Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Bills head into their Week 13 bye at 6-6 on the 2023 season, a mark not many had expected of this team at the beginning of the year.
Buffalo's latest defeat comes at the hands of the reigning NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles, who managed come out on top of a back-and-forth affair with a 37-34 win in overtime.
However, a discussion point for many after the loss was the Bills not trusting quarterback Josh Allen to try and drive Buffalo back into field goal range for kicker Tyler Bass with 20 seconds remaining on the clock and a timeout in-hand. Instead, head coach Sean McDermott elected to kneel out the clock and play for overtime.
"Felt like in that situation, you’re weighing risk and reward," said McDermott during his weekly Zoom meeting with the media on Monday. "They have a field goal kicker that if something dicey happens, they are in his range."
The Bills did win the coin toss to start overtime, but only managed to get a field goal on their drive to start the extra 10 minutes.
Philadelphia managed to turn things back the other way and drive down the field and win it with a Jalen Hurts rushing touchdown.
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Sunday's loss was also indicative of a problem the Bills have had for the past two seasons, which is losing one-score games. In the last two years, the Bills are now 8-9 in one-score contests.
"Those are things we are studying as of this morning, and will continue to study as a staff," McDermott said. "No one’s more frustrated than I am. I can promise you that. We’re working hard at figuring it out."
The Bills will next take the field for game action on Sunday, Dec. 10 when they face the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium for a 4:25 p.m. EST kickoff.
Hear more from McDermott’s Zoom call with the media available in the player below:
