Orchard Park, New York – Buffalo Bills wide receiver Keon Coleman was on the bench for the first offensive series on Sunday night loss V New England Patriots For “discipline,” coach Sean McDermott said Monday.
Coleman asked for a six-play drive that ended with a fumble on a bad pass from the quarterback. Josh Allen designed for tight end Dawson KnoxBy field He started the previous four games this season.
McDermott said at a news conference Monday that the incident arose from something that happened in the week leading up to the game, but did not go into specifics.
Coleman, a 2024 second-round pick, was also benched in the first quarter of last season's Week 3 game against Jacksonville Jaguars After being late for a meeting.
McDermott was asked if it was disappointing that another issue had created the need for a Sunday bench, to which he said: “Yes.”
Coleman, 22, was on the field for the first play of the second offensive series and finished with 42 snaps (62%), catching four of his seven targets for 23 yards and a touchdown. He also had a fumble that resulted in the Patriots receiving the ball at the Buffalo 11-yard line.
“We expect more and it has shown growth this year. He has,” McDermott said. “We’re looking for more consistency.”
Asked if that meant consistency in a certain area, McDermott said: “Growth, maturation. This leads to consistency more than anything else, and like anything else you have winning habits, it leads to winning in this area. And so we're really trying to create, and that's what we're here to do is help young men in this case grow and develop and develop and become professionals, and that's part of that process.”
Offensive coordinator Joe Brady said Monday that Coleman can be more consistent by being where he needs to be.
“When he's out there doing his job, doing his 1/11 and just being accountable to 10 other guys in the clean and jerk with him at any given time,” Brady said. “You see the growth, you see the plays he has, but it just has to be a consistent level.”
