ORCHARD PARK — For all of Josh Allen’s superhero attributes and all his acts of freakishness, the final outcome was determined by fundamentals.
Allen didn’t have them.
The Buffalo Bills put their hopes of a sixth consecutive AFC East championship on a two-point conversion. Two long, methodical touchdown drives made it clear the Bills didn’t intend for the Philadelphia Eagles to get another chance, because it didn’t work out well the last time that happened in a 2023 driving rain storm.
After Allen was shoved into the end zone with 5 seconds left, wide receiver Khalil Shakir streaked open across the back of the end zone. All Allen had to do was set his feet and make an accurate throw.
Instead, Allen threw a fadeaway that was so far off the mark that Shakir didn’t get a chance to make a play on the ball. And the Bills lost 13-12 and are again second to the New England Patriots for the first time since 2019.
But more importantly, if the Allen that has shown up the last two weeks is the one the Bills get in the playoffs, it’s going to be short run.
“I just missed,” a dejected Allen said. “Rolling left, I’ve got to give (Shakir) a better ball.”
Before Allen’s injured right foot takes the blame for his erratic play, consider that many of the mistakes he made against the Eagles are recurring. That includes the play that injured his foot in the first place.
Arrogance might be the only way to describe Allen’s refusal to admit any play is dead. He thinks he can squeeze his way out of any window, which leads to a career’s worth of highlight reel plays and more than enough dreadful ones.
But Allen didn’t learn his lesson, the one that should have sunk after he got X-rays at halftime against the Cleveland Browns or as he got treatment on his foot throughout the week. Instead, there was Allen, scrambling to one side of the field before attempting to traverse all the way back to the other, only to get dropped for a 19-yard loss.
It was third and 8 and the Bills trailed 13-0 in the fourth quarter. Any sort of gain likely would have put them in position to go for it because the team seems to have little faith in kicker Michael Badgley, who had an extra point blocked in the game.
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It was negated by a penalty on the first drive, but Allen was sacked on third and 4, bypassing an open Ty Johnson for an easy first down for something bigger. He can never just throw it away, there always has to be something bigger.
That’s what happened the following drive, with the ball at the Philadelphia 22-yard line. No one was open, Allen knew no one was open but had to buy time just to triple-check and it cost him a fumble.
Perhaps most perplexing about Allen is that his always-simmering belief in his ability is mixed with plays he seems nervous about making a mistake. He will throw a ball into traffic with no chance of completing it and pass up attempts that would take perfect ball placement but might be an easier catch.
Allen had Joshua Palmer open on fourth and goal at the Eagles 3, but didn’t want to risk an interception. He again had Johnson wide-open as his check-down, but didn’t want that either. His choice was a scramble that was stopped at the 1.
Most of the time something bigger never comes. The right play is the easiest play. It’s safer to live another day. It hasn’t happened yet, but Allen’s miss to Shakir should be a constant reminder that even his arm isn’t strong enough to overcome poor fundamentals.
“We’ve got to be better at the details,” Allen said.
The whackiness is masked by the fact that there may not be a quarterback in the world better when he’s on his game. And there’s more good to Allen than bad. The Bills have proven they don’t need him to be a superhero to win anymore, but they still can’t afford for him to be one of the reasons they lose.
The Buffalo defense put on their best performance of the season, giving up just 190 yards of total offense. Aside from his love affair with the screen pass, offensive coordinator Joe Brady was willing to dial up shots downfield.
Brandin Cooks was game, earning just the third 100-yard receiving game of the season. Tyrell Shavers made a 32-yard catch and now has four catches for 73 yards on four targets since catching four passes for 90 yards against the Buccaneers.
But the running game was quiet, with James Cook held to 74 yards on 3.7 yards per carry. The Bills needed Allen to be competent and too often he wasn’t up to the task, going 23 of 35 for 262 yards.
Allen has now gone consecutive games without a passing touchdown for the first time since 2020. He has four games without a touchdown pass this year, his most in a season since his rookie campaign.
So now the final game at Highmark Stadium likely comes next week, barring a miracle. A Week 18 Bills win over the Jets and losses by the Chargers and Texans bump them to the No. 5 seed, which gives them the best chance for a home game but even then it would only come in the AFC championship game.
“We’ve got to learn some things from this game,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “… We want to win and I want to win. So you learn things from this game that we want to get shored up if we want to advance in the playoffs. That’s what I’m mostly focused on now.”