Bills' Sean McDermott takes blame for Buffalo's late-game management errors: 'That's on me'

At least three runs would have used up all of Houston's timeouts, making Stroud's 5-yard pass to get Fairbairn a little closer more difficult.

McDermott was asked if he agreed with offensive coordinator Joe Brady picking three passes.

“I won’t go into that in more detail. I don’t think that’s relevant at the moment,” said the coach. “Overall, again, that’s up to me. We just have to do a better job. I have to do a better job in this situation.”

Maybe even a designed Allen run or allowing the QB to run would have worked better than three passes of 15+ yards.

“I love Josh with the ball in his hands,” McDermott said. “I do. Efficient offense was the right approach there, and I didn't ask that of us. So we learn from it. Difficult situation, as I said. You have three timeouts. They have a good performance.” Field goal kicker, and you go back and forth, I probably should have run it on the first play and said, “Hey, where are we now?” Either way, we need to move the chains once, um not to give them a chance and that's on me.

Honestly, the Bills probably shouldn't have even been late in the game because of the way the offense played. Houston outgained Buffalo 425 yards to 276 yards. Without Stroud's two fourth-quarter turnovers forced by Buffalo, it would likely be a 10-point loss. But it hurts that better game management late in the game could have at least given McDermott's club a chance of an away win in extra time.

“To bounce back like we did after a defeat. We have a lot of young guys, especially on defense, who are fighting and putting in a great effort in all three phases,” McDermott said. “The margins in the NFL are slim and we have to keep working to improve and get some guys healthy here at some point. I think that would help, but that's no excuse. We have to find ways to get these out.” “