Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Bills fell to 5-5 on the 2023 season on Monday night after a 24-22 loss to the Denver Broncos at Highmark Stadium.
Here are my Arrows Up and Down, starting with Down after the loss:
ARROW DOWN:
Coaching/12-men on the field
In the dying seconds of Monday's game and with the Broncos lining up for a game-winning field goal, inexplicably, the Bills had 12 men on the field.
That gave Broncos kicker Wil Lutz a second chance after missing the field goal from 41 yards out. The penalty made the kick a more manageable 36-yard field goal, and Lutz didn't miss.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott said his team practiced that scenario multiple times throughout the week. That makes it even more inexcusable.
It was a failure, starting with coaching and filtering down.
Sean McDermott
McDermott is responsible for every aspect of this team, including assistant coaches and players. They made far too many critical mistakes in too many areas on Monday night.
That all falls at his feet.
Matthew Smiley
The Bills' special teams coordinator is also responsible for what happened at the end of the game with 12 men on the field, as well as the inexplicable decision to...
Punt/kick to Marvin Mims Jr.
For some reason, the Bills punted and kicked the ball to Mims, the league’s top punt and kick returner, three different times. He made them pay for it.
Mims totaled 44 yards on two punt returns, and also took a kickoff back another 31 yards.
If it was a decision to punt to him, that's on Smiley. If not, it's on his special teams unit, which he's responsible for.
Field position
Four turnovers and letting Mims return kicks and punts led to the Broncos having an average starting field position of their own 41-yard line!
Josh Allen
Allen had a rough night, and made some poor decisions, including trying to hit Deonte Hardy along the sidelines with 45 seconds left in the first half. A bad decision and a poor throw resulted in an interception.
The Broncos converted it to three points.
Allen finished the game going just 15-of-26 (57.7%) for 177 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He also had a bad exchange with James Cook which cost the Bills a fumble.
The veteran quarterback also appeared to bail out of the pocket a few different times, even though there wasn't much pressure coming.
The final Broncos drive
The Bills defense played well all night until the final two minutes of the game when they had the lead and just needed to stop the Broncos from getting into field goal range.
Denver went 57 yards in 10 plays, aided by a 28-yard pass interference penalty called against Taron Johnson.
On the very first play of the drive, the Broncos gained 18 yards to get right to the Bills' 43-yard line.
Gabe Davis’ drop
One of Allen's interceptions was a ball that should have been caught by Davis, but went off his hands and right to the defender. It also took the Bills out of scoring territory and cost them points.
James Cook’s fumbles
Cook fumbled the ball away on the very first play the game after he was stripped while trying to get extra yards. He then had a bad exchange with Allen that resulted in another lost fumble.
The second-year running back even had another one later in the game that bounced right back to him on a long run.
Sam Martin
Martin punted only three times and none were particularly good. Low line drives that gave Mims a chance to return.
None of his three punts landed inside the Broncos' 20-yard line, none were touchbacks, and he only netted an average of 30 yards on the night.
Turnovers
The Bills turned the ball over four times.
Third down offense
The Bills were just 3-for-8 on third downs on the night (37.5%).
ARROW UP:
The defense… for 58 minutes
Down six starters, the defense held up it’s end of the bargain almost all night. They only allowed a total of 300 yards of offense, and only 178 yards passing.
James Cook
Cook gets an Arrow Down for his fumbles, but overall, he was terrific when he held onto the ball, totaling 109 yards on just 12 carries (a 9.1 yard per-carry average). He also caught two passes for 11 yards for a 120-yard total offensive night.
Latavius Murray
Murray was also excellent running the ball, carrying it nine times for 68 yards (7.6 yards/carry) and a touchdown.
Running game
The Bills ran for 193 yards and averaged 7.4 yards per-carry.
Dalton Kincaid
Kincaid was the Bills' leading receiver, catching five of his six targets for 51 yards and a touchdown.
Run defense
The Broncos came into the game with the second-highest yards per-carry in the NFL. The Bills held them to just 3.2 yards a run on 38 attempts.
Terrel Bernard
Bernard accounted for 13 total tackles, a sack and a quarterback hurry.
