Jordan Mailata rubs salt in Bills' wound after loss to Eagles
The Buffalo Bills (6-6) suffered one of their worst losses not only of the regular season, but in franchise history on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles (10-1). It had everything to do with bad coaching and poor officiating. Bills head coach Sean McDermott is feeling the heat more than he ever has after the disaster and […]
The Buffalo Bills (6-6) suffered one of their worst losses not only of the regular season, but in franchise history on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles (10-1).
It had everything to do with bad coaching and poor officiating. Bills head coach Sean McDermott is feeling the heat more than he ever has after the disaster and he should. This loss is totally on his mismanagement of both the game and his own defense.
Eagles offensive lineman Jordan Mailata added to the misery after the game when he told NFL Network's James Palmer the Eagles knew they were going to score the game-winning touchdown when they saw the defensive look the Bills deployed on the final play. He even went as far to say Philadelphia "couldn't believe" the Bills came out in a Cover 0 look and then proceeded to run a "0 blitz", which is explained, here.
The Ringer's Ben Solak also did an excellent job explaining why McDermott's decision was so frustrating:
McDermott is a problem and the Bills aren't reaching their ceiling until he's gone
Yes, the officiating was awful on Sunday and one can certainly make an argument the refs helped prevent a win. But even with all the bad calls, the Bills still had a three-point lead with 1:52 left in regulation. They had a chance to win the game and they couldn't pull it off.
McDermott's play-calling on that final drive was subpar. But his game mismanagement afterward was even worse. Not only did he call an a timeout that allowed Eagles kicker Jake Elliott to catch his breath before making the 59-yard field goal that sent the game into overtime, he refused to give a red-hot Josh Allen the chance to go make a play with :20 left in regulation. Instead, McDermott let the clock run out and let the game go into overtime.
It's awful, all the way around. But to put your team in the position he put them in on that final play, not even thinking the Eagles would go to their bread and butter in one of the biggest moments of the game, is pure coaching malpractice. It's wild to think McDermott was unaware the Eagles would run that play.
When you have opposing players seeing things before your coach does, then it's clear you're outmatched. This will be theme for each major Bills opponent moving forward and it won't change until McDermott is gone.
