The Buffalo Bills lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home, 33-27, in Buffalo Bills fashion.
The Buffalo Bills started the game slow as molasses even getting down 17 points before making their late-comeback in the second half.
It appeared that they might win the game after marching down the field with under a minute left in the 4th. The NFL Officials missed a blatant defensive pass interference on Diggs who obviously had his jersey pulled. This led to a field goal and over time.
In over time, Sean McDermott made a bone head decision to punt the ball on 4th and 2 and put the ball in the hands of Tom Brady. The Bucs marched down the field and that’s all she wrote.
The Buffalo Bills:
The Bills started this season with massive hype that appeared well deserved. The media started buying in on the “Process,” and started talking about the Bills being favorites in most games. Josh Allen started to be in the elite quarterback conversations and Sean McDermott had the best odds of winning Coach of the Year (COTY).
This season has been all but that. It started off with the loss to the Titans (Steelers game was a fluke). The Bills made great strides in that game but didn’t make the best plays to win that game. Derrick Henry was at his best and made the Bills’ “Finesse” defense paid for it.
Then came the loss to the Jaguars. This loss was the worst loss for any team in the NFL. The high powered Super Bowl favorites lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars 9 to 6. The Bills couldn’t score two touchdowns against the worst defense in the NFL.
Then there was the loss to the Indianapolis Colts 41-19. The Bills developed a reputation as being a soft team unable to be aggressive against physical teams. The Bills gave up 4 rushing touchdowns to running back Jonathan Taylor.
The recipe for defeating the Bills was finalized and the Patriots would be next to beat the Bills 14 -10 with throwing only 3 passes all game.
Brian Daboll:
Brian Daboll is no doubt a very good Offensive Coordinator. He, however, would be the best coordinator in the NFL if the games had 8 quarters instead of 4. Daboll’s in game adjustments are often too little too late.
Stefon Diggs requires the ball within 3 seconds. When he does get the ball within 3 seconds he has a spectacular season ala 2020.
Daboll, however, misses the mark. The run, pass, pass, pass selection is predictable; his screens on 3rd and 6 and throws to the flats on 3rd and 6 are atrocious.
Leslie Frazier:
Frazier showed the most promise. His defense has been dominant against the pass mostly and has showed up against the majority of teams on the season. There’s not too much bad to say about Frazier rather than his run defense being as brittle as apple crumb cake.
Frazier’s defense against the Patriots was awful, but to be transparent, the Offense appeared as if they weren’t prepared for the game anyway.
Sean McDermott:
Sean McDermott came in and uplifted the motto “Trust the process.” It was a cute saying as the Bills reached the playoffs twice in his tenure. The issue, however, is that his decision making on gutsy calls are too conservative, almost docile. It feels as if he’s trying to be a Bill Belichick.
There is only one Bill Belichick. Bill has been immersed in the game of football and had a father who helped craft Navy Football for 30 plus years.
Bill has stood the test of time in the NFL and has honed his craft after years of coaching. Sean should not play chess with Bill Belichick.
Instead, Sean is a novice who should play unconventional football against a guy who’s stayed within regimented football his whole career. Sadly, I don’t think Sean has guts to go up against the titan and coach outside of the box.
There is no reason why the Buffalo Bills have regressed so much in a years time. Stefon Diggs’ numbers (yards) aren’t even close to what he had last year. One could say that the addition of Sanders may have played a role in Diggs’ getting less yards but to that I’d say humbug. With Sanders in, Diggs’ should have had more touchdowns at least.
In sum, the Buffalo Bills have regressed and the only one to blame is the coach. One could say that it was the GM, but I say that coach is on the field with the players and knows their weakness and expectations. Brandon Beane did however fail to make trade adjustments but that’s another blog post.
The Buffalo Bills are done for the season. They should not be a top 10 team. They should not be on a power ranking. They should be doing just enough to stem the bleeding. On to next season.
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