It wasn’t merely a play that lost a game.
This was the kind that costs a season, both current and long-term.
What the Bills’ 23-17 loss to the Texans did, on
Sunday afternoon at NRG Stadium, was quiet the last few defenders of
E.J. Manuel ... including yours truly.
Those of us who maintained that he still might be Buffalo’s franchise quarterback, only 14 games into his NFL career, were shown otherwise in dramatic fashion at Houston.
Coach Doug Marrone’s post-game contention that “it wasn’t just a one player thing” aside ... it was.
Oh, there were some drops and even the offensive coaches — especially play-calling — were also part of it.
But, ultimately, this loss was on Manuel, first, last and always.
It’s not as if the Bills were playing Seattle, or Denver, or New England.
This was an eminently winnable game against a now 3-1 team whose record was forged against not a single team with a winning record after the first quarter of the season.
If you’re wondering how Buffalo beat the Bears in Chicago to open the season ... me too.
To this point in the season, with the Bills heading into Texas with an encouraging 2-1 record, Manuel’s numbers were a bit of a siren song.
In the first three games he was completing 63 percent of his passes with three touchdowns an interception and a solid 90.8 passer rating.
But that was also fool’s gold.
Over half of his 55 completions were checkdowns to running backs (21) or underneath routes to the tight ends (8).
Winning the first two games, he was a functional game manager. But, a week ago, when the Bills needed him to step up, Manuel came up small at home in a loss to San Diego.
And against the Texans ... ugh!
That game-changing, season-changing, potential job-changing play?
As anybody who watched the game knows, it was J.J. Watt’s 80-yard interception return for a score.
At the time, Buffalo was up 10-7 and facing a 3rd-and-3 at the Houston 12-yard line. A touchdown was a possibility ... a field goal a virtual certainty.
In any case, the Bills would be up by either six or 10 points, except...
On the fateful play, Manuel looked right and floated a pass toward running back Fred Jackson, who seemed set to at least get the first down.
Unfortunately for Buffalo, Watt was running up between the passer and receiver, caught the ball in stride and, as the cliche goes, “took it to the house.”
That swing of either 10 or 14 points ultimately decided the game, and probably the season, for the Bills, now 1-2 in the conference.
Oh, Buffalo had one final possession with a chance to win.
Taking over at its own 29 with 1:42 to play and no timeouts, it drove to the Texans’ 41 when, on first down, Manuel overthrew Robert Woods and was intercepted by reserve cornerback Darryl Morris.
And so it ended with more than a little irony.
Texans’ quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, the former Bill, was admittedly unspectacular.
He played a game Buffalo fans saw often during his 4-year Western New York career: 25-of-37 for 268 yards with a touchdown, a pair of interceptions and a 75.0 passer rating while running for a couple of first downs.
Fitzpatrick also didn’t do anything to lose the game.
Manuel, meanwhile, was 21-of-44 passing for 225 yards with two TD passes, those two fateful picks and a 59.0 passer rating.
And while, statistically, his 80-yard touchdown connection with Mike Williams offset Watt’s heroics, realistically, it didn’t.
That interception was demoralizing, no matter what his teammates said in the post-game lockerroom. The difference between a 6-, or 10-point lead and a 4-point deficit is devastating,
But it wasn’t that one play.
The game-deciding interception came as a forced throw ... on first down with over a minute to go.
Manuel also wasted all three first-half timeouts, which might well have helped produce at least a field goal, to clear up play calls, though one or more of those might have been on coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
However, what’s totally on Manuel is his inaccuracy. Some passes, to open receivers, he just missed. Others, as they say in baseball, were “wild in the strike zone,” in other words on some catches the ball wasn’t thrown in the right place for the receiver to maximize yardage.
In all added up to a loss in a game against a pedestrian foe that was there for the taking ... especially on a day the defense gave up fewer yards that the Bills gained and surrendered only one touchdown.
Afterward, Marrone was asked whether he considered replacing Manuel with high-priced reserve Kyle Orton.
He emphatically said, “No ... not at all.”
