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The Bills had a rookie mistake followed by a rookie mistake, leading to their 19-16 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
After crossing into Browns territory, Bills quarterback Josh Allen tossed a six-yard pass to rookie running back Devin Singletary. It put the Bills in field goal range.
But the first rookie mistake was made by the rookie. He didn’t get out of bounds. The clock kept running with less than a minute left.
The next rookie mistake is perhaps the worst thing you could’ve done from there, not hurry up. Buffalo’s offense huddled instead of moving quickly to the line of scrimmage.
Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott admitted on Monday that wasn’t what the coaching staff wanted to see unfold.
“The plans weren’t really to huddle at that point. It was to go to the line and get the third-down call off and then save the timeout there,” McDermott said.
The bench boss added it was a mistake that the Bills have tried to focus on in the past, and will keep focusing on in the future. Maybe even more detailed now.
“Those are situations we practice every week. … We didn’t execute well enough, so we’ll go back and look at that again this week,” McDermott said.
The poor clock management eventually bled the clock down to 22 seconds remaining and a fourth down after the Bills failed to connect on third down. It was a 53-yard Stephen Hauschka game-tying kick attempt.
It was no chip shot and Hauschka missed his fifth-straight kick from 50-plus yards. Buffalo didn’t have to kick it there and could have opted to go for it on fourth down. The Bills did go for it twice earlier in the game on fourth down but didn’t there.
McDermott said he believed kicking it was the best chance for the Bills to win.
“We’re going to win it,” he said. “That’s the mindset. At a minimum, trying to put us into overtime in that situation. We had a chance, I thought.”
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