Bills' McDermott on Buffalo's loss to the Bears: 'That's not how we play'

A column by CHUCK POLLOCK, Sun Senior Sports Columnist, photo by Ben Green/Buffalo Bills

When Sean McDermott revealed early in Bills training camp that he was disinclined to play his starters in the preseason opener, I took him at his word.

But as it turned out, he reassessed that position for the very reason I thought that decision was curious.

A year ago that would have made perfect sense, Buffalo’s starting lineup was virtually locked.

This season, not so much.

During the offseason, the Bills said “Good-bye” to six starters: center Mitch Morse, guard Ryan Bates and wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis on offense and safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde on defense.

Besides that half-dozen starting positions filled by new faces, two others were moved into starting spots: wide receiver Kahlil Shakir and safety Taylor Rapp plus draftee Cole Bishop at the same position.

In all, 11 players didn’t dress for the game but defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (groin) was the only starter among them though linebacker Matt Milano and edge rusher Von Miller dressed but did not play.

UNFORTUNATELY for the Bills, they did not play as well as the sunny, 70-degree weather at Highmark Stadium before a near-sellout crowd of 69,126.

Chicago, now 2-0, hung a 33-6 defeat on Buffalo that was every bit as ugly as the score.

The only plus was that the Bills sustained no serious injuries, though defensive tackle Ed Oliver provided a scare when he left the game with a knee problem on the game’s first series. He was OK’d to return, but did not. Later, wide receiver Bryam Thompson left the game when he suffered what appeared to be a pulled hamstring.

Buffalo’s offense mustered no touchdowns but gave up a “pick six,” was outgained 340-200 in yardage and committed 11 penalties for 75 yards, most of them the annoying pre-snap variety.

Buffalo was also terrible when it came to the running game, mustering a puny 77 yards on 25 carries while surrendering 141 rushing yards, nearly five yards per try, by the Bears.

The Bills top two running backs, James Cook and rookie Ray Davis, combined for nine carries and four yards.

Chicago logged eight sacks, the Bills had one.

IT TOOK McDermott a half hour before he met with the media and though clearly aggravated, he remained controlled.

“Maybe the red zone defense kept us in it a little bit, but other than that we’ve got a ton to work on,” he concluded. “Our standard was not there today, that’s not how we play. There’s a lot we need to do.”

McDermott admitted he was not happy with what transpired, but added, “We have to be truthful about what we saw out there and really it started with those pre-snap or post-whistle penalties, eight maybe of the 11. Let’s just start there … self-inflicted.

“There’s a lot we can learn from and I’m confident we’ll do that. I’m happy for the players who have never played an NFL game before and glad that they got in.”

Of particular concern to the eighth-year coach was his offensive line being dominated.

“All the way down to the last series we had on offense,” he recalled, “we’re trying to get a first down, third-and-one, fourth-and one, whatever it was and we couldn’t get a yard. That’s where the challenge comes in … we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ll look at the film, obviously, and it will hit us right in the face in terms of what we do. That (failure) was a big one … when you don’t control the line of scrimmage it makes it hard to win.”

McDermott conceded, “If you had a blood pressure cuff on me in that game it would probably have exploded. (But) when you’ve been around as long as I have, you know to try to keep perspective … that’s why they call us coaches, to take a team where it may be and make it better. That’s what we’ve done here and what we’ll continue to do.”

He added, “What we did today, (we’ve got to) get them better throughout the season. I firmly believe that’s what a coach’s job is. We’ve got good guys in this locker room and (success) means something to ‘em. The younger guys who haven’t been in our locker room and some of the new guys who are veterans, they start to understand what the standard is, even in a preseason game. And that’s one of the more irritating things in all this, that I don’t care who it is or who we’re playing, where we’re playing, what time of day, or preseason game No. 1, there’s a standard and expectation when you put the colors on of the Buffalo Bills to come out and play a lot better than we did and coach a lot better than we did.”

OK, LET’S end on a sliver of good news.

During his first seven seasons as coach, McDermott has developed a reputation as one of the NFL’s least successful coaches on challenges. Over his time with Buffalo, he’s challenged 33 times and had them upheld only 10 times.

Against Chicago, McDermott challenged twice and won both. Former NFL official John Parry who was hired to help with those decisions was credited with McDermott’s fast start, albeit in a preseason game.

(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)

Bills’ McDermott on Buffalo’s loss to the Bears: ‘That’s not how we play’

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