Bills' Sean McDermott takes blame for late clock management - ESPN

HOUSTON — Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott took responsibility for the game management that led to the Houston Texans getting the ball back in time for a winning 59-yard field goal Sunday.

«That's on me, the end-of-game situation on offense,» McDermott said after the 23-20 loss. «We're in a tough situation… they were holding three timeouts; they got a good field goal kicker. We needed to run the clock and move the chains, and that's on me. We didn't do that there, and that's my fault.»

Tied 20-20, the Bills forced the Texans to punt with 41 seconds remaining after quarterback C.J. Stroud was called for intentional grounding. McDermott chose to decline a potential 10-second runoff that could have come with the penalty, but he said they did contemplate it.

After getting the ball back at the Buffalo 3-yard line with 32 seconds remaining, the Bills' offense had three straight incomplete passes by Josh Allen.

«I love Josh with the ball in his hands — you know I do,» McDermott said. «And again, efficient offense was the right approach there and… I didn't have us do that. And so again, we learned from that. Tough situation.

»… You go back and forth, and, hey, I probably should have run it on the first play and just said, 'Hey, where are we now?' Either way, we're probably going to have to move the chains one time, right? To not give them a chance. But again, those are situations and that's on me."

Allen's first pass to rookie Keon Coleman in tight coverage was incomplete — the receiver was called for offensive pass interference on the play, but the penalty was declined. With 27 seconds remaining, on second down, Allen threw deep to Mack Hollins, but the ball fell to the ground just ahead of him. On third down with 21 seconds