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Bills end-game clock management ripped following loss to Texans

There are plenty of opinions being had about how the Buffalo Bills handled the clock after losing to the Houston Texans on Sunday.

Anthony Miller

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There's a lot of head-scratching and utter confusion from fans and experts across the NFL after the Buffalo Bills put on a disaster-class in clock management at the end of their 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans.

A C.J. Stroud intentional grounding penalty pushed Houston out of field goal range with roughly 40 seconds remaining in the 20-20 game, prompting the Texans to punt to the Bills and give them the ball with zero timeouts on their own three-yard line. Houston had all three of its timeouts left to use; backed up against your own endzone with no timeouts in a tied game, attempting to run out the clock a bit seems like the move, right?

The Bills instead threw on first down, with Keon Coleman being flagged for offensive pass interference along the sideline (it was declined). Josh Allen threw it deep again on second down to Mack Hollins to no avail. Third down saw a pass over the middle of the field to Curtis Samuel that, again, fell incomplete, prompting Sam Martin to punt the ball from inside his own endzone with 16 seconds remaining. The entire possession took just 16 seconds off the clock.

Houston would get the ball back at the Bills' 46-yard line after the punt and return. Stroud was able to get a short completion that led to the game-winning 59-yard field goal by Texans kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn to seal the win for Houston.

Related: Studs and duds from Bills' discouraging 23-20 to Texans

The play calling from Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady and head coach Sean McDermott allowing it to happen has brought criticism from all around the league.

If Buffalo had run the ball three straight times and forced three timeouts, Martin would have had more room for the punt and been able to make it more difficult for Houston to go down the field. It would have set up overtime and potentially given the Bills a legitimate chance to win, rather than the prayer of mounting a drive from against their own endzone with no timeouts and 32 seconds remaining.

This is something McDermott will have to answer to and could have implications on the season after two straight losses for the Bills.

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Anthony Miller
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