As the Buffalo Bills entered halftime, down 24-3 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it felt as though western New York was in-store for another blowout loss. Something similar to the Indianapolis Colts game a few weeks prior.
Then… things changed.
The MVP candidate in Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen we heard so much about heading into the season emerged from the locker room in the second half/ He threw the Bills on his back.
The Bills (7-6) scored 24-points in the second half and sent the game to overtime.
Despite the heroic comeback, the Buffalo ultimately dropped the game 33-27, thanks in part to some rather questionable calls from the officials.
Even in the loss, Allen’s teammates couldn’t say enough about their franchise quarterback.
“He’s a baller,” Bill safety, Jordan Poyer, said via video conference after the game. “I’d go to war with Josh any day of the week.”
“That’s our General for sure,” Bills running back Devin Singletary added. “He’s a dog. No matter what, he’s always gonna give it his all and that’s what he showed.”
With a little less than 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Allen injured his left foot/ankle. He stayed in the game, which only added to the impression he left on his teammates.
“Josh is one of the toughest competitors, one of the most resilient football players and people I’ve ever been around,” Bills center Mitch Morse said. “Never seen him point a finger, except at himself. A guy you can rally around. A guy who is in pain. You saw the pain he was in… was still asking for QB runs. Still asking to put it on his back. When you have a guy like that step into a huddle, you know, you’re so prideful to have a quarterback like that, you want to do everything in your power to help him lead our team down the field… Josh Allen is a competitor. If anyone questioned that after today, they weren’t watching the same game we were.”
Bills tight end Dawson Knox, who caught a touchdown and also had a big reception that moved the Bills into field position to ultimately send the game to OT, added to the Allen praise.
“He’s a warrior and everybody sees that and you know, when the team rallies around a guy like that, it’s gonna be hard to beat,” Knox told the media. “The way he puts the team on the back, dealing with whatever injury he’s got right now… we’ve seen it time after time from him, so no ones really surprised, but there’s no other guy I’d rather lead us into a game.”
Bills head coach Sean McDermott, who was critical of his team following their Monday night loss to the Patriots, was impressed with what he saw out of his team’s ability to be resilient on Sunday, led by the QB.
“He’s a warrior and he played his butt off,” McDermott said. “That’s why the guys love him. That’s why he’s our quarterback.”
McDermott wasn’t done.
“Ya, incredible, I mean, look, I know we came up short, right? Incredible, incredible amount of heart and guts that they showed, this team, Josh included, right? But all of them, all of them.”
Allen himself, wrote off the injury saying, “it’s pretty sore, but that’s football.”
He was then asked what went into the decision to keep him in the game and did he say anything specific when it came down to that decision.
“Yeah, there’s no way I was going out,” Allen said.
As Allen often does, he took the positive attention off of his own performance and put it back on his teammates.
“I know the score is what the score was, but I’m damn proud of our team and how we fought in the second half,” Allen said. “That’s who we are. That’s the team I’ve known to love and to know really. Guys that are just resilient. Guys that just want to fight for each other. Again, it is what it is, the score is what it was, but to come out and play that way, I’m proud of our team, of how we did it. Obviously we wish the end result was different, I’m super, super proud of our guys.”
While as Morse said, there is no questioning the level of toughness in Allen, the Bills now find themselves in a difficult spot when it comes to making the playoffs.
At 7-6, the Bills are currently in the seventh seed in the AFC and hold the final playoff spot. Their current odds are listed at 65% when it comes to the likelihood at that they will be in the postseason.
With only four games remaining, the Bills are going to have to pray that Allen’s injury isn’t serious and that they can start stringing together some wins down the stretch, or performances like this… will all be for not.
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