The Buffalo Bills keep losing the wrong games, even if no loss is a good one to claim. Eight sacks and two more very ugly interceptions for quarterback Josh Allen. That\u2019s not winning football no matter who\u2019s throwing the football. Yet\u2026 the Bills had a chance with less than two minutes to go, thanks to the most unlikely of trick plays actually working to convert a 4th & 27.<\/p>\n
Was it an awful game by Buffalo\u2019s offense? Yes. But much of that was due to the incredible performance by the Houston Texans\u2019 defense. Houston now holds the record for most sacks against Allen in a single game<\/a>. They wouldn\u2019t allow Allen a moment\u2019s rest in the pocket, where happy feet ruled the evening and proved fatal in trying to suffer through some troubling early play calling and worse execution by the wide receivers.<\/p>\n Buffalo is now 7-4 and in a real pit looking up at the New England Patriots. The Bills could ill-afford to drop a game ahead of their Week 15 rematch, yet here they are. Buffalo lost because the offense couldn\u2019t handle the defensive pressure and turned the ball over three times.<\/p>\n The playoffs are still well within site for these Buffalo Bills, but their work against the best teams shows how far they have to go to become championship caliber. Allen didn\u2019t play like an MVP in Houston, but this team too often demands him being able to cover up all the deficiencies.<\/p>\n This article will be updated as new content is written. Be sure to refresh the page to read more of my thoughts on this frustrating watch.<\/p>\n What are we doing, Joe Brady?<\/p>\n Look, Houston is the top-ranked defense for a reason, and they\u2019ve made life glamorous for backup quarterback Davis Mills. That, alone, should mean that offensive coordinator well-understood his assignment: keep it simple, and trust those who\u2019ve done well for you all season. So when it was clear that Josh Allen was in for a rough night, it made sense that the move was to lean heavily on running back James Cook III. In a game decided by four points, Cook was ignored far too often.<\/p>\n Cook finished with 17 carries for 116 yards and an opening drive touchdown on a 45-yard scamper. He also caught three passes for 13 yards. Brady and Allen seem determined to stick with their confounding use of Cook as a receiver, and it very well may have cost them in Week 12.<\/p>\n When Brady finally did remember that Cook was having a good night against a defense vulnerable to his play, he eventually found way to the worst play call of the night on a 4th & 1 in the fourth quarter. That call required a bit of trickery on a handoff that eventually landed with Cook \u2014 just as Houston\u2019s defense surrounded him. That was the go-to in place of kicking for three points.<\/p>\n Buffalo\u2019s short-yardage calls continue to be a major concern, where too often they default to trickery or perfect theater\/execution to make it work. It doesn\u2019t need to be so cute, so complicated when there\u2019s one yard to gain. Josh Allen and James Cook make that so, yet even they won\u2019t overcome faulty play calling against the best defense. We\u2019ve seen this happen at all points on the field, from deep in their own end of the field, to the midfield no-man\u2019s land and at the goal line \u2014 whether for six or in trying a two-point play.<\/p>\n This performance isn\u2019t all on Brady, nor Allen, nor even the inept play out of a lot of guys in the wide receivers room. It\u2019s on all of them, and it\u2019s likely no amount of preparation changes what unfolded in Houston.<\/p>\n Speaking of preparation\u2026<\/p>\n Keeping Keon Coleman sidelined doesn\u2019t benefit anyone<\/p>\n Head coach Sean McDermott is all about making sure players understand they have to constantly earn their opportunity to play. It\u2019s a noble cause, but sometimes professional football players just want to be treated more like adults than children at boot camp. Whatever is or is not around Coleman\u2019s two-game benching is no one\u2019s business outside of One Bills Drive and Coleman\u2019s family and confidants. Recent comments about mental health should be heeded and respected.<\/p>\n This entire situation feels a lot like Buffalo cutting its nose off to save face. Are there faults in Coleman\u2019s game this season? Of course there are, but he\u2019s not getting better by holding a football on the sideline and dabbing up his teammates as they hit the Gatorade jug.<\/p>\n Time moves quickly for those in the NFL, and there are but limited chances to see just what Coleman can bring to the offense. He now has two less thanks to a combination of his missteps and One Bills Drive\u2019s disciplinary plan. Enough is enough. Outsiders don\u2019t need more questions fielded about the issue, press conferences scheduled to get out in front of the drama, and most of all the social media cesspool that demands being first to report a guy\u2019s healthy inactive status.<\/p>\n It needs to be handled in-house and that\u2019s it. The end. Whoever leaked the information to a certain unofficial outlet has done Coleman and the Bills no favors in the public sector. It\u2019s become an all-consuming topic that should be nothing more than a simple deflection to keep things private. No amount of likes, clicks, comments, or website visits is worth potentially further damaging an important football relationship.