The Bills didn’t manage a touchdown in Sunday’s 10-3 loss to the Jaguars, but they had a golden opportunity to get one in the second quarter when they got a first down on the 1-yard-line after a Jacksonville penalty.
They called a pass to wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, but it was incomplete and Benjamin was flagged for offensive pass interference to push the Bills back 10 yards. Tyrod Taylor ran once and threw two incompletions, leaving the Bills to settle for a field goal and leaving head coach Sean McDermott to answer a question about not giving the ball to running back LeSean McCoy.
“Yeah, you know, there’s some calls we want back,” McDermott said, via NewYorkUpstate.com. "[The pass to Benjamin is] probably one of them. Just situationally right there more than anything.”
The Bills had another curious bit of play calling deep in their own territory near the end of the first half when they threw twice and took just 22 seconds off the clock before punting the ball back to the Jaguars. They only forced the Jaguars to burn one timeout, which left the Jags with two to use on a last drive that resulted in a field goal that tied the game going into halftime.
Given the way Buffalo’s offense performed in the second half, that second drive might not have made a difference in the final result but there’s no doubt that missing out on a touchdown cost the Bills on Sunday.