During a Thursday Night Football road loss to the Houston Texans, a visibly upset Josh Allen went to the sideline after a failed conversion attempt on 4th-and-1.

He was also seen expressing his feelings verbally.

It’s a question that was raised late in the game when the two teams met last year by many outside the Bills organization as well, also in response to late-game playcalling.

On fourth down, instead of a quarterback sneak, offensive coordinator Joe Brady called a slow and very telegraphed handoff to RB James Cook. The RB1 had already been given five straight carries on that offensive possession for the first time in his career without a timeout. He appeared to be asking for a break to catch his breath before the fourth-down play, but was then quickly stopped in the backfield by defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins for a 2-yard loss.

Here’s sequence on failed Cook 4thD run.

Cook appears out of gas after 3rdD-his 4th straight touch.
Possible Cook trying to leave game slowed process.
*Cook not once all year touched ball 5 snaps in a row without timeout.

McDermott says nothing on cam.
Decision seems long… pic.twitter.com/MECggu3T6v

— Thad Brown (@thadbrown7) November 21, 2025

Cameras then caught Allen slamming his helmet on the sideline, and as he took a seat on the bench, he turned to backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and yelled, “What are we doing?”

After the first TNF loss of his career, he was asked about the moment during his media availability.

“Just frustration on my part,” Allen replied. “Just in a situation like that, probably should have just banged a timeout, we got the play in late, didn’t give ourselves a chance there.”

Allen was without targets Dalton Kincaid, Curtis Samuel, and Mecole Hardman due to injury, and Keon Coleman due to his still being a healthy scratch.

There is only so much that GM Brandon Beane can do post-trade deadline to improve the roster. It may be time to examine how to improve the coaching staff.

The comment about the play coming in late, as well as the responsibility, rests on OC Joe Brady’s and head coach Sean McDermott’s shoulders.

The Bills could gain from adding coaching support and braintrust to field the best staff possible to set Allen and the team up to succeed on both sides of the ball.

Former OC Brian Daboll is available, and the likes of Doug Pederson and Mike McCarthy are out there. All of whom have head coaching experience, and one of whom has had some of the most success with Allen of any coach.

Allen is a vet and an MVP in his prime, and the Bills are endangering what is potentially their best path to the Super Bowl to date in the McDermott and Allen era.

The Bills have had nine turnovers in their past three games, and they sit at 7-4 with their playoff seeding and chance at a division crown both in jeopardy.