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Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Breshad Perriman had one catch against the Buffalo Bills in Week 14.
He made it count.
Perriman’s single grab came in overtime and he it took it 58 yards to house, sending the Buccaneers (10-3) home with the 33-27 win. Prior to that, Buffalo had rattled off a comeback, as they trailed 24-3 at the half.
The Bills (7-6) tried to explain what the heck went wrong on the final play after the fact. On the surface, it was clear some error happened.
Buffalo’s middle linebacker in Tremaine Edmunds was covering Perriman on the play. A receiver against a linebacker is a clear mismatch.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott said that was due to the routes ran by the Bucs.
“We were in a man coverage. It’s one of those man coverage situations, playing them tight, and they ran a rub route. Usually (Edmunds) is in there to clean some things up for us. It’s… he’s a very good player, he’s going to make that play. I know the look of it is a linebacker on a wide receiver, that’s not designed to go that way, but we got rubbed and he’s there to clean some things up,” McDermott said via video conference. “At the end of the day, they made one more play, and I’m confident my guys will make it next time.”
It’s a bit hard to see the exact rub on the replay. On the television broadcast, the route goes just offscreen before Tampa quarterback Tom Brady throws the ball:
ARE YOU KIDDING ME, @B_Perriman11?!!!
đź“ş: #BUFvsTB on CBS pic.twitter.com/t7ajzi5ctd
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) December 13, 2021
Regardless of being able to see the exact play, it is clear the Bills are out of position.
Not just one player, but their entire defensive backfield is on the opposite side of the field and Edmunds was left all alone.
Like his coach, Edmunds tried to explain what happened. Naturally after the back breaking loss, he was a bit hard on himself.
“I’ve just got to do a better job with my eyes,” Edmunds said. “Just doing a better job with my eyes and making sure we’re executing at a high level.”
“It’s hard. A lot of things going on. Obviously was not in the right position,” he added.
In a slight silver lining, Edmunds attempted to put a positive spin on things as well. Time to learn from it, he said.
“In order to win these close ball games, we’ve got to execute in those critical times and that starts with me down the middle,” Edmunds said.
Moving forward, essentially every game will be critical for Edmunds and the Bills.
Time for any such plays to be a thing of the past, starting immediately.
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