Buffalo Bills Sean McDermott Explains Questionable Fourth-Quarter Kneel Decision in Loss to Philadelphia Eagles

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott explained his reasoning for having quarterback Josh Allen kneel with 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of a tie game.

The Buffalo Bills know all too well what can happen in the final seconds of regulation. They are also certainly aware of the freak of nature they have under center and the opportunities that follow.

Instead, Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott—who has preached the idea of going down swinging—chose to welcome overtime.

With 20 seconds and one timeout left in regulation, tied 31-31, quarterback Josh Allen and the Bills had a chance to try and win the game. They chose to take a knee.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen and head coach Sean McDermott / USA TODAY

It wasn’t the coin toss that doomed them. Buffalo went down and kicked a field goal. But the Philadelphia Eagles found the end zone on their possession, winning 37-34.

McDermott spoke about the decision on Monday.

“Just felt like I used that timeout to try and ‘ice the kicker’ as they say and obviously the guy hits a 59-yarder. … Just felt like in that situation you’re weighing risk to reward at that point,” McDermott said. “Knowing that they have a kicker that, if something dicey happens here with trying to go win the game, he’s in position right away to win the game again.”

How much trust does he have in the Bills’ offense? 

Surely, the weather dampened McDermott’s optimism, but if anyone is able to fling it regardless of the conditions, it’s the guy with the strongest arm in football. Allen’s incredible performance, including over 400 yards of offense and its own mixtape worth of highlights, had made that perfectly clear.

In closing the door to the unlikely possibility of a turnover, McDermott took the ball out of his superstar’s hands. Hindsight isn’t necessary for that to be criticized.

No one knows how Buffalo’s final drive of the fourth quarter would have gone, but McDermott’s conservative call was likely not the best process. The Bills just needed field goal range but could have at least given themselves a shot at a Hail Mary with any sort of chunk gain. When going up against a better team, those opportunities must be taken, regardless of the result.

“Believe me, I’m rolling that back a million times in my mind,” McDermott said. “Hopefully we’re in that situation again, but full confidence in the offense, it just felt at that point in time, with the rain the way it was, as I mentioned the pass rush being as good as they are, felt like it was the best thing for us.”

Is It Time To Have A Conversation About Bills Coach Sean McDermott?

So much has blown up in Buffalo’s face this season. To some extent, this was a move made with an ill-advised turnover in mind. Perhaps that’s the cost of reckless play earlier in the season.

Now at 6-6, the Bills are not favored to play mid-January football. They’ll look to make the requisite adjustments, both in the game plan and in process, over the Week 13 bye.