By: Michael Malaszczyk
via: cbssports.com
In a move that has many Buffalo Bills fans saying “finally,” the franchise has fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, following an abysmal performance by the offense that saw them lose to the Denver Broncos 24-22 and bring their season to an eyesore 5-5 record.
Head coach Sean McDermott is probably on the hot seat now, but has bought himself some time with the move. His injury-depleted defense was far from the reason the Bills lost last night.
Just what went wrong?
Two days ago, the most unlucky number for the Buffalo Bills was probably still 13, referencing their epic “!3 Seconds” defensive collapse after having Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs on the ropes during the divisional round of the 2021-22 playoffs.
Now it might be 12, following their special teams mistake of having 12 men on the field for a kick that the Broncos missed, which would’ve handed Buffalo an undeserved win last night.
Of course, in classic “Nothing bad happens to the Buffalo Bills,” fashion, the penalty was called, the Broncos got five free yards, and the Broncos kicked what was a game-winning field goal for them — and potentially a season-ending one for the Bills.
Josh Allen hasn’t looked like the Josh Allen of old in recent games — the one who matches Patrick Mahomes stride-for-stride, makes monstrous throws, and outmuscles linebackers when rushing for yards.
It remains to be seen how much of this is his fault and how much of it is coaching’s fault.
The firing of Dorsey indicates that the franchise is looking at coaching. Allen has shown glimpses, even in loss, of the things that make him considered by many a top five quarterback in the league, but it hasn’t been consistent enough.
Last week, the question of “Will the Bills miss the playoffs?” was valid, but the idea still seemed unlikely. In the span of one Monday Night Football game, it now seems like the most likely conclusion for the Bills.
Most couldn’t have seen this coming. When the Bills’ Super Bowl window “closed” following the divisional round walloping they received at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals, the best reason that happened was because the Bengals had surpassed the Bills as the clear number two to the Chiefs. In other words, the Bills surely would still be a playoff team, but now instead of worrying only about facing the Chiefs, they’d have to worry about the Bengals too.
But it turned out to be much worse. Now, they’re looking up at the Chiefs, Ravens, Dolphins, Jaguars, and a slew of other AFC teams who have surely surpassed them.
While they did beat the Dolphins, the Bills went on to lose to the Jaguars, go life-and-death with the Giants, lose to the Patriots, play a close game against the Buccaneers, and lose to the Bengals. All while the Dolphins licked their wounds from the Week 4 matchup and handled business, dropping games only to the Chiefs and the Eagles.
Last night was a complete meltdown by the Bills against a team that not even the Dolphins’ backups on offense could resist scoring touchdowns against when the Dolphins dropped 70 points on the Broncos in Week 3.
The Bills have to face their Week 1 conquerors, the Jets, next week. They then run a gauntlet of the Eagles, Chiefs, and Cowboys, before facing the Chargers, Patriots, and Dolphins to close out the season. None of these can be steadily picked as a win following a loss to a team many had considered among the worst in the AFC.
There’s simply too many questions for the Bills now in what is surely a season lost. The Bills will probably miss the playoffs. In doing so they should, at the very least, spend the rest of their season finding their identity as a team and getting the right coaching staff behind this talented roster.
Oh, and they also need to worry about keeping Stefon Diggs, if Trevon Diggs’s Tweets are to be taken seriously.
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