With the Buffalo Bills attempting to get back into the game Sunday night in Baltimore, offensive coordinator Joe Brady dialed up one of the worst calls of his career.
After cutting the Ravens lead to 21-10 early in the third quarter, the Bills were on the move, crossing midfield. However, Brady called a trick play that involved Curtis Samuel taking a snap and pitching it to Josh Allen for a deep shot. Instead, Allen’s arm got hit by Kyle Van Noy, the quarterback got walloped, and the Ravens recovered the ball.
Threat over. Essentially, ballgame over.
“It was a pretty bad play call,” Brady lamented Monday, via the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “There is no other way to sum that up. Ultimately it cost us a football game.”
Head coach Sean McDermott reiterated that it was a learning moment for his OC.
“We talked about it after the game, we talked about it again today,” he said. “And I think we feel pretty strongly that’s a situation that we want back, and we can learn from, and we will learn from. Felt like we had some momentum there at that point in the game and we were doing a fairly decent job at that point, at least in the second half, of moving the football.”
The Bills offense couldn’t get on track Sunday night in Baltimore. Allen recorded his second-lowest dropback success rate (23.5%) in a game in his career, with just 8 of 34 dropbacks resulting in a successful play, per Next Gen Stats. It marked just the third time in the past three seasons that Allen was held without a tocuhdown pass.
Buffalo generated 236 total yards, 12 first downs, and went 3-of-13 on third downs.
“I don’t think we had a bad game plan, I think the game was called bad,” Brady said.
Brady said the trick play was a poor choice at the time because the Bills had finally built some momentum.
“Not even as a bad play call just because of the result of the play, but I try to provide myself on the feel and flow of the game and how things are going,” he said. “Even if we had been able to get that off, and even if we were able to do something with it, it just wasn’t good timing for the play. I have to have a better feel and understanding. Just a poor play call and ultimately cost us a football game because we had an opportunity to cut it to a one-score game because we were kind of flowing right there, so I have to be better.”
The 3-1 Bills have a chance to get back on track Sunday when they visit the AFC South-leading Texans in Houston — a reunion with old friend Stefon Diggs.
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