Bills choke again, Josh Allen's reckless play leads to wild debacle against Vikings
ORCHARD PARK - The calendar says November now, and for the Buffalo Bills, that has historically been a cruel month since Sean McDermott took over as head coach.
For whatever reason, the Bills have saved some of their worst performances in his six seasons for November and we saw another one Sunday as the Bills found multiple ways to choke away what should have been a rather ho-hum victory, ultimately losing 33-30 in overtime to Minnesota.
This on the heels of last week’s lousy loss to the Jets, and one year after two putrid losses in November 2021 to the Jaguars and Colts.
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Back in 2020, November was the month of the deplorable loss in Arizona on the Hail Murray play. There was a 41-9 loss to Chicago in 2018, and in McDermott’s first season in 2017, there was the three-game run of misery when the Bills lost three straight to the Jets, Saints and Chargers by a combined 135-55.
Yeah, the Bills probably can’t wait to get this month over. Problem is, there are still two games left - at home to Cleveland, then at Detroit on Thanksgiving. And the way they’re playing right now, no one in Bills Mafia should be feeling too confident right now.
More:Bills collapse in devastating 33-30 overtime loss to Vikings in NFL's game of the year
“We had opportunities to win. That's what makes it sting,” McDermott said. “We were right there and, again, we got sloppy with the football. This is the journey of a season, so you gotta pull yourself back together, find out the reasons why, make the adjustments and move forward.”
This one stings, no doubt, because it was a team-wide failure, and if you’re truly paying close attention, there should be numerous doubts about the actual Super Bowl viability of this team. Top to bottom best roster in the NFL? Not right now.
Here’s how I graded the Bills’ performance:
PASS OFFENSE: B-
For all the wondrous things that Josh Allen can do, and he did several in this game, the bottom line is that he sometimes plays recklessly. We all know it, and for the previous two years that generally worked out well for the Bills. Not lately. Allen has played poorly in the second half of the last three games, and he has been a major reason why the Bills have lost two games in a row.
He shook off his elbow injury to play, and for most of the first three-plus quarters he was pretty good, downright Allen-like. But then his two interceptions turned the game upside down, far outweighing his 330 passing yards, and his fumble literally cost the Bills the game.
Stefon Diggs was outstanding with 12 catches for 128 yards, and the good news is that he finally had some help as Gabe Davis caught six for 93 and a TD, and Dawson Knox contributed four catches for 57 yards. The lack of plays for recently acquired Nyheim Hines makes no sense because he was brought here to be a pass catcher. The Bills RBs combined for two catches for 15 yards, one of those by Hines.
RUN OFFENSE: C+
The day sure started well as Devin Singletary scored on a pair of short runs on plays that were well-blocked, but thereafter, it was the usual slog for the Bills on the ground. Allen, of course, contributed a couple huge plays and gained 84 yards which, as usual, inflated the run game numbers to 175 yards.
Once again, that’ll look on the stat sheet and in the rankings, but the bottom line is the Bills stink as a running team. Singletary seems to start well each week and then craters, and he also lost a fumble in this game. James Cook continues to be ignored, much like Hines. The Bills even activated Duke Johnson looking for a short yardage spark and he converted one first down but failed on another.
The Bills’ inability to run effectively is partially to blame for how this game was lost. They have to rely too much on Allen to convert first downs in the pass game after running plays have been stuffed. I blame much of this on the continually underwhelming offensive line, but these backs have to be better, too.
PASS DEFENSE: D
A pretty awful day all around. Thankfully the Bills won’t be seeing Justin Jefferson for another four years because he absolutely made the defense look incompetent. Ten catches for 193 yards and a TD including a 32-yard grab on a fourth-and-19 that might have been the catch of the year in the NFL.
The Bills allowed Kirk Cousins, master of mediocrity, to pass for 350 yards. Yes, they managed two interceptions by Dane Jackson and Christian Benford, but both came on terrible throws, Josh Allen specials, circa the last three weeks. Cam Lewis got the start at safety in place of JaQuan Johnson and he was completely overmatched. The Bills miss Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer so much, and then they lost Tremaine Edmunds in the second half, another major blow in pass coverage.
With Greg Rousseau out, the Bills pass rush was mostly ineffective until the end and it wound up with four sacks. But there were just too many times on Cousins’ dropbacks where he had time to go through his progressions and deliver.
A.J. Epenesa, getting the start in place of Rousseau, had a nice day with one sack and two batted down passes. Shaq Lawson’s pressure led to the Jackson interception.
RUN DEFENSE: C
Hey, if you take Dalvin Cook’s 81-yard touchdown run away it was actually very good. Alas, we can’t do that, can we? Especially when that was a play that lit a fire under the Vikings and prompted their rally to get back into the game.
Cook had only 13 yards to that point, but he finished with 119 of the Vikings 147 rushing yards. Damar Hamlin once again led the Bills with 11 tackles and he has proven to be very good in run support. DT DaQuan Jones had a blow up play where Matt Milano ended up dumping Cook for a five-yard loss that helped force the Vikings to kick a second-quarter field goal. It was one of two tackles for loss by Milano.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B
Duke Johnson took over kickoff return duty and he ripped off a 43-yarder in the first quarter that gave the Bills a great drive start at the Vikings 47. He averaged a healthy 22.4 yards on seven returns.
Hines was again deep on punts and he had a nifty 13-yarder and finished with 25 yards on three attempts. Sam Martin had a net average of 46.7 yards on three punts and the coverage team allowed only 12 yards in returns. The kickoff coverage team had a bust and Kene Nwangwu busted a 39-yarder.
Tyler Bass made both of his field goals and all three of his extra points, and there were no kicking game penalties.
COACHING: D
What the hell were the Bills thinking late in the third quarter when they had fourth-and-2 at the 7? Rather than kick a field goal for a 30-17 lead, meaning the Vikings would need two TDs to win, they went for it and Allen threw his first pick. It was a horrendous coaching decision by Sean McDermott that played a major role in losing the game.
Ken Dorsey had another game where he failed to dial up running plays to the backs that worked. And because the Bills can’t run, he has been forced to press the issue in the passing game and with the QB in a bit of a tailspin, things are not working. Three weeks in a row, the Packers, Jets and Vikings have made second-half adjustments that Dorsey has not had answers for.
On defense, this was just a bad day all around as the Vikings piled up 315 yards and 23 points in the second half and overtime. Starting Cam Lewis at safety didn’t make a whole lot of sense, even with the struggles of JaQuan Johnson. Dean Marlowe would have been a better option.
Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's new twice-a-week newsletter, Bills Blast, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast