Tag: bills playoffs

Bills Wire AFC divisional round Player of the Game: QB Josh Allen

Bills Wire AFC divisional round Player of the Game: QB Josh Allen:

The Buffalo Bills were eliminated in the AFC divisional round after their loss against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday evening.

The Bills could not find a way to win after going down early in the fourth quarter. The Bills did not complete the comeback as the Chiefs won 27-24.

There are a handful of Bills players who could have won this week’s Bills Wire Player of the Game.

We are awarding it to quarterback Josh Allen, who was 26 of 39 for 186 yards and one passing touchdown to receiver Khalil Shakir. In addition, carrying the ball, Allen ran 12 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

Allen ran for those two touchdowns in the first half before connecting with wide receiver Shakir. Allen did everything he could to win this frosty divisional matchup against 2023 Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

Allen found the end zone with his feet at the beginning and end of the second quarter, both times to give Buffalo a lead. Unfortunately, the Bills could not prevent Kansas City from scoring nor could they find a way to tie or take the lead at the end of the game.

The Bills are now eliminated from the 2023 NFL playoffs.

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Bills Wire AFC Wild Card Player of the Game: QB Josh Allen

Bills Wire AFC Super Wild Card Weekend Player of the Game: QB Josh Allen:

The Buffalo Bills advanced to the AFC divisional round with a win against the No. 7 seed Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday afternoon and will welcome the No. 3 seed Kansas City Chiefs next weekend.

After taking a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, the Bills staved off a Steelers rally in the final 15 minutes and won 31-17.

There are several players among offense, defense and special teams who could have won this week’s Bills Wire Player of the Game. We are awarding it to quarterback Josh Allen, who was 21 of 30 for 203 yards and three touchdowns, along with a 52-yard rushing touchdown:

Allen’s score was his fourth rushing touchdown in the postseason. Additionally, this was Allen’s second playoff game with no interceptions or fumbles — the first came in the Bills’ blowout wild-card win over the New England Patriots two years ago.

Allen found both tight ends in the first quarter for touchdowns, and his solo run for a touchdown midway through the second quarter energized the faithful fans who braved the snow. It was Allen’s longest rush in his entire career. His previous longest postseason rush was for 42 yards in his first playoff game, which came against the Houston Texans in the 2019 AFC wild-card round.

The Bills will use the next week to prepare Highmark Stadium to host the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs in the divisional round.

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What we learned from the Bills’ win over the Dolphins

What we learned from the #Bills’ win over the #Dolphins:

The Buffalo Bills (11-6) successfully ran the table into the end of the regular season to secure a playoff spot after a rough start that saw them at 6-6 and on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

Five straight wins later, and they are the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs and once more winners of the AFC East.

Buffalo’s start against Miami in the final game of the regular season was another ugly one that saw several turnovers in the first half.

After that, the Bills’ defense and depth players at positions on both sides of the ball stepped up, including an acrobatic heads-up touchdown by WR Trent Sherfield, a franchise record-long 95-yard punt return, and score by WR and return man Deonte Harty, and a game-sealing interception by S Taylor Rapp.

With that, here are three things we learned from Sunday’s win over the Dolphins:

Report card: Bills top Dolphins, 21-14

Report card: #Bills top #Dolphins, 21-14:

The 2023 NFL regular season has concluded and the Bills completed an eventful five-game winning streak to enter the playoffs with a fourth straight AFC East crown and the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff picture.

Here is the BillsWire’s Week 18 report card for the Buffalo Bills (11-6) following the team’s 21-14 win over the Miami Dolphins (11-6):

Josh Allen’s heartwarming reunion with former Bills teammate (video)

Josh Allen’s heartwarming reunion with former #Bills teammate (video):

Last weekend, the Buffalo Bills were in Los Angeles to play the Chargers. Prior to the game, as both teams were warming up, Bills quarterback Josh Allen recognized an old teammate when he was warming up in the end zone.

Former Bills kicker Stephen Hauschka played every game for the Buffalo Bills from 2017 to 2019, overlapping with Allen in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

In 48 regular season games, Hauschka was 73/89 in field goals and 84/87 from extra points, and they both played in the wild-card game which was the Bills’ first playoff game with Allen as quarterback against the Houston Texans in the 2019 postseason.

