The Buffalo Bills dropped to a disappointing 5-5 on the season after a brutal Monday Night Football loss in Week 10 to the Denver Broncos. This loss led to offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey losing his job on Tuesday, but there are plenty more people to blame for this L that could ultimately keep Buffalo out of the playoffs. Here is why Dorsey, Sean McDermott, Matthew Smiley, and Josh Allen are to blame.
OC Ken Dorsey
The Bills Week 10 loss to the Broncos will go down as Dorsey’s final stand as offensive coordinator in Buffalo. What is interesting about that is the offense actually played well at times, especially when they established the run.
That is part of the problem, too, though. Bills fans have been calling for Dorsey to get more creative and more consistent in mixing run, pass, and play-action. He started doing more of that toward the end of this game, but it was too little, too late.
Dorsey had the misfortune of following Brian Daboll, who was an excellent OC for the Bills. Whether Dorsey just doesn’t have the play-calling talent that Daboll does or he kowtowed to head coach Sean McDermott in a way Daboll didn’t, which limited his options, the fact is the offense got worse after the Daboll-Dorsey transition.
In the end, Dorsey was an excellent quarterback coach and has some potential as an OC. He’ll likely have to take a step back to QBs in his next job but don’t be surprised to see him in an NFL booth again.
STC Matthew Smiley
The most binary blame for the Bills Week 10 loss to the Broncos can go on special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley. As bad as most of the Buffalo players and coaches were in this loss, the tangible reason they lost in the end was the 12 men on the field on the Denver field goal miss.
The Bills defense is going through a massive injury crisis, which means that special teams players are getting pulled up to the defense, and now practice squad or newly-signed players are playing special teams.
It’s not shocking that something like this happened with what’s going on with the Bills' injuries. Still, allowing 12 men on the field on the game-deciding kick is absolutely unconscionable for the unit’s coordinator.
Smiley is lucky that he’s not looking for a job today like Ken Dorsey is.
QB Josh Allen
Josh Allen is more the problem than the solution right now, no matter who is calling plays for him. Yes, more creativity and support in play-calling could help, but until Allen starts seeing the field better, the Bills are going nowhere.
After two more picks in the Bills Week 10 loss to the Broncos, Allen now stands alone at the top of the NFL with 11 interceptions, one ahead of Mac Jones and Jordan Love. Jones and Love might not have jobs next season, so being in that company is not good.
Now that Joe Brady is the interim offensive coordinator, hopefully, he will see Allen for who he actually is. Allen is not a field general like Aaron Rodgers or a true playmaker like Patrick Mahomes. He is a wildly athletic game manager who should be coached up like Tua Tagovailoa or Brock Purdy.
The value of Allen is that he has some Rodgers gun-slinger and Mahomes playmaker in him, and he can tap into that when necessary, but when you make him the focal point of everything, like Dorsey seemed to do, the Bills offense is destined to fail.
HC Sean McDermott
When a team like the Bills loses a game like they lost in Week 10 to the Broncos and are on the verge of missing the playoffs, that has to fall on the head coach.
McDermott took over the defense this season, and before the injuries, it did seem better. In fact, even with the injuries, the defense is still performing well. The unit has only allowed more than 24 points twice this season, which shouldn’t be a major issue with how well the offense can score when playing their best.
Some will kill McDermott for his zero blitz toward the end of the game that led to the pass interference penalty that got Denver in field goal range. However, his blitzes were working for the most part to fluster Russell Wilson, and they would have won without the 12 men on the field penalty.
The problem with McDermott is that he is a defensive coach on a team with a generational talent in Josh Allen, who needs an offensive mind like Andy Reid or Zac Taylor, who Mahomes and Joe Burrow have.
Sean McDermott is simply not the right coach for this franchise right now, and the team’s 5-5 record on the season shows this.
Follow Us
Subscribe