After the Buffalo Bills lost to the New York Jets on Monday Night Football to open their 2023 season, head coach Sean McDermott stated the obvious.
“We didn’t play our best game tonight.”
While the seventh-year head coach said that the loss wasn’t on one person and the Bills lost as a team (all the required lingo by a head coach), he kept coming back to the fact that Buffalo lost the turnover battle 4-1.
“We made it pretty hard on ourselves,” he said to begin his post-game interview. “When you turn the ball over four times it’s hard to win in this league. You are playing two opponents. And that’s what we did tonight.”
While McDermott went on to talk about not playing complementary football and that the Jets have a simple but effective defensive scheme and reminding everyone that wins and losses aren’t the responsibility of one person, he still kept referring to the four turnovers — all of which belonged to quarterback Josh Allen (three interceptions and a lost fumble).
“We had an opportunity to go win the game. We didn’t do that. It’s hard to win in this league when you turn the ball over four times,” McDermott said that, up 13-3 at halftime, he was telling his team that they had to play smart and take care of the football in the second half. “But, we weren’t smart.”
The Buffalo head coach said that as a team, there were several missed opportunities to change the game. From missed coverage on a Breece Hall 83-yard run, to allowing a punt return for the game-winning touchdown, to the offense being off-schedule due to poor first-down efficiency, McDermott said that the Bills lost as a team.
The Buffalo head coach said that as a team, there were several missed opportunities to change the game. From missed coverage on a Breece Hall 83-yard run, to allowing a punt return for the game-winning touchdown, to the offense being off-schedule due to poor first-down efficiency, McDermott said that the Bills lost as a team.
“It’s not just one person.”
But, then again, he went back to the fact that the Bills, aka Josh Allen, turned the ball over four times too many.
“When you turn the ball over four times, you make it hard on yourself. And that’s what we did.”
McDermott did admit that he worries about what games like the Bills’ 2023 season opener do to his quarterback’s confidence.
“He’s an extremely competitive young man that wants to be the best, but he just has to use what he has around him,” he said about Allen, and then pointed to what type of play he expects from his sixth-year QB. “The drive at the end of regulation was phenomenal. That was a heck of a drive to go tie the game. That’s what he’s capable of.”
Let’s hope that on Sunday there is more of the phenomenal type drives and less of the disastrous ones that were displayed on national television last night.
