Was the final play of Buffalo Bills vs. Carolina Panthers game Tyrod Taylor’s fault or Zay Jones?

After a day where the offense really struggled, the Buffalo Bills had a long 4th down they had to convert in order to keep their chance to win the game alive. The Bills are in an empty set with McCoy split out wide and Jones in the slot. With a cornerback over McCoy you can get some indication that the Carolina Panthers are playing zone. The Bills a running a smash route combination which is a corner route from the inside receiver and a short underneath route from the outside receiver (usually a hitch or quick in).

You can see in the GIF below that Jones finds open space in the Panthers coverage and is open. The rookie has to spin back for the football but manages to get both hands on the ball and is unable to make the catch. The timing and accuracy between Jones and Taylor isn’t perfect but the correct decision was made. Tough way to lose, and a waste of a stellar effort from the defense.

I don't like to assign blame because we don't know if the wide receiver made his break too early or late, but yeah the throw should probably be better, but the timing and/or accuracy between the two was off.

After the game, Jones said he should have made the catch and it was a good throw from Taylor. Taylor said he has Jones’ back.

Should Jones have been moving more vertically toward the pylon? Did Tyrod throw it behind him to avoid the trailing cornerback (24)? Was it merely just a metter of Tyrod throwing it a split-second late? It’s impossible to know.