Allen went over to Hauschka and gave him a very lovable hug. The former kicker retired in 2020 after a 12-year career across five teams. He was with his family for the Bills game against the Chargers. Allen said hi and remembered Stephen’s wife and son’s name, saying hi to both of them individually.

Allen is a great teammate and we love to see the love between two teammates and the quarterback’s genuine care for his teammate and their family.

Watch the full clip below:

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Bills play with their food, eventually eke out crucial win over Chargers

The Bills beat the Chargers, but it wasn’t a statement game unless the desired statement was, “WTF?” Still, they now control their postseason fate.

If there’s one thing we can say about the 2023 Buffalo Bills, it’s that they’re exactly like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates — you never know what you’re going to get.

Six days after thrashing the Dallas Cowboys with a run game nobody had seen from offensive coordinator Joe Brady, the 8-6 Bills rolled into SoFi Stadium to face a 5-9 Los Angeles Chargers team with a new interim head coach (Giff Smith) following the firing of head coach Brandon Staley, and a backup quarterback (Easton Stick) who had been up and down in his two previous starts in relief of Justin Herbert, who’s out for the rest of the season with a right index finger injury.

So, this should have been a blowout on paper in Buffalo’s favor, but they don’t play football games on paper, do they? The Chargers gave the favorites everything they could handle, right up to the end of a 24-22 win that was only good for the Bills in that they now control their postseason destiny. If they beat the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins in the final two weeks of the regular season, they are in the tournament. As it was, this moved Sean McDermott’s team from 10th to sixth in the AFC playoff race, and there’s no way of knowing which Bills team will show up at any given time.

The Bills team that showed up for this game was dependent on Josh Allen to pull it out, and that was more as a runner than as a passer. Against one of the NFL’s worst run defenses, last weeks hero James Cook gained just 70 yards on 20 carries, and fumbled twice.

Allen completed just 15 of 27 passes for 237 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, but he also had two rushing touchdowns on five carries. Outside of receiver Gabe Davis’ annual big game (four catches on six targets for 130 yards and a touchdown), Allen’s targets were mostly nonexistent. And though the Chargers’ plan to spy Allen didn’t work as well as they’d have liked, they did keep Cook under wraps.

The Chargers, who were mathematically eliminated from the postseason in this game, probably should have won it… but they’re the Chargers, and sometimes, Chargering is a thing.

The Chargers were 1-of-3 in the red zone, and the Bills were 2-of-3. Cameron Dicker (the kicker) had five field goals in this game, including three in the fourth quarter. While that’s great for Dicker, you’re still going to want to score touchdowns to beat the Bills even when they’re having an off night. Stick completed 23 of 33 passes for 215 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. It was a safe game plan for the most part, though Stick was also let down by his receivers a couple times on more potentially explosive plays. Rookie Quentin Johnston struggled in particular — he wasn’t going at full speed on one potential deep pass, and another potential important play was negated bo an illegal shift penalty when Johnston wasn’t lined up correctly.

With all that said, the Chargers still had a chance as time was running low. Allen’s touchdown pass to receiver Khalil Shakir with 2:34 left in the game was overturned on review, and that was actually bad news for Buffalo’s opponent, because the Bills could then run the clock down before Tyler Bass’ 29-yard field goal with 28 seconds left in the game.

On Los Angeles’ last play, they set up a series of laterals against Buffalo’s 9-DB Hail Mary defense, and they may have had a shot if receiver Alex Erickson had taken the lane he was given.

So. The Bills got the win they needed, though it was hardly a statement, unless the desired statement was “WTF?” As for the Chargers, they have now lost six games this season by three or fewer points, one game away from the NFL single-season record set by the 1994 Houston Oilers.

When it comes to Chargering, there are some things that transcend time, space, and the interim head coach bump.

Updated look at Bills’ playoff odds in sportsbooks

Updated look at #Bills’ playoff odds in sportsbooks:

The Buffalo Bills went toe-to-toe with NFL’s best team this season, the Philadelphia Eagles. Even though they fought well they ultimately lost in overtime to a Jalen Hurts touchdown.

The Eagles won 37-34 in overtime.

Buffalo is now an even 6-6 heading into its Week 13 bye, and their record truly indicates their performances throughout the 2023 NFL season. And Bills fans are left with the week off to think whether their team is even likely to make the playoffs.

