While every win counts the same, the Buffalo Bills escaped Sunday night with a 27-17 win vs. the Green Bay Packers that was much closer than it should have been.
Following a great first half that saw the Bills take a 24-7 lead into halftime, Josh Allen’s superb play came to a halt. The QB threw two interceptions which reminded many of 2018 Allen vs. the current MVP caliber play we’ve become accustomed to seeing week in and week out.
Allen, speaking to NBC’s sideline reporter, Melissa Starks, after the game called the win, “gross.”
“Ya, second half we didn’t execute like we wanted to. Two bonehead decisions down there,” Allen continued when pressed on what he was referencing. “Had our opportunities on offense, but we gotta be better. Our defense stepped up. We played a good team game today and we came away with the win today, that’s all that matters. 6-1 going into a division team game next week, a team that’s playing really well, so we’ll learn from this one, move forward and get focused towards next week.”
Following his interview, Allen expanded on his thoughts during his postgame press conference.
“Ya. they all count the same. Obviously that second half I wish we had a few things back,” Allen told the media. “Got a little out of groove and just did some uncharacteristic things. You know, can’t make those decisions, can’t put our team in a situation where the only the way the other team gets back in it is by turning the ball over. Two stupid ones where I had no business throwing. Second one, I was just trying to dirt it and just didn’t, dirt it. So, those happen, we’ll learn from it coming off a bye.”
While Allen is notoriously tough on himself when he doesn’t play up to the sky high expectations, this week some of the self criticism felt validated.
“The feeling and the outcome of that game, and obviously I have a crappy taste in my mouth right now and I know we won,” Allen continued. “I’m happy that we won. Our defense played really well. Special Teams played really well. I thought we ran the ball really well. There’s a lot of positives. It’s never as bad, never as great as you think it is, but a lot to learn from. A lot to get better at. Again, that’s what we practice for, that’s what we play this game for. We’ll learn from it and grow from it.”
While Bills head coach Sean McDermott typically gives it straight when discussing wins and losses, the coach was clear that the team’s second half struggles went beyond Allen’s two interceptions.
When asked during his session with the media if he feels the need to ever pull Allen aside to discuss mistakes in the game, McDermott was quick to take the blame off his quarterback.
“I mean he knows. He knows,” McDermott said. “He’s old enough now to know. He doesn’t need me telling him. Now, if that were the case I’d tell him and he knows that. He’s very aware of how we should have played in those situations and look, we all have things to work on, right? He’s gonna work on that, I’m gonna work on putting our players in a better position. I didn’t do a good enough job of that. We didn’t do a good enough job of putting the game away, the right way and that falls on me. That’s my responsibility, so there’s a lot of things I could have done better too.”
While the Bills improved to 6-1 and maintained first place in the AFC, the second half showed that despite how well the Bills appear to play at times, the difference from winning and losing in the NFL is closer than it sometimes seems.
As Allen noted, the Bills face a tough divisional matchup with the surprising 5-3 New York Jets in week 9. A game they will have to play more completely if they hope to walk away with another victory.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbw1j59gmjw5gdj player_id=none image=https://billswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[lawrence-related id=107870,107860,107813]