The Denver Broncos – the same team that put forth a historic stinker against the Miami Dolphins earlier this season – waltzed into Highmark Stadium on Monday night and just watched the fireworks.
The Bills lost in spectacular fashion.
Broncos coach Sean Payton watched the Bills, once thought to boast an elite NFL offense, carelessly turn the ball over four times. Denver didn’t outplay Buffalo but the Broncos wisely waited and let the Bills crumble.
A special teams disaster gave the Broncos a second chance after a missed field goal almost allowed Buffalo to survive. But on a play the Bills practiced at least twice this week, Sean McDermott’s team couldn’t execute a dime defense to field goal block quick change without doing some simple math.
There were 12 defensive players on the field when Will Lutz missed wide right on his first attempt. The Bills celebrated for a moment before the officials revealed the travesty of a penalty. Lutz put it right down the middle on the next kick and gave the Broncos a 24-22 win, knocking the Bills to 5-5 on the season and their playoff chances to an eye-popping 19%, according to the NY Times.
Angry fans are demanding change. Offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey is under heavy scrutiny for the offense’s regression this season. Special team coordinator Matthew Smiley might be on the chopping block for his unit’s blunder late in regulation.
McDermott was asked if a drastic change was needed after another disappointing loss.
“I need a little bit of time here after the game to assess that,” he said. “Obviously I’m not real happy right now so I’ll evaluate that in the next 24 hours here and see where that takes us.”
McDermott said he remains confident in Dorsey but that the offense can be better at the same time. Buffalo had the ball 11 times against the Broncos and scored on only three of them. The Bills had four turnovers, three punts, and a turnover on downs.
Buffalo’s defense held down the fort while the offense sputtered in the first half. By the time the offense figured it out with two second-half scoring drives, the damn broke for the defense.
McDermott appreciated the effort his defense gave.
“I mean, talk about four turnovers and the ball at the minus 40 as a starting spot,” McDermott said. “We had) five defensive starters out — (our defense) played their asses off, they really did. So I applaud them for it. Certainly work to do there as well, but they played hard.”
Allen threw two interceptions in the game and was lost for answers after the game when he was asked about the emotional toll the loss took.
“Sucks,” he said. “Just a lot of bad football. A lot of bad football.”
Allen said he remains confident in the Bills because they’ve been a successful team with moments to think back on. But he also knows time is running out on Buffalo’s season.
“The clock’s ticking. Gotta have some urgency now,” he said.
The winning culture that McDermott has built in Buffalo since he arrived in 2017 has helped turn the Bills into a Super Bowl contender. But they haven’t been 5-5 in a season since Allen was a rookie in 2018.
Inside the locker room after the game, running back James Cook and wide receiver Gabe Davis declined interview requests. McDermott said players aren’t happy.
“Guys are upset and they’re frustrated,” he said. “When you don’t get the results you’re looking for and you don’t have maybe the production you’re looking for, they get frustrated. And so I can promise you it’s not for a lack of effort. This is – we gotta continue to reset and continue to make the adjustments that we need to make. I know the result wasn’t what we wanted it to be, but I do think there was some good football at times being played.
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