Maybe Marrone should have. And with the specter of new ownership in the offing, he might very well do it this week, even if it means benching a first-round draft choice on which the Bills’ front office had staked its future.
Those of us who maintained that he still might be Buffalo’s franchise quarterback, only 14 games into his NFL career, were shown otherwise in dramatic fashion at Houston.
Coach Doug Marrone’s post-game contention that “it wasn’t just a one player thing” aside ... it was.
Oh, there were some drops and even the offensive coaches — especially play-calling — were also part of it.
But, ultimately, this loss was on Manuel, first, last and always.
It’s not as if the Bills were playing Seattle, or Denver, or New England.
This was an eminently winnable game against a now 3-1 team whose record was forged against not a single team with a winning record after the first quarter of the season.
If you’re wondering how Buffalo beat the Bears in Chicago to open the season ... me too.
To this point in the season, with the Bills heading into Texas with an encouraging 2-1 record, Manuel’s numbers were a bit of a siren song.
In the first three games he was completing 63 percent of his passes with three touchdowns an interception and a solid 90.8 passer rating.
But that was also fool’s gold.
Over half of his 55 completions were checkdowns to running backs (21) or underneath routes to the tight ends (8).
Winning the first two games, he was a functional game manager. But, a week ago, when the Bills needed him to step up, Manuel came up small at home in a loss to San Diego.
And against the Texans ... ugh!
That game-changing, season-changing, potential job-changing play?
As anybody who watched the game knows, it was J.J. Watt’s 80-yard interception return for a score.
At the time, Buffalo was up 10-7 and facing a 3rd-and-3 at the Houston 12-yard line. A touchdown was a possibility ... a field goal a virtual certainty.
In any case, the Bills would be up by either six or 10 points, except...
On the fateful play, Manuel looked right and floated a pass toward running back Fred Jackson, who seemed set to at least get the first down.
Unfortunately for Buffalo, Watt was running up between the passer and receiver, caught the ball in stride and, as the cliche goes, “took it to the house.”
That swing of either 10 or 14 points ultimately decided the game, and probably the season, for the Bills, now 1-2 in the conference.
Oh, Buffalo had one final possession with a chance to win.
Taking over at its own 29 with 1:42 to play and no timeouts, it drove to the Texans’ 41 when, on first down, Manuel overthrew Robert Woods and was intercepted by reserve cornerback Darryl Morris.
And so it ended with more than a little irony.
Texans’ quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, the former Bill, was admittedly unspectacular.
He played a game Buffalo fans saw often during his 4-year Western New York career: 25-of-37 for 268 yards with a touchdown, a pair of interceptions and a 75.0 passer rating while running for a couple of first downs.
Fitzpatrick also didn’t do anything to lose the game.
Manuel, meanwhile, was 21-of-44 passing for 225 yards with two TD passes, those two fateful picks and a 59.0 passer rating.
And while, statistically, his 80-yard touchdown connection with Mike Williams offset Watt’s heroics, realistically, it didn’t.
That interception was demoralizing, no matter what his teammates said in the post-game lockerroom. The difference between a 6-, or 10-point lead and a 4-point deficit is devastating,
But it wasn’t that one play.
The game-deciding interception came as a forced throw ... on first down with over a minute to go.
Manuel also wasted all three first-half timeouts, which might well have helped produce at least a field goal, to clear up play calls, though one or more of those might have been on coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
However, what’s totally on Manuel is his inaccuracy. Some passes, to open receivers, he just missed. Others, as they say in baseball, were “wild in the strike zone,” in other words on some catches the ball wasn’t thrown in the right place for the receiver to maximize yardage.
In all added up to a loss in a game against a pedestrian foe that was there for the taking ... especially on a day the defense gave up fewer yards that the Bills gained and surrendered only one touchdown.
Afterward, Marrone was asked whether he considered replacing Manuel with high-priced reserve Kyle Orton.
He emphatically said, “No ... not at all.”
Maybe Marrone should have. And with the specter of new ownership in the offing, he might very well do it this week, even if it means benching a first-round draft choice on which the Bills’ front office had staked its future.
