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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PODCAST: After playoff loss, what did we learn from Bills’ 2020 season?

Kyle Silagyi is joined by Justin DiLoro and McKenna Middlebrook to discuss the Buffalo Bills’ postseason loss to the Houston Texans.

There’s no such thing as a typical Buffalo Bills playoff game.

After participating in only three postseason games in the first 20 years of the 21st century, one could even describe the idea of a Buffalo playoff game as ‘atypical.’

Despite this, the team’s Wild-Card round loss to the Houston Texans felt typical.

Even after a 10-6 season in which the team shed archaic national labels, even after holding a 16-point lead over the Texans in the second half of its postseason contest, it’s not necessarily surprising that the Bills lost, their second-half collapse proving to be their downfall.

It almost felt expected.

On this episode of The Kyle Silagyi Variety Hour, host Kyle Silagyi is joined by BillsWire staff writers Justin DiLoro and McKenna Middlebrook to discuss Buffalo’s playoff collapse. They also question whether they’ve learned anything about the Bills throughout the season and briefly preview the 2020 offseason.

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Despite Texans loss, 2019 season still a massive success for Bills

Though Buffalo’s 2019 season ended in heartbreak, it cannot be classified as anything other than a success.

Few phrases in professional football are as dangerous as ‘moral victory.’

It’s the football linguist’s take on ‘you live and you learn,’ a way for a team to maintain confidence and continue to grow after facing adversity, typically in the form of losses.

Though losing can certainly breed character, taking solace in a loss can create a mindset of content. When a team is able to justify one loss, it becomes easier to justify the next.

And the next. And the next.

In a results-based business such as the NFL, placing moral victories in a proverbial trophy case can lead to disaster. Finding some sort of comfort in a loss is almost never a good idea.

Almost.

Though the Buffalo Bills lost their Wild Card round matchup with the Houston Texans in heartbreaking fashion, it’s difficult to not find some ‘moral victory’ in the team’s 2019 season.

Looking past Buffalo’s putrid postseason loss in which it squandered a 16-point second-half lead, it’s clear to see that the 2019 campaign was paramount in the development of the organization as a whole.

It was one of growth. It was one of progress.

It was one of success.

The Bills – a team that has long been looked at as a perennial laughingstock, an inept organization that once failed to make the playoffs for 17 consecutive seasons – shed that nagging national perception with a 10-win season.

Quarterback Josh Allen showed discernible development in his sophomore campaign, showing sharper decision-making while also improving on his accuracy in the short-to-intermediate passing game. He also flashed on the ground, complementing his 3,089 yards and 20 touchdowns through the air with nine rushing scores.

Rookie Devin Singletary also cemented himself as a building block for Buffalo in the 2019 campaign, picking up 969 total yards on 180 touches. He became the team’s featured back in the second half of the season, providing a spark to a Bills’ offense that looked lifeless at times. Buffalo was 5-2 in games in which Singletary had 14 or more carries.

Defensively, Tremaine Edmunds and Tre’Davious White continued their respective rises to national prominence. Edmunds showed elite-level athleticism and play recognition from the middle linebacker position, quarterbacking a defense that finished third in the league in total yardage.

White led the league in interceptions and did not allow a touchdown in coverage, earning All-Pro honors for the first time in his career.

And one could even argue that there are other storylines that perhaps better encapsulate Buffalo’s breakout season.

The team’s 2019 draft class, as a whole, performed admirably, with Ed Oliver, Cody Ford, and Dawson Knox all serving as significant contributors in their rookie seasons.

Defensive tackle Jordan Phillips experienced a career renaissance in Buffalo, tallying a career-high 9.5 sacks from the interior of the defensive line.

Wide receiver John Brown also constructed a career year in Western New York, reeling in 72 passes for 1,060 yards and six touchdowns after inking a three-year deal with the Bills in the offseason.

All these factors played a role in what was objectively Buffalo’s best season of the 21st century. The team finished the 2019 season with a 10-6 record, its first double-digit win total since 1999.

You’d be forgiven if recency bias is clouding your judgment of the entire season – as losing a two-score lead in the second half of a postseason game is nothing short of unacceptable.

Yet, despite that, it’s difficult to not be encouraged by the direction that Buffalo is heading in.

The team is far from perfect. The offense struggled throughout the majority of the season, its shortcomings stemming from a combination of poor execution and questionable play-calling.

Allen is still far from a polished quarterback, as poor footwork caused his passes, specifically those more than 15 yards down the field, to consistently go awry throughout the season.

The offense lacks a bonafide No. 1 weapon while the defense, while incredibly stout, also has a few question marks, with how the team will handle the retirement of starting outside linebacker Lorenzo Alexander perhaps being the most pressing matter.

But fans and analysts alike can be confident that the team will address these issues in the offseason. General manager Brandon Beane has been near-flawless since taking the reins of the team in the 2017 offseason, turning his inherited mess into an exciting young roster with franchise-caliber players at a number of core positions.

He can also make significant additions to his roster in the 2020 offseason. According to OverTheCap, the Bills are set to enter the new league year with north of $88 million in cap space, the largest amount of any reigning playoff team and the fourth-most of any team in the league.

Beane has the capital to construct a talented roster for head coach Sean McDermott, who’s coming off a Coach of the Year-caliber campaign.

Buffalo is not a perfect team, with its shortcomings made painfully apparent in its postseason collapse in Houston. Though a heartbreaking defeat was not the ideal way to end the Bills’ breakout season, a breakout season it still was.

The 2019 campaign saw Buffalo garner national attention for its strong play from its young playmakers and consistently strong coaching. Given the track record of those at the helm, there’s no reason to think that the team won’t build on its success moving forward.

