The Buffalo Bills keep losing the wrong games, even if no loss is a good one to claim. Eight sacks and two more very ugly interceptions for quarterback Josh Allen. That’s not winning football no matter who’s throwing the football. Yet… the Bills had a chance with less than two minutes to go, thanks to the most unlikely of trick plays actually working to convert a 4th & 27.
Was it an awful game by Buffalo’s offense? Yes. But much of that was due to the incredible performance by the Houston Texans’ defense. This team now holds the record for sacks against Allen in a single game. They wouldn’t allow Allen a moment’s rest in the pocket, where happy feet ruled the evening and proved fatal in trying to suffer through some troubling early play calling and worse execution by the wide receivers.
Buffalo is now 7-4 and in a real pit looking up at the New England Patriots. The Bills could ill-afford to drop a game ahead of their Week 15 rematch, yet here they are.
The playoffs are still well within site for these Buffalo Bills, but their work against the best teams shows how far they have to go to become championship caliber.
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What are we doing, Joe Brady?
Look, Houston is the top-ranked defense for a reason, and they’ve made life glamorous for backup quarterback Davis Mills. That, alone, should mean that offensive coordinator well-understood his assignment: keep it simple, and trust those who’ve done well for you all season. So when it was clear that Josh Allen was in for a rough night, it made sense that the move was to lean heavily on running back James Cook III. In a game decided by four points, Cook was ignored far too often.
Cook finished with 17 carries for 116 yards and an opening drive touchdown on a 45-yard scamper. He also caught three passes for 13 yards. Brady and Allen seem determined to stick with their confounding use of Cook as a receiver, and it very well may have cost them in Week 12.
When Brady finally did remember that Cook was having a good night against a defense vulnerable to his play, he eventually found way to the worst play call of the night on a 4th & 1 in the fourth quarter. That call required a bit of trickery on a handoff that eventually landed with Cook — just as Houston’s defense surrounded him.
Buffalo’s short-yardage calls continue to be a major concern, where too often they default to trickery or perfect theater/execution to make it work. It doesn’t need to be so cute, so complicated when there’s one yard to gain. Josh Allen and James Cook make that so, yet even they won’t overcome faulty play calling against the best defense. We’ve seen this happen at all points on the field, from deep in their own end of the field, to the midfield no-man’s land and at the goal line — whether for six or in trying a two-point play.
This performance isn’t all on Brady, nor Allen, nor even the inept play out of a lot of guys in the wide receivers room. It’s on all of them, and it’s likely no amount of preparation changes what unfolded in Houston.
Speaking of preparation…