Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey opened his weekly media availability by addressing the video of him in the booth at the conclusion of the Miami game, citing the high emotions of the day itself coupled with the Bills on the losing end of a close game.
"It was an intense game. It was a passionate game. I'm up in the box. I'm watching my guys down there just give us everything they possibly have in them, with effort and from start to finish playing 90-something snaps in the game. And it was a playoff atmosphere.
"And obviously we weren't on the winning end of it. So it's frustrating and, you know, reacted that way. And obviously that's something that I'm definitely gonna learn from. I don't ever want to take the passion out of the game. We're all in this to win football games for obviously for the Bills, for our fans. And we're going to give them everything we got. But it's something I'm gonna learn from and make sure to correct moving forward."
Head coach Sean McDermott acknowledged Monday that he had seen the video of Dorsey expressing his frustrations and told the media that the two of them had a conversation about the situation.
"I think it's something that A) we've got to keep our poise and he's well aware of that and knows that. And B) I love the fact that he cares that much about doing his job and putting his players in a position to be successful. I think that says a lot about him as a coach and how hard he works at it and how important it is to him. But again, it's important that we as leaders keep our poise and that we model that to our players."
Dorsey went on later to add that it's a teaching moment for everyone involved, including him, and that he intends to grow from the experience moving forward.
That final drive
The Bills had their chances at the end of the game to pull out the win but were unable to score on their final three possessions. In the final drive, Josh Allen and the offense were trying to get in position to set up a game-winning field goal for Tyler Bass.
With :18 seconds left, Allen threw an underneath pass to WR Isaiah McKenzie who juked one defender then tried to cut up field to gain more yards to get the Bills closer to field goal range instead of going out of bounds. McKenzie was tackled at the Miami 41 — which would have made Bass' kick 58 yards — but time expired before the ball could be spiked.
McDermott was asked about his thoughts on the sequence.
"There's two things: we had 18 seconds left, felt like we had a chance," he said. "And that's the goal is to make the line, run up and clock it or get the ball out of bounds. So one of the two we had to get done obviously we didn't get either of those done."
The play call was designed for Allen to find Diggs or Knox inside the 40 closer to Bass' kicking range but the play got off schedule with the pass rush from Miami and Allen and to improvise and dumb the ball off to McKenzie.
It's easy to place blame on one particular play, but Dorsey said there were multiple missed chances the Bills had that could've helped them win.
"I think there were some opportunities there that we missed. And some of that, or a lot of that is correctable," Dorsey said.
Bills begin prep for Jackson, rely on depth
Sunday's matchup between the Bills and Ravens will feature arguably the top two quarterbacks so far this season in Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.
Lamar leads the NFL in total TDs with 12, right behind him is Allen with 10. Coincidentally, both QBs lead their team in rushing yards as well; Allen totaling 113 and Jackson at 243 — including back-to-back 100-yard games.
Bills DC Leslie Frazier praised Jackson's ability as a thrower and passer and believes Buffalo will have its hands full this week.
"There's no one else in the league like him," Frazier said. "His ability to run their offense and now that he's grown as a passer as well, he's a hard guy to defend. He was hard before and it's become tougher now that he's throwing the football as well as he's throwing the ball."
Last time the Bills and Ravens met, it was in the 2020 AFC Divisional Playoff game in Buffalo in which the Bills held the Ravens to 3 points and Taron Johnson had a 101-yard INT return that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Jackson was limited to 34 rush yards on 9 attempts.
Buffalo will again be looking to its secondary for big plays, though it will be down key starters. CB Tre'Davious White is still on IR and rookie CB Christian Benford who started in Week 3 will miss a few weeks with a broken hand. The team could also still potentially be without CB Dane Jackson and S Jordan Poyer.
Frazier said that while injuries are part of the game, it's unusual so many have piled up for the Bills this early in the year.
"We've been hit with the injury bug, but we've got some resilient guys who battle through things. You know, it can happen to any team. We're dealing with it right now. Hopefully we'll get some of those guys back soon," he said.
