The Buffalo Bills blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead against the Philadelphia Eagles to fall to 6-6 on the season.
The three-point overtime loss was the Bills' second overtime loss of the season and their sixth by less than a touchdown.
Who holds the most blame for the loss?
3. James Cook and Gabe Davis
There were missed opportunities early and late for the Bills that'll go down as bad misses. One came off the hands of James Cook and the other fell incomplete on a miscommunication with Gabe Davis. Both are examples of how the margins between winning and losing in the NFL can be frustratingly narrow.
The Cook drop was flat-out bad. In the first quarter, he had a touchdown in his hands and he just couldn't haul it in. Buffalo would have been the first on the board if that pass had been completed. They were forced to punt instead after penalties pushed them out of field goal range.
The Davis miscommunication defined the overtime period for the Bills. A catch would have meant a walk-off victory. Except the wide receiver went the wrong way and the pass fell incomplete.
Both Cook and Davis contributed to the Bills effort. Cook had 100 all-purpose yards while Davis led Buffalo with six catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. But it's the plays they didn't make that'll be remembered in this one.
2. Tyler Bass
Tyler Bass couldn't do anything about Eagles kicker Jake Elliott booting through an impressive 59-yard field goal with 20 seconds left to send the game to overtime. But he could have prevented that kick from even being attempted if he had made his own kicks throughout the game.
Bass was called upon to kick four field goals. He missed two of them.
In the second quarter, his 34-yard effort was blocked by Eagles rookie Jalen Carter. Carter is a freak of nature, but a kick from that range being blocked is never a good reflection on the kicker. It would have been 13-7.
Then in the second half, Bass missed a 48-yard attempt wide right. That kick would have made the game 20-7.
Just three extra points would have forced the Eagles to have to try for a touchdown with time running out at the end of the game. They kicked the gametying field goal on fourth-and-17. You have to like the Bills odds of winning from that spot. But points were left on the board.
1. Sean McDermmot
Sean McDermmott is dragging himself towards the hot seat with all those close losses.
On the one hand, his team isn't so far away from getting things on track and winning a bunch of games. On the other hand, there's a reason his teams keep blowing late leads.
In four of the Bills' six losses this season, they have given up game-tying or game-winning drives in the final two minutes. McDermott's late-game defense is failing. When he desperately needs a stop, he doesn't seem to have a way to find it.
If that wasn't bad enough, his late-game management against the Eagles left a whole lot to be desired.
With the Eagles driving for their game-tying field goal, McDermott wasted two timeouts instead of saving them for a late chance to prevent overtime. Then when the Bills got the ball back with 19 seconds on the clock, he opted to have Josh Allen kneel out the clock instead of going for the win.
That lack of aggression put Buffalo in the position to lose when the Eagles drove down the field in overtime to score a touchdown.
