You know that feeling when you’re at the bar, watching the game with your buddies, and your team makes a call so head-scratching you almost spit out your beer? Yeah, that was every Buffalo Bills fan last night.
After an epic 17-point comeback to tie the Houston Texans, the Bills had the game in their hands, first-and-10 with 32 seconds left on the clock. What followed had everyone, from seasoned analysts to casual viewers, wondering if they’d accidentally wandered into the Twilight Zone.
The Head-Scratcher
Here’s the situation: 32 seconds left, all three timeouts in their back pocket, and a chance to either run the clock down and head to overtime or take a shot at a game-winning field goal. So, what did the Bills do?
They didn’t run the ball once. They didn’t force the Texans to call any of their timeouts.
They passed, passed, and passed again. And just like that, the Texans got the ball back with enough time for kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn to nail a 59-yard field goal as time expired, winning the game for Houston.
The Reactions
“What are they doing, just throwing the ball up here?” asked a baffled Scott Hanson on NFL Red Zone.
“That is wild, ladies and gentlemen. Two dangerous throws in his own end zone from Josh Allen.”
J.J. Watt, three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and current CBS analyst, summed up the collective confusion on X: “Baffling game management decision by the Bills at the end of the game.”
ESPN’s Mike Greenberg didn’t hold back either, tweeting: “There will be worse losses in the NFL this year than the Bills just took, but there may not be a dumber one.”
McDermott Takes the Heat
McDermott, to his credit, didn’t throw anyone under the bus, especially not his offensive coordinator, Joe Brady. “That’s on me,” McDermott stated, acknowledging the elephant-sized play-calling blunder in the room.
“The end of game situation on offense, tough situations. They were holding three timeouts, 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.”
He later added, “I got to do a better job in that situation.”
The Aftermath
Look, it’s week whatever of the NFL season, and crazier things have happened. But let’s be real, passing three times in a row with the game on the line?
That’s enough to make even the most casual fan yell at their TV. While the Bills try to shake off this loss, one thing’s for sure: this game will be dissected and debated for weeks to come, a stark reminder that sometimes, the most baffling calls are the ones you don’t make.