Ran Mesh to Free Myself Up to Write This

Bills lose in embarrassing fashion to the Houston Texans 23-19. Fall to 7-4.

I’m going to be honest — I don’t even know where to begin. I went to bed angry, woke up angry, and stayed angry writing this. A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how it shouldn’t be this difficult. Today, I feel that again — except now it’s been fully solidified. This team is consistently outcoached.

I’ve known it for a while. Last night just cemented it.

There’s a lot I want to talk about. If I get rolling, this might turn into a full rant. Not the plan, but this thing already started looser than I expected, so who knows.

The Offense

What a performance (derogatory). What a game from Joe Brady (also derogatory). I cannot believe this is an NFL offensive plan. People keep saying the Bills are running three concepts, and I didn’t want to believe it. But it’s absolutely true.

Mesh. Duo. Tunnel screen. Those are the three. You’ve got a 1-in-3 shot of guessing right. If Allen is under center, it’s Duo — 100% of the time. Shotgun? Flip a coin between Mesh and Tunnel. And if the ball is held longer than two seconds? Mesh.

This isn’t even my original observation. It’s national media guys casually noticing it while watching all 32 teams. So if they can pick it up? Imagine what a defense spending 60 hours on the Bills specifically is going to see.

Thursday night, it looked like Houston knew the Bills’ call on almost every snap.

And look: the Texans are an elite defense. They’re usually prepared. But Thursday? It looked easy. It looked like they were reading the Bills’ plays off of a script.

Meanwhile, the Bills let Allen get obliterated all night. Protection calls were baffling. Five-man protection against Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter is a choice I wish the Bills would have stopped making. Multiple times, I thought Allen wasn’t getting back up. And not once did I notice extra protection, chips, anything. Just straight-up malpractice.

But this also exposes Joe Brady’s real issue: He cannot adjust mid-game.

The pass rush was cooking from the opening drive. No adjustment. None. The run game was working — James Cook ripped a 45-yard touchdown because Houston got too aggressive. But outside of a late-game, four-straight-run sequence that gassed Cook and ended in a turnover on downs, Brady refused to lean into what was actually working.

Just push the ball downfield. Over and over. Regardless of context.

This is the biggest red flag with him. You can’t install a game plan and run it start-to-finish like it’s Madden Franchise Mode. Even the Bills defense — with all its flaws — adjusts mid-game.

The offense? Not even close.

The Defense

This wasn’t the abysmal performance that we’ve seen recently with this defense. I think they were probably saved by Houston’s woeful rush offense. But it was still a tough game for them. Making a stop is always a victory - but it seemed even more surprising in this one when it happened. They shouldn’t be getting beat by the likes of Davis Mills.

Pressure was nearly non-existent for the Bills. Getting to the quarterback was not on the menu. It seemed that the only times that they could were when they blitzed an extra safety – and even then, they still weren’t getting home. With a more competent quarterback, this game would’ve likely been a lot uglier as a result. Mills had time back there – which is a shame because the coverage looked like a bright spot for most of the night.

Most of the plays resulted in Mills dropping back, having a cup of tea back there, a wide receiver meandering open, Mills hitting them, and then three Bills defenders missing tackles, before one of them finally decides to bring them down.

And therein lies the issue with last nights – and almost every other game this seasons – defense. The tackling was atrocious. Multiple times, they had third down stops against the Texans. They would have running back Woody Marks dead to rights in the backfield and he would bounce off two or three men and find his way to a first down.

I haven’t decided if it’s poor technique, or undersized players that are the culprit. Probably a combination of both. I’d likely lean more towards the size though, with some technique sprinkled in for flavor.

On top of that, the Bills are running so many backups out there. It only got worse in this one. Linebacker Terrell Bernard and cornerback Maxwell Hairston both left the game with injuries. But the defense was able to overcome and put together a few stops late in this one to keep the team in the game. The in-game adjustments were working. Only on that side of the ball though.

My Take

I think I’m fully in the clean house this offseason camp. It’s time. By no means do I think this coaching staff is bad. At least McDermott, anyway. But I do think that the team has gotten away from him and general manager Brandon Beane. It happens – and I think it happened.

After all, this isn’t a bad football team – it’s a stale one. And if Terry Pegula isn’t willing to go that far, then at very least the coordinators need to go. I think we need some established coordinators on both sides of the ball that know this league, and can fully implement their systems. Yes, that means defensively too. I think if McDermott can settle more into a CEO role, it would serve him well. Or, at very least, better.

But overall? I don’t know. It just might be time.