Josh Allen had a chance to complete his signature moment.
The kind of moments replayed decades after retirement. The kind of moment that squashes narratives and forces talking heads to move the goalposts without admitting the truth.
The idea that Allen’s legacy would somehow be tarnished if he couldn’t get to the Super Bowl without Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow standing in his path was objectively absurd. The notion that Allen isn’t a good playoff quarterback is just lazy.
Statistically, Allen is one of the greatest playoff performers. But Allen has never had the signature moment where he drives his team down the field for a game-winning score with no time for a response.
He’s had the moments ripped away from him or they have fallen through his grasp. Sure, he led the Bills to a game-winning touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC wild-card round, but Tre’Davious White and Cole Bishop stole the shine with a game-clinching interception.
Allen had more than one chance at such a moment in the Buffalo Bills’ 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos and they all slipped away. It’s the third consecutive season the Bills dropped a three-point playoff game with Allen having the ball with a chance to win the game and coming away without a point.
Instead, Allen must endure the chatter for another season. Four turnovers, including an egregious end-of-half fumble, won’t quell the idea that he’s a turnover machine. Falling to 0-7 in overtime games — with three losses in the playoffs — won’t quiet the people who shout he’s not clutch.
Meanwhile another year without a Super Bowl keeps him a peg below the all-time greats, even if the statistics disagree.
And so a red-eyed Allen stepped to the podium attempting to fight back tears. He placed the loss on his shoulders, as he does after every loss. Only this time it was clear he believed it was his fault.
“It’s not on him,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “We had opportunities — all of us. I’m extremely proud of him. He’s a tremendous person, tremendous leader, tremendous quarterback. There’s plays we all want back.”
Everyone prefers to place blame on one person because it’s easier when everything is black and white. But football, like anything, is not simple.
Allen’s first-half fumble was inexcusable, while his third-quarter interception in Denver territory was foolish. But the Broncos hadn’t shown they could stop the Bills when the NFL’s leading rusher James Cook fumbled at the Denver 32 with a 7-3 lead.
Wide receiver Khalil Shakir was supposed to chip block star pass rusher Nik Bonitto to left tackle Dion Dawkins, but instead shoved him into a direct path of Allen, who was blindsided and fumbled. That’s 10 points between the two plays.
While the defense was faced with tough situations and was largely up to the task for most of the game. But five of Denver’s scoring drives were over 60 yards, including a 73-yarder in which they gave up a go-ahead touchdown with 55 seconds left and a 75-yarder that led to the game-winning field goal.
The reality is that the only time the Broncos stopped the Bills offense is when they committed a turnover. The Bills outgained the Broncos by 110 yards on 5.8 yards per play and went 10 of 15 on third downs. Allen himself gained 349 total yards and three touchdowns.
Without Allen, the Bills wouldn’t have been in the game. Teams that committed five turnovers in a playoff game have been bludgeoned by 15 points per game and the Bills scored 30 points against a defense that gave up 18.3 this season.
“He’s been carrying us all year, and the way I think about it is somebody [needs to] step up to be able to alleviate some of that from him,” Bills receiver Brandin Cooks said. “When you’re great and you feel like you have to do so much, you have the opportunity to be able to afford some of those things, and that’s why, I think he’s the greatest quarterback in this league, everybody else around him, got to come up, be able to make plays. He doesn’t always have to be the one to feel that.”
But the fact that Allen and offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s high-powered offense has come up without points on the final possession of a playoff loss three seasons in a row is something they and the team are going to have to reconcile.
Aside from an interception, Allen settled down after the sack-fumble put them in a 13-point hole and the Bills clawed their way back to a 24-23 lead with 13:24 to play. But when the fourth quarter hit, Allen’s accuracy fluctuated and that’s been the case in each of his last three playoff losses.
Allen’s completion percentage has gone from 73.1% in the first three quarters to 53.3% in the fourth quarter, including 9 of 18 against the Broncos. He simply missed a number of throws that could have changed the game’s trajectory.
The Bills had a chance to put the game in a chokehold with a first and 10 from the Denver 14 with 5:43 left and a one-point lead. He wasn’t helped when the Bills got stuck in third and 8, but Allen skipped a screen pass to Shakir that seemed to have blocking set up for a first down or more.
With 24 seconds left and a first down from the Denver 32 following the hook and ladder, Allen took a shot to Cooks down the sideline. Cooks appeared to be held by cornerback Riley Moss, but Allen sailed the ball too much for it to be close enough to force a flag.
On the next play, Allen put too much steam on a pass to Shakir that could have set up third and short or third and medium. And Allen had tight end Dawson Knox for a possible game-winning touchdown on third down, but he sailed it over his head.
And on the final interception that McDermott remained adamant was caught by Cooks at the Denver 20 — it’s hard to disagree — Cooks seemed to be interfered with again by Ja’Quan McMillian, it was only a contested catch because the ball was underthrown. Had Allen led Cooks, it would have been a touchdown.
“It’s been a long season,” Allen said. “I hate how it ended. And it’s going to stick with me for a long time.”
The throws Allen made were a big reason why the Bills were in position to win, but the throws he missed were among the reasons they lost. It’s now up to Allen and the coaching staff to figure out how to convert more often with the game on the line.
No one has won more games as a starting quarterback than Allen without reaching a Super Bowl (8), while only Jim Kelly and Donovan McNabb have won more games as a starting quarterback (9) without winning a Super Bowl.
Before guaranteeing Allen to the ring-less futures of Kelly and Dan Marino, consider that Allen will be 30 with a lot more football to play. Peyton Manning went 3-6 in the playoffs before winning his first Super Bowl and John Elway got steamrolled in three Super Bowls before finally winning at 37.
Sometimes winning a Super Bowl is luck. And there’s never been a franchise more unlucky in the postseason.