The Buffalo Bills lost to the Houston Texans in Week 5, and it was one of those situations when merely losing wouldn’t have been so horrible, but how the Bills lost made it a stomach hit. The Bills had the ball in their own end zone with 32 seconds left on the clock, and instead of attempting to run out the clock and force the Texans to utilize their timeouts, they threw on three consecutive plays. Of course, all three plays were incomplete, so the Bills wasted little time. The Texans then recovered the ball in midfield, made one play, and were within field goal range. They used one timeout and kicked the game-winning field goal, infuriating Bills infuriating Bills fans everywhere at the lack of clock management.

Following the game, Ryan O’Halloran of The Buffalo News wrote on X that he spoke with a Bills veteran. When asked about the final offensive series, the veteran responded, “I hope [the coaches] learn from it.”

When asked about the sequence during his press conference, head coach Sean McDermott gave a puzzling response. He acknowledged that the Texans had a good kicker and that the Bills needed to drain the clock and move the chains yet they didn’t do that. He did take accountability for not getting the job done there but why not give a better answer than this? What was really going on during that final drive?

When asked about the final offensive series, quarterback Josh Allen gave a brief response. He stated that McDermott trusted the team to be proactive. That’s not the time to be aggressive.

The Bills began the season 3-0 and appeared to be the team to beat in the NFL, but now they have suffered two heartbreaking losses in a row. It was painful to get blasted out by the Ravens, but at least the Bills were never in the game. However, in this game, the Bills fought their way back from a 20-3 disadvantage before completely failing in the last minute due to a lack of understanding of clock management.

This Bills veteran’s letter to the coaches reflects the current level of displeasure with the squad. Let’s hope the coaches learn from this experience and that the Bills don’t have another collapse this season.