Keon Coleman had the highest receiving yards and offensive snaps from the Buffalo Bills before entering the Week 5 contest against the New England Patriots. Still, the second-year wide receiver was nowhere on the field during the Bills’ first offensive series against the Patriots. Now, after losing the game 23-20, the Bills’ head coach Sean McDermott has confirmed why his best WR did not start the game despite being game-fit.

Knowing how crucial he has been for the Bills, the move was quite unexpected. But in his postgame presser, HC McDermott confirmed the decision was a disciplinary action.

“Well, we expect more,” McDermott said. “We’re looking for more consistency. Growth. That leads to consistency more than anything. Like anything else, you have winning habits, it leads to winning on the field. And so that’s really what we’re trying to create.”

Well, McDermott did not reveal the specifics behind the ‘disciplinary action,’ but he was pointing towards professionalism, accountability, and discipline. It forced Coleman to sit out on the first six-play drive, when quarterback Josh Allen fumbled a handoff to tight end Dawson Knox. It was an expensive series of plays that replicated the type of hole play the Bills HC has been attempting to eradicate. The 22-year-old had suited up for all four games to that point in the season and was an integral part of Buffalo’s offensive rhythm.

But that was not his initial such in-house loss; he had stayed out for a meeting’s tardiness earlier in the first quarter of a Week 3 game during last season against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

McDermott’s call made one thing clear: no matter how well a player plays, they have to be responsible and reliable if they want to remain on the field. The coach’s mention of “winning habits” is part of the Bills’ culture during his tenure in office.

For the second drive, Keon took 42 snaps (62% of the offense). He had four of seven catches for 23 yards and had a touchdown, but also made another mistake, fumbling the ball and losing it to the Patriots deep in Bills territory at their own 11-yard line. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady repeated McDermott’s post-game theme, that Coleman’s talent isn’t the problem, but his consistency is.

“When he’s there doing his job, doing his 1/11th and just being accountable to the 10 other guys in the huddle with him at any given moment,” Brady said. “You see the growth, you see the plays that he has out there, but it just needs to be the consistent level.”

All the players had a single task on offense, and when any one of them breaks down, the entire offense disappears. Coleman’s touchdown was his potential. Likewise, Josh Allen didn’t shy away from owning up to their mistakes as well.

Josh Allen on losing to the Patriots

Sunday’s loss was personal and out of character for Josh Allen. In a defeat, Allen is normally even-keel, but his post-game remarks Sunday had an air of ire and culpability, a break from his normal measured answers.

”We just played sloppy,” Allen insisted. The Bills lost three turnovers that had a direct impact on the game. One occurred with less than eight minutes remaining in the first quarter, when tight end Dawson Knox fumbled the handoff from Allen as he was running. The ball was out and was recovered by New England’s Joshua Farmer, who assisted the Patriots with a field goal.

The most costly turnover, Allen’s red-zone pickoff, was swiped by Marcus Jones. The pass was late, frantic, and read picture-perfect by the defensive back. It doused what might have been a winning drive and solidified the Bills’ collapse.

Allen’s annoyance was also what characterized the accountability culture constructed by McDermott. Now, with Bills Mafia lined up to play the Atlanta Falcons next, do you think HC McDermott will be able to get his team back on the winning track.