ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The question begged to be asked.

Shortly after the Bills had rallied from a 27-20 fourth-quarter deficit to edge Tampa Bay, 30-27, on Sunday afternoon at New Era Field, coach Sean McDermott, the only Buffalo head coach ever to win his first three home games, got a predictable query.

“Do you feel like you got away with one?”

“It personifies the city … heart, toughness, blue collar and the fans stuck with us all day, I thought it was awesome,” he said, without answering the question.

“It’s tough to win in this league … every week is tight,” McDermott continued. “But our guys stuck with it … played four quarters and came out with the win.

“(A win like this) certainly helps the belief (in the system) … these guys play hard and if you play hard you’ve got a chance every week. They fought right down to the very last play.”

Of course, it shouldn’t have come down to that.

There were some concerning glitches throughout the game, the only difference being unlike in recent seasons, Buffalo didn’t lose.

Still, the Bills left six points on the field in the first half.

It’s hard to blame placekicker Stephen Hauschka, after all his 12 straight field goals of 50 yards or more ties an NFL record. Still, his miss from 41 yards wasted a takeaway late in the first half that would have put Buffalo up by a touchdown.

But an equally serious gaffe came just before intermission when the Bills intercepted a Jameis Winston pass with 23 seconds left, taking over at the Tampa Bay 26.

Running back LeSean McCoy caught a pass for eight yards and the Bills used their final timeout.

With 12 seconds remaining, quarterback Tyrod Taylor threw a 2-yard pass to wide receiver Jordan Matthews and the clock expired before Buffalo could spike the ball, forfeiting a chance for another 41-yard attempt.

It was both an incredibly ill-considered throw by Taylor and equally non-cerebral of Matthews to catch the ball.

The Bills were rightfully escorted from the field with boos at halftime.

McDermott took the blame … but unnecessarily.

“It was all my fault,” he maintained, “I thought we could get three plays off there … we could get a completion (in the end zone or at the sideline), a spike (and the field goal attempt). So we’ll go back and work on that.”

But that wasn’t on McDermott, or even offensive coordinator Rick Dennison.

Players are paid to think on their feet and there wasn’t a fan in that stadium with even conversational knowledge of the game who doesn’t know you don’t throw a completed pass inbounds well short of the goal line with 12 seconds left and no timeouts.

But that wasn’t Buffalo’s only flawed clock management.

The Bills used all six of their timeouts in the game, but only half were used for strategy. The other three were merely to address personnel or alignment issues.

Buffalo played a solid game penalty-wise, accruing only four for 35 yards, but two were problematic. Cornerback Leonard Johnson was flagged for a lack-of-awareness late hit on Bucs tight end O.J. Howard that helped keep a Tampa Bay touchdown alive. And defensive tackle Marcell Dareus was called for encroachment, one snap before Winston tossed the touchdown pass that put the Bucs up 27-20.

And, on Sunday, an old Bills problem surfaced in glowing colors … problems covering tight ends. Howard and Cameron Brate each caught six balls, the former scoring twice, including a 33-yarder when, incredibly, Buffalo totally failed to cover him.

Finally, there’s the elephant in the room that grows bigger by the week.

Second-round draft choice Zay Jones is looking more and more like a blown pick. The record-setting wide receiver from East Carolina was targeted nine times with two catches for 17 yards and his first was greeted by a sarcastic cheer from the sellout crowd.

In six games, he’s been thrown to on 32 occasions with a mere seven receptions. In fairness, a number of those passes have been uncatchable. But the spotlight shone on him even more brightly Sunday due to the performance of Deonte Thompson.

The veteran wideout is in his fifth season in the league, two with Baltimore (15 catches) and three with Chicago (35 receptions, 3 touchdowns) before being waived by the Bears last week.

The Bills had actually signed Thompson late in 2014, but waived him injured in the final cut the following year.

Still, he came in on Sunday as the fourth wideout and caught all four balls thrown to him, including a 44-yarder, en route to a 107-yard day.

It will be interesting to see how long Jones, whom the Bills seem determined to prove belongs on the first team, remains a starter.

(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)