But for those still Bill-eving and interested in placing wagers, it could be profitable move to bet on Buffalo at this point. Odds are now much longer for the team to make the playoffs.

But first, a look at the analytics:

New York Times Playoff Simulator

After Sunday’s loss, the New York Times playoff simulator has drastically reduced the Bills’ chance of making the playoffs. Buffalo’s current odds of making the playoffs is at 14 percent.

Unlike Bills games earlier this season, the offense played fantastic football, perhaps due to changes in the staff supporting quarterback Josh Allen. And when playing against the Eagles, who have only lost one game this season, fantastic football needs to be played by everyone. The Bills defense, naturally, had their work cut out for them and tried their best to stop perhaps the strongest team in the league.

The New York Times playoff simulator works by using an Elo rating system combined with information from betting markets to estimate every NFL teams’ chance of winning. The Elo rating system calculates the relative skill of teams within the NFL. The simulator estimate odds by randomly simulating the remainder of the season thousands of times and counting how often all NFL teams would make the playoffs.

According to the simulations, the Eagles have a greater than 68 percent chance to be the No. 1 seed. That’s how good the team that the Bills faced. And, had the Bills won the game against the Eagles, they would have had a 43 percent chance of making the playoffs.

Instead, the Bills currently have a 14 percent chance. With a fractional chance that they, like the Eagles are predicted to do, of getting the top seed, with the reward of a first-round bye.

The first-round bye goes to the first-place seed in each conference. Currently, the Baltimore Ravens have the best record in the AFC at 9-3. The Bills are currently outside of the playoff spots and would not qualify for the postseason.

According to the simulator, the Bills have what is essentially a must-win game against the 2022 Super Bowl Champions Kansas City Chiefs following their bye week. Starting with a win against the Chiefs would see their odds of making the playoffs jump to 24 percent. A loss to the reigning Super Bowl champions would see the odds drop to 5 percent.

FanDuel

The supercomputer might say one thing, but football markets are feeling differently than the simulations. The betting market is much more optimistic of the Bills chance to not only make the playoffs, but win the division, and even the Super Bowl.

Despite the loss to the Eagles, the Bills currently have a +360 odds to make the 2023 NFL playoffs. This amounts to a 21.74 percent chance. The betting market also believes the Bills have a 10 percent odds (+900) of winning the AFC East vs. the NYT simulator which had the Bills at a 3% chance.

Now, Buffalo going toe to toe with a Super Bowl caliber team in the Eagles shows that they can hang with the best of the best. Could they run the AFC table and book their place in Super Bowl LVIII?

According to FanDuel, the Bills have a 5 percent chance (+1900) of winning the AFC Championship and a 3 percent chance (+3300) of winning this year’s Super Bowl.

Now, betting markets aren’t designed to truly highlight people’s thoughts on what a team is capable of, but designed to have people bet as much as possible. Always gamble responsibly if you choose to gamble.

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1 thing we want to see from each of the Bills top skill position players

1 thing we want to see from each of the #Bills top skill position players (via @TejasVemparala):

On paper, the Buffalo Bills offense is one of the best in the league. But to win the Super Bowl, the Buffalo will need to be the best. If the Bills want to win the Super Bowl in 2023, here is one thing we want to see from each of their top skill-position players:

Exploring the Bills’ biggest offseason needs in 2023

Exploring the #Bills’ biggest offseason needs in 2023:

The Buffalo Bills enter the offseason with successes and areas to improve upon from their 2022 campaign. The team’s front office will be tasked with looking at ways to improve from consecutive seasons that saw division-round playoff exits.

With free agency, the NFL Draft, limited cap space, and decisions on personnel on and off the field all on the table, this will be a crucial period of assessment and action for GM Brandon Beane and company.

As the new league year approaches, here is a look at the biggest offseason needs for the Bills in 2023:

5 biggest surprises from Bills’ 2022 season

5 biggest surprises from the #Bills’ 2022 season:

The Buffalo Bills had a memorable 2022 NFL season, filled with enough ups and downs to form a roller coaster ride.

While that ride fell short of the teams’ Super Bowl aspirations and came to an end in a division round playoff exit, there were plenty of surprises along the way.

Among the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful, here are the five biggest surprises of 2022: