The evening began with a slow start to the offensive for the Buffalo Bills – a growing theme during the final month of the 2023 season.
It ended with a Wil Lutz field to give the Denver Broncos the 24-22 Monday Night Football road victory, which was set up by two defensive penalties on the Bills’ side.
Now, many in the NFL world are wondering if head coach Sean McDermott is sitting on a seat that intensifies with heat.
NFL World calls out Sean McDermott, saying the Buffalo Bills should fire him
McDermott arrived in Orchard Park, New York, as a defensive genius from his days with the Carolina Panthers. The former defensive coordinator came to wake up a franchise that had suffered a long playoff drought and re-amplify a rabid fan base that had gone silent.
In seven seasons, he won 71 games and took the Bills to the AFC title game for the first time since their conference title streak in the early 1990s. But now his team sits at 5- 5 and, as ESPN’s Joe Buck said after the MNF contest, the math for the Bills is starting to get ugly.
MORE: Bills fans furious after poor start on MNF
The NFL world went after McDermott all over social media. What helped start this chain reaction was when NFL analytics expert Warren Sharp called the Bills head coach.
“Sean McDermott got so involved on the offensive side of the ball that it became an unrecognizable disaster. Then he walked (former defensive coordinator) Leslie Frazier. Now he’s blitzing all-out on 3rd down while Denver isn’t close to FG range…and leaving 12 men on the field to lose the game.” Sharp posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Bills react to MNF collapse
Bills quarterback Josh Allen delivered some remarkable facial expressions that night and one of them was four seconds into the 12-man call on the field.
Allen finished his night going 15 of 26 through the air, but settled for just 177 yards, now his second-lowest output this season. He was also intercepted twice by Fabian Moreau and Justin Simmons. And Allen didn’t mince words about his and the Bills’ performance.
“Um…that sucks. We should never have found ourselves in this position in the first place. Lots of bad football. » Allen told Buffalo media.
12 men on the ground ???? pic.twitter.com/z9OYHMh0b7
– Pro Football Network (@PFN365) November 14, 2023
But how did McDermott feel after the loss? He acknowledged that the illegal substitution call that allowed the game-winning field goal was “inexcusable.” He even explained how the Bills practiced “two to three times this week” for those moments by switching from looking at the defense to rushing the team to block field goals.
But McDermott was candid about his performance.
“It wasn’t good enough. You can’t turn the ball over for a while. It’s not enough,” McDermott said. “We need to play better, evolve the football and score points more consistently.”
He also got honest about the performance of the quarterback he once ranked seventh overall to help build the Bills, saying, “I think he played well at times and at times. moments he didn’t. You can’t turn the ball over. We have to understand this.
McDermott, however, has a multitude of things to resolve moving forward. All five of the Bills’ losses have been against AFC foes. And the woes that have plagued the team — from slow starts on offense to mental error penalties — resurfaced against a team that was once 1-5 but now is a game behind Buffalo in a crowded wildcard race .
And now, a growing population in the NFL world has started to see enough of McDermott. In three words, ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark summed up the Bills’ playoff hopes after the game.
“Buffalo is dead.”
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