<\/p>\n A lot of people keep taking about Coleman needing to be woken up. It\u2019s nothing more than conjecture. Wait for facts, if anything at all. But understand that everything about Coleman\u2019s life is not everyone\u2019s business. Trying to make it so just paints a far uglier picture than anyone deserves.<\/p>\n The entire situation is a real distraction at this point in the season.<\/p>\n Sean McDermott should feel the heat right now<\/p>\n Short week or not, and despite facing the best defense in the NFL the Bills look largely unprepared to face a dangerous Texans team. Since 2023, Buffalo is now 11-11 in road games during the regular season (4-4 2023; 5-4 2024; 2-3 2025). That\u2019s not going to cut it, and it\u2019s very likely these Bills will have to play a few road games in their quest to reach the Super Bowl. Is this team championship caliber? I don\u2019t believe they are, not beyond Allen (who\u2019s having a frustrating season) and of course James Cook.<\/p>\n Texans head coach Demeco Ryans held two walk through sessions with his players, and one full practice on Tuesday, but I found it interesting that One Bills Drive held nothing but walkthrough sessions ahead of Week 12. It may seem like a small thing, but for an offense with a passing game under great scrutiny, wouldn\u2019t actual practice sessions have helped instead of whatever dress rehearsals they held?<\/p>\n This team lacks toughness in too many places, and it sure feels like they backed off on the physicality heading into Houston. That worked well, didn\u2019t it? If they\u2019re worried about injuries in practice, that\u2019s another issue to tackle because things aren\u2019t friendlier in any game. This isn\u2019t sleep-away camp.<\/p>\n Yet there\u2019s a real concern with the amount of injuries\u2026<\/p>\n The Bills are gonna need a bigger medical tent<\/p>\n All told, the Bills saw eight different players suffer injuries in Week 12. That\u2019s an alarming number, and may speak to some fundamental issues. Is a shakeup needed (again) within the strength & conditioning team? Yes, injuries are often the ultimate unknown, but there\u2019s something to be said for how a person processes and contends with injury.<\/p>\n Joining an already crowded list heading into Week 13 are:<\/p>\n Josh Allen<\/a> We didn\u2019t receive a lot of information about why Cook or McGovern were attended to, and several other players returned following checks and similar (Benford, Cook, Dawkins, Shakir, etc). It\u2019s going to be a difficult week of prep to face the Pittsburgh Steelers. Right tackle Spencer Brown is an absolute warrior. He should have been taken out far earlier, but he\u2019s made up of the same stuff that fuels Josh Allen.<\/p>\n Texans show Brandon Beane what he covets<\/p>\n The Bills have a pass rush problem, despite what all the fancy stats sites tell you. Once again, Buffalo\u2019s pass rush disappeared in a game where they needed to shine. And against a very \u201cgettable\u201d Davis Mills and company. Defensive end Joey Bosa has improved things for the defensive line, but it\u2019s clear that Beane\u2019s going to have to keep throwing darts to figure the rest out.<\/p>\n Injuries at defensive tackle haven\u2019t helped, but for all the good stats we hear about defensive end Greg Rousseau, he doesn\u2019t play an explosive brand of football when it seems to matter most. Mind you, that\u2019s not always the case, but it\u2019s fair to compare the Bills\u2019 defensive end situation to their concerns at wide receiver.<\/p>\n Is Buffalo\u2019s front office headed towards another offseason where retooling the defensive line takes priority? It may be necessary, given what Beane watch Houston do to Josh Allen and the offensive line. Will Anderson Jr. may live rent free in Beane\u2019s head for a bit.<\/p>\n Missed XP changed how Buffalo played the end of regulation<\/p>\n I liked what the offense showed when they had to have points at the end of regulation, even if it ended with Allen tossing another bad red zone interception. It\u2019s just unfortunate that they didn\u2019t have the extra point following their first touchdown. Could reality have played out differently? You know how that goes, but instead of having to drive the field for a touchdown, they could have lived to fight another down by only needing a field goal to tie. That also makes Brady\u2019s play call on the 4th & 1 discussed above look even worse.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a lot of little things with the Bills in 2025, and when you add them up it sure doesn\u2019t feel like they win a Super Bowl next February.<\/p>\n Bills at Texans Week 12 game stats (courtesy NFLGSIS)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Bills keep losing the wrong games, even if no loss is a good one to claim.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[31039,56,58,57,1631],"class_list":["post-60545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-buffalo-bills-discussion","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Spencer Brown<\/a>
Maxwell Hairston<\/a>
Terrel Bernard<\/a>
Christian Benford
A.J. Epenesa
James Cook
Connor McGovern
Dion Dawkins
Khalil Shakir<\/p>\n