, he was late onto the field and getting the call in that situation.”

The Texans won on the next play — a 59-yard field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn as time expired.

Bills receivers caught only 4 of 18 targets on the day — the team’s worst reception percentage since 2009 (Week 13) and the worst by any team’s wide receivers with a minimum of 15 targets since 2016 (Rams, Week 16).

On the day, Allen completed 9 of 30 passes for 131 yards and one touchdown, to Coleman. The Bills were without leading receiver Khalil Shakir due to an ankle injury.

Allen recorded the lowest completion percentage in a game with at least 30 pass attempts in the past 30 seasons. He said he needs to play better, including with his ball placement, in discussing why the receivers weren’t getting open. Coleman said it wasn’t a result of anything the Texans were doing defensively, but of self-inflicted issues, including communication difficulties, which he put on himself.

“I would never, ever criticize Josh ever,” Edwards said. “He is the heartbeat of our offense and our football team. We go as he goes. He is the man. I could easily point to myself on one of those third downs, not being able to pick up one of the stunts. So, this game is not on Josh.”