The Buffalo Bills not only lost to the Houston Texans in Week 5, they lost a game that was there for the taking. They lost a game that looked to be an automatic loss when they trailed by as many as 17 points early in the second half but tied things up with a little over three minutes to go.
Yet, when push came to shove, the Bills floundered and got in their own way. They had a chance to waste some time on the clock and either settle for the tie or maybe try to get the ball into field goal range with a little over 30 seconds to go.
After the Bills threw one pass despite being backed deep into their own end zone, that should have been that. They should have ran the ball on their next two possessions and forced the Texans to use timeouts. Had they done that, what ended up happening might not have been possible.
The Bills ended up throwing the ball on all three of their downs and not one of those passes was completed. That meant the clock stopped and Houston got to hold onto all three of its timeouts. This proved pivotal when they got the ball back in Bills territory and could stop the clock after a C.J. Stroud completion. The Texans kicked the field goal and moved to 4-1, dropping the Bills to 3-2.
NFL Red Zone host Scott Hanson was one of the many people watching who could not believe what the Bills were doing on what ended up being their final drive of the game. A few gems from Hanson collected by Awful Announcing:
- "This is almost like they don't know the score of the game here, ladies and gentlemen...I am dumbfounded by these decisions here."
- "Now the Bills strategy backfires on them because you've got a punt return almost into field goal range. This is astounding, what we're seeing in game management, between Buffalo and Houston."
- "The Buffalo Bills news conferences, between the head coach and the quarterback, will be very interesting at the end of this game."
Scott Hanson was dumbfounded by Bills' lack of clock management
Hanson's not the only one who was puzzled by what the Bills were doing on that final drive. At the very least, the team could have run the ball, drained the clock, and played for overtime. The momentum had been on Buffalo's side at that point, as the Texans had not scored since the beginning of the second half yet they decided to play careless football and hand the game to the Texans on a silver platter.
The Bills could very well go on to win the AFC East but this game really highlights why this team might not be taken seriously down the stretch. You can have one of the best quarterbacks in the game but if you don't make the correct decisions in the big moments, it'll cost you.