Though it’s natural to dwell on the team’s postseason loss in the interim, don’t let the result fool you. The 2019 season was a genuine success for the Bills, the first of what will likely be many for the team’s current regime.

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PODCAST: Bills lost to the Jets but everything is okay

Kyle Silagyi is joined by Rich Kowalski and McKenna Middlebrook to discuss the Buffalo Bills’ Week 17 loss to the New York Jets.

Entering the Bills’ Week 17 matchup with the New York Jets, the Buffalo faithful’s collective mind was not overly concerned with a victory.

The game meant nothing. Buffalo had already cemented itself as the fifth seed in the AFC prior to kickoff, meaning that its regular-season finale, regardless of the result, would have no impact on the standings.

The Bills simply wanted to exit the game with a healthy roster and a protected playbook. Though Buffalo lost the ugly game by a score of 13-6, it seems to have accomplished its other goals.

On this episode of The Kyle Silagyi Variety Hour, host Kyle Silagyi is joined by BillsWire staff writers Rich Kowalski and McKenna Middlebrook to discuss the Bills’ loss to New York. Kyle also talks about his hatred of a small town in Erie County and unveils a crazy surprise.

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PODCAST: Bills lost to the Patriots but that’s alright

Kyle Silagyi is joined by Justin DiLoro and McKenna Middlebrook to discuss the Buffalo Bills’ Week 16 loss to the New England Patriots.

A loss to the New England Patriots typically weighs on fans of the Buffalo Bills for some time.

The hated division rival has dominated Buffalo for some time, holding a 35-5 record against the Bills since the turn of the century.

New England added another win to its record in a Week 16 win over Buffalo – yet, there’s not a communal feeling of dread in Western New York. The game was meaningless for the Bills, who had already secured a playoff berth with a Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On this episode of The Kyle Silagyi Variety Hour, host Kyle Silagyi is joined by BillsWire staff writers Justin DiLoro and McKenna Middlebrook to talk about Buffalo’s inconsequential loss to the Patriots. They also talk about the Bills’ receiving corps and break out some wicked Boston accents.

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PODCAST: Bills turn attention to Wild Card weekend post-Patriots loss

Buffalo Bills podcast following 24-17 loss to New England Patriots.

The Bills couldn’t get the job done against the New England Patriots. Poor execution on the offensive side, with an inability to extend drives, led to exhaustion and sloppy play on the defensive side of the ball. The Patriots experienced one of their better games of this back half of the season against Buffalo on both sides of the ball.

For the Bills, it’s not the end of the world, fortunately. While the idea that they were in the race for a home playoff game in Week 16 was enticing, they’re still in the postseason, and they still have a shot. The only ways that Buffalo would see the Patriots again is one of two situations.

First, both the Bills and whoever is the sixth seed win. Lowest remaining seed goes on to face Baltimore, and Buffalo would end up facing New England in the divisional round. Secondly, if both Buffalo or New England win out, and they meet in the AFC Championship.

That all sounds good and well, but one game at a time has to be the mentality, and right now, despite a meaningless Week 17 game against the Jets, Buffalo is slated to face either Houston or Kansas City come Wild Card Weekend.

Billswire podcast host ost Matt Johnson recaps the Bills-Patriots game and looks ahead to Wild Card weekend:

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Bills have yet to decide if starters will play in Week 17

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott has yet to decide whether or not the team’s starters will play in its season finale.

One meaningless regular game against a near-inept division opponent separates the Buffalo Bills from their third postseason contest of the millennium.

With a Week 16 loss to the New England Patriots, Buffalo took its hat out of the race for the AFC East crown. The 10-5 team can now finish no better or worse than fifth in the AFC, set to face either the Houston Texans or the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card round of the postseason.

The outcome of the Bills’ Week 17 matchup with the New York Jets will not impact the team’s place in the final standings. Thus, one could expect Buffalo to rest its starters in its season finale, allowing its key players a break before the playoffs while also preventing significant injuries.

Per head coach Sean McDermott, such a decision has yet to be made. While speaking to the media following the team’s 24-17 loss to the Patriots, McDermott was asked if the team had thought whether or not it will bench its starters in its season finale.

“Yeah, no, we’ll talk about it,” McDermott said. “Brandon [Beane] and I will sit down and talk about it and make sure we do what’s right for the team.”

Though the team has yet to make a decision as to whether or not starters will take the field next week, resting key players would likely be a wise move.

The game has no bearing on the team’s season. Buffalo has already constructed its best record of the century and has secured a playoff berth, a win in the final game of the season would do nothing but send the boisterous New Era Field crowd home happy.

Giving key players such as Josh Allen, Tremaine Edmunds, and Tre’Davious White a week of rest and more time to prepare for the Bills’ postseason opponent would likely prove more beneficial than sending them out against the struggling Jets.

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PODCAST: Bills made the playoffs and we’re happy about it

Kyle Silagyi is joined by Justin DiLoro, Rich Kowalski, and McKenna Middlebrook to discuss the Buffalo Bills’ playoff-clinching victory.

The Buffalo Bills are making a habit out of qualifying for the postseason.

The team clinched a playoff berth with its Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, improving to 10-4 on the 2019 season.

It’s the second time that the Bills have qualified for the playoffs in the last three years, a much-welcomed change from the team’s stretch of mediocrity that has consumed much of the 21st century.

Led by a talented young quarterback and a stout defense, it looks as though Buffalo could make some noise in the postseason. On this episode of The Kyle Silagyi Variety Hour, host Kyle Silagyi is joined by BillsWire staff writers Rich Kowalski, Justin DiLoro, and McKenna Middlebrook to discuss the Bills’ playoff-clinching win.

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