Forget the Super Bowl, Josh Allen’s Bills in Grave Danger of Missing the Playoffs | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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The Buffalo Bills aren’t alright.
During the offseason, the future was so bright. The Bills Mafia was so alive. And every team in the AFC was trying not to be beat. Now the season’s cracked and torn. The Bills are blown up and their record is worn. How can one season end on so many bad drives?
The idea of the 5-5 Bills being a Super Bowl contender after Monday’s 24-22 loss to the Denver Broncos shouldn’t even be discussed.
“Sucks. Shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place,” quarterback Josh Allen said after the Broncos’ walk-off victory. “Lot of bad football. A lot of bad football.”
Technically, Allen and Co. remain in the playoff hunt. But they’re no longer in the same tier that includes the Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens. Instead, the Bills find themselves as the AFC’s 10th best team among the likes of the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and Las Vegas Raiders.
Let the previous sentence sink in for a second.
The Bills, who have been counted among the NFL’s elite for the last three seasons are now in the same mix as a team with a first-year head coach and rookie quarterback, another squad with backup-turned-starter Gardner Minshew II leading the way and a franchise that already fired its head coach this season.
Self-inflicted mistakes, poor quarterback play, poor coaching and a brutal late-season schedule has this team on the fringe of not making the postseason for the first time since 2018.
Monday’s effort served as a microcosm of everything that’s gone wrong this season and it began with the very first play of the game.
During Buffalo’s first offensive snap, the Bills set up a strong-side screen to running back James Cook, who subsequently coughed up the ball and gave the Broncos excellent field position that resulted in a field goal.
Allen wasn’t particularly good, either. The two-time Pro Bowl honoree threw a pair of interceptions. The first ricocheted off his wide receiver’s hands into the awaiting arms of Broncos safety Justin Simmons.
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While the pass should have been caught, the quarterback could learn to throw with a little more touch by taking some steam off his passes. Just because a quarterback can throw the ball through a brick wall doesn’t mean he needs to at all the times.
The second interception fell squarely on the Allen’s broad shoulders. Some regression can be seen in the former MVP candidate when he outright misses throws, as he did multiple times Monday. But Fabian Moreau’s pick turned out to be the worst of the bunch.
Allen left the ball inside on an 15-yard out, which is a big no-no for all quarterbacks at any level. Moreau capitalized to give the Broncos another scoring opportunity.
As ESPN noted, the Bills quarterback now leads the NFL with 11 interceptions after throwing picks in six straight contests, which is the franchise’s longest streak since 2011.
Deep into the third quarter, Allen simply mishandled a handoff and didn’t come close to placing it into the pocket of Cook. Instead, the ball fell to the ground, where the Broncos recovered in positive territory.
All of these turnovers could have been avoided to some degree or another. It’s sloppy football and an indictment of how the Bills quarterback is currently playing. So much so, Trevon Diggs—the brother of star wide receiver Stefon Diggs—didn’t mince words after seeing his older sibling catch three passes for 34 yards.
Buffalo’s offense and Allen haven’t been quite the same since Ken Dorsey started to call plays. With largely the same personnel in many key areas, the Bills’ offense went from a unit capable of going shot for shot with the Chiefs to a team struggling to generate anything consistently. Buffalo now finds itself outside of the top five in total offense for the first time in four seasons.
Despite everything, the Bills could have still won the contest if not for poor game management. The final sequence of plays proved to be excruciating to watch from a Buffalo perspective.
On 2nd-and-4 in plus-territory, an all-out blitz got to Russell Wilson and knocked the Broncos out of field-goal range. The Bills chose not to pull their foot off the gas, and took the same approach on the following play. Only on third down, Denver’s veteran quarterback lobbed a pass as far as he could while falling off his back foot. The underthrown toss resulted in a 28-yard pass interference call on cornerback Taron Johnson.
“To be honest, I don’t know how I could play it better,” Johnson told reporters. “I didn’t feel like I did anything. I got to him and I looked back for the ball and I tried to make a play on the ball. It’s just frustrating.”
Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy did try to make his way back to the ball. Johnson was placed in an impossible situation and pass interference almost always favors the offense, especially on underthrown balls.
Even then, the Bills should have won. Broncos kicker Will Lutz missed the game-winning 41-yard field-goal attempt. But, wait, there’s more.
In a brilliant tactic, Broncos head coach Sean Payton knew he had enough time to kneel one more time to position the ball then run the field-goal unit onto the field without being completely rushed. The Bills weren’t prepared for the quick change to special teams. As a result, the Buffalo had 12 men on the field. The missed field goal never actually counted. The Broncos got another opportunity five yards closer and Lutz converted the buzzer-beater.
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Bills head coach Sean McDermott already foresees a few “tough conversations” after his team’s latest performance. When asked specifically about Dorsey’s role, he responded, “I’m confident, but believe we can be better at the same time.”
Miscues in coaching and on-field decision-making led to Buffalo’s current .500 record. The next stretch won’t let up, either.
The New York Jets and their nasty defense are next on the docket. The Philadelphia Eagles, who currently own the NFL’s best record, follow. After the Bills’ bye, they still see the Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Chargers (at SoFi Stadium) before closing the season against the Dolphins. Aside for a second matchup against the hapless New England Patriots, the Bills may not be favored in any of those other contests.
“I remain confident but it’s no secret the clock’s ticking,” Allen said. “Gotta have some urgency now.”
No reason exists to believe the current iteration of the Bills is good enough to compete at the level they have in previous seasons.
Chances thrown, nothing’s free. Longing for what used to be. Still it’s hard, hard to see. Fragile lives, shattered dreams.
Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @brentsobleski.
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