Sean McDermott calls Bills’ offensive line penalties ‘unacceptable’
Credit to the Pittsburgh Steelers for their efforts in their Week 1 win in Orchard Park. But the Buffalo Bills did themselves no favors, especially along their own offensive line.
The Bills offensive line took numerous holding penalties and Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott summed that problem up in one word: “unacceptable.”
“Getting into a rhyme is one thing, establishing the line of scrimmage is another thing,” McDermott said via press conference.
“That’s where you’re beating yourself. We were beating ourselves with holding penalties. We had eight, I think eight penalties, and a lot of those were holds, offensively. We can do a better job,” the coach added.
McDermott also wasn’t pleased with the play of his offensive line in general, either.
When asked about his O-line’s struggles while facing only four pass rushers? The coach said sometimes even few rushers from the Steelers still go the job done.
“That, or they rushed three at times,” McDermott said.
Among those having a tough go was center Mitch Morse. Like guard Jon Feliciano and right tackle Daryl Williams, he had a holding penalty against him. Left tackle Dion Dawkins had the longest day in terms of penalties, recording three.
“The unfortunate thing is that most of the holding calls came with chuck plays. So not only did we go backwards, but this game is a game of momentum, and for the most part, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot today.” Morse said postgame.
The final piece of the starting offensive line, Cody Ford, did not have a holding penalty. He still didn’t have the best game, either. He was replaced by Ike Boettger for some time in the first half.
All in all, the entire Buffalo offensive line has to be better.
Morse was at least trying to take one positive from the loss.
“I think it’s a great gut check. It’s very frustrating, but it’s also an opportunity for us to learn,” Morse said.
The Bills are going to have to do just that and in a hurry. The only AFC East team to win in Week 1 was the Miami Dolphins. The Bills travel to Miami in Week 2.
