Joe Brady spent the week talking about smoke detectors.
The Buffalo Bills were 2-0, but their first-year head coach saw warning signs on film. Plays that worked even when they weren't executed correctly. Mistakes that hadn't cost the Bills yet but could eventually start a fire.
Then the alarms went off Sunday.
“The house was on fire today,” Brady said.
The Bills turned the ball over five times and committed 10 penalties for 88 yards against the Los Angeles Chargers. They lost a fumble on their first offensive play. Josh Allen threw interceptions on consecutive passes. Buffalo committed five turnovers on its first eight possessions.
The Bills still won 24-16 to improve to 3-0.
“You turn the ball over five times in a game, you're not going to win many
games,” Brady said. “That's unacceptable. That's purely a reflection of me.”
Brady wasn't interested in letting the result cover up the mistakes.
He talked earlier in the week about the “smoke detectors” that show up on film even when the result of a play is positive or not costly. Buffalo hadn't dealt with the same ball-security problems through its first two games, but Brady said the warning signs had been there.
“Just because we get up with the ball doesn't mean it was right,” Brady said. “It showed its head today. That's going to get you beat.
“We can't just gloss over this because we won the football game like, ‘We won, let's keep moving.’ No, that's going to get you beat. Right, wrong or indifferent, we've got to make better decisions. I have to call a better game.”
Bills defense keeps Buffalo alive after turnovers
The five turnovers ultimately cost the Bills relatively little.
Buffalo's defense repeatedly took the field with its back against the wall and kept the game within reach. The Chargers finished 1-for-4 in the red zone and three of Los Angeles' possessions after Bills turnovers ended with a missed field goal, punt and interception.
The biggest response came after Buffalo's fifth giveaway.
A successful Chargers challenge determined Allen had fumbled before hitting the ground on the first play of the fourth quarter, giving Los Angeles the ball at the Buffalo 28 with a 13-10 lead.
Three plays later, C.J. Gardner-Johnson intercepted Justin Herbert at the Buffalo 1 and returned it 41 yards.
“It was a huge play in the game,” Brady said.
Buffalo drove for an Allen 1-yard touchdown to take its first lead. The defense then stopped the Chargers on fourth down, and James Cook scored on the ensuing possession to make it 24-13 with 3:13 remaining.
“I'm so proud of the defense, just the way they responded,” Brady said. “How are we going to handle sudden changes? The defense kept us in the game early.”
Why Joe Brady told Bills at halftime: 'This is perfect'
The Bills had already committed three turnovers by halftime. But they were tied 10-10.
Allen said being tied at halftime “felt like a dream.”
Brady had a different message when he walked into the locker room.
“I told the team at halftime, ‘This is perfect.’ And I meant that,” Brady said. “I wanted to see how we were going to respond. I wanted to see what it was going to reveal. Were we going to be a team that was just going to point fingers when it wasn't going well?”
Brady said it would be fruitless to scream or flip a table.
“Every day is a test as a head coach,” Brady said. “I have to be the pulse and I have to be what they need. That's why I told them it was perfect. What am I going to do, go in there and flip a table and everything? What's that going to do?”
Instead, Brady wanted to learn something about a team still taking shape three games into his first season as head coach.
“Let's see what we're about right now,” Brady said. “Let's see how we're going to respond and see what we're made of.”
The Bills responded by overcoming two more turnovers in the second half and scoring the final 14 points they needed to win.
Brady wasn't pretending he enjoyed the process.
“And I hated it,” Brady said. “But it was perfect in terms of, as we're building our football team, we can later down the line say it wasn't perfect early, so what? Let's keep going.”
There will be plenty to correct.
Brady repeatedly pointed the blame toward himself rather than his players. The five turnovers were the most glaring problem, but Buffalo also committed 10 penalties for 88 yards and Allen was sacked four times.
“I've got to start by pointing the thumb at myself,” Brady said. “Everything that we put on that field is a reflection of me. I'm not going to start off by saying, ‘Hey, you guys have to be better.’ If it's showing up on tape, I'm allowing it.”
The smoke detectors Brady had been talking about all week were no longer hypothetical.
The Bills found out they could survive the fire.
They also know they can't keep starting one.
“It's never easy to win in this league and I'm never going to apologize for winning,” Brady said. “There's a lot for us to clean up, but finding a way to go 1-0 at the end of the day is everything and I'm so proud of those guys.”
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Joe Brady says 'the house was on fire,' takes blame for Bills' 5 turnovers
