Tag: mcdermott

Josh Allen will use Bills’ playoff loss to ‘fuel’ him

Allen says the loss to the Texans will only make the Bills hungrier.

Following the Bills 22-19 playoff loss to the Houston Texans quarterback Josh Allen faced the media after a game that simply got away.

“It’s a game we should’ve won, could’ve won,” Allen said. “It sucks. This is a team that fought the entire game. I appreciate how the guys battled today… it’s going to be a long offseason, but we’ll learn from it.”

After coming out firing on offense, in a drive that concluded with Josh Allen catching a touchdown pass from wide receiver John Brown, the Bills offense was held out of the endzone for the remainder of the game.

Thanks to a perfect performance from kicker Stephen Hauschka, the Bills took a 16-0 lead into halftime, but the defense was unable to shutdown the likes of Houston quarterback Deshaun Watston in the second half.

Allen said repeatedly after the game that the offense not converting it’s opportunities was on his shoulders.

“It’s a bitter taste taste… we have to find a way to get six instead of three when we get down there and that’s on me.”

While the Bills season ends in Houston, there is a lot that can be learned from a tough playoff loss like this one and applied to the future.

“I am going to take this into the offseason… let it fuel me and take it from there,” Allen said. “This will hurt and sting for a while, but we’ll move on.”

Part of the Bills success this season has been attributed to the culture head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane are building in Buffalo. That closeness is something Allen feels will help propel them forward.

“I love my teammates, I love the energy they brought today and how they battled… it’s gonna make us hungrier, it sucks that we lost today, but life goes on… I expect this to make us hungrier and come out next year ready to go.”

While it is perfectly normal to feel disappointed in a game that as Allen put it, the Bills could have won, it is also OK to feel optimistic about this team’s future.

With strong leadership in McDermott, close to $90 million in salary cap space for Brandon Beane and several young building blocks in Allen, Tre’Davious White and Tremaine Edmunds (just to name a few,) unlike the last time the Bills made the playoffs, the growth should continue right on into next season. No rebuild, or teardown needed.

While today is undoubtedly painful for Bills fans, it is another step in the process and if Josh Allen and his teammates do indeed use it as fuel, we might all look back on this game one day and point to it as a large part of what ultimately pushed this franchise over the edge.

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Duke Williams aims to show he belongs in the playoffs

Williams hopes his game vs. the Jets is enough to make him active in the Wild Card round.

During the Bills’ 13-6 defeat at the hands of the New York Jets, several backups had a chance to showcase their abilities in hopes of seeing the field during next week’s Wild Card game against the Texans. .

Perhaps the player with the most to gain, was wide receiver and fan favorite, D’haquille “Duke” Williams.

After being called up from the practice squad earlier this season, Williams has been inactive since the Bills week 8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

“I was just ready to play. I’ve been sitting out a long, long time,” Williams told the media after today’s game. “There’s only so long you can keep a dog on a leash… and once they let me off, they told me they was gonna let me out this week, all I could think about was go get it, attack, play dirty in the run game, play dirty in the pass game, catch everything that come to you and that’s what I did today.”

After hauling in six catches for 108 yards, Williams knows that a good game today could be the difference between seeing the field next week vs. the Texans and being on the inactive list.

“Today was my playoff game,” Williams said. “I tried to show these coaches that I’m available for them if they need me come playoff time. You know, I went to sleep with it on my mind last night, like if you grind hard enough and show these coaches that you want to be playing next weekend, it’s suppose to happen today and it did and I played good. Like I said, I left a few plays on the field that’s still in the back of my head right now, but hopefully I showed these coaches enough that they’ll have me up for Houston.”

During his postgame press conference, Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott said he was impressed by Williams.

“He’s a tough football player,” McDermott said. “He’s popular with the fans… love the juice and the toughness, he brought us some energy.”

While Quarterback Josh Allen played limited reps during today’s game, he added that Williams is a, “big bodied possession guy” and that, “the way he plays the game is infectious.”

It remains to be seen whether Williams has done enough to crack the lineup next week for the Bills playoff game, but in his rookie season in the NFL, after coming over from the Canadian Football League, Williams can at least cherish the fact that he even has the opportunity to do so.

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Despite loss to Patriots, Bills remain confident

Despite a familiar result, the Bills feel ready for what lies ahead.

Another game vs. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots and yet another loss.

Despite a familiar result, the reaction in the Bills locker room following the game felt different. Even after a loss that knocked Buffalo out of contention for the AFC East title, the team appeared composed and ready to embrace what lies ahead.

“If you look at the type of teams we’ve played the last three weeks, they’re all playoff-type teams,” Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen said. “Getting that experience against these defenses, teams we might be able to see again, it’s all valuable experience because playing games in December that means something; not many people are doing that right now and we’re one of those teams. So it feels good to be in the situation that we’re in and the position that we’re in.”

While many on the Bills made it clear that simply competing vs. good teams is no longer good enough and that there are no moral victories, Bills Head Coach, Sean McDermott echoed similar sentiments to Allen after the game.

Yeah, I mean listen, we’re here to win – number one,” McDermott said. “Having said that, we’ve gone on the road and played in tough environments before. We’ve played four quality opponents, the last four weeks, in big games. And our players have put it on the line and that’s all I can ask.”

Dion Dawkins, who had a huge touchdown reception to tie the game going into the half, was clear that as cool of a moment as it was, he’d trade it all if it meant a victory. No surprise from a team that has learned to put the we, before the me.

“I’m thankful for that score, but I would trade that score for a win every day,” Dawkins said. “The touchdown was called in the playbook. Like I said I would rather have the win than the touchdown.”

Dawkins also said that regardless of the opponent, the Bills just want to continue to win football games. They know the goal is now to do something beyond merely qualifying for the playoffs.

“Whether it was the Patriots, or the Jets… We have our foot on the gas and we’re not taking it off. We just want to get a win every week and we like winning,” Dawkins.

The Bills are now locked into the 5th seed and will wait to see whether they travel to Houston, or Kansas City for the Wild Card round.

According to the NY Times, the Bills are more likely to head to Houston, which appears to be the preferred destination among the Bills Mafia. In large part because as good as Deshaun Watson has been… he’s still not Patrick Mahomes.

While the Bills can’t play the Patriots during the Wild Card round, there is a chance they could see them again in either the Divisional round, or AFC Championship game, should they advance that far.

Buffalo offensive lineman Jon Feliciano took to social media and said the Bills will be ready if there’s a Round 3:

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Following Ravens loss, Bills feel they are not far off

Bills feel they are close to beating the NFL’s best.

Following their 24-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said that he was, “disappointed” and added that, “there are no moral victories.”

While that may be the case, many people gave the Bills little to no chance entering today’s game and despite suffering the loss, they were able to keep it close in large part to another special showing by their defense.

As McDermott stated, moral victories do not exist in professional sports, but it is hard to walk away from this one feeling to down on the Bills. Buffalo was able to keep it close against the hottest team in the league and make an NFL MVP candidate in Lamar Jackson, look pedestrian for most of the afternoon.

So just how far off are the Bills from going from keeping it close, to actually beating the upper echelon of the NFL? Several players on the Bills feel they are right there.

“The gap isn’t big,” Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander told reporters following the game.”You look at today as probably three plays in the game, where this game shifts big time… it’s not like it’s this big reach we’re looking for. We’re right there. I think the thing is just to learn from this. Obviously being in these big type of games, the margin of error is a lot smaller.”

Alexander isn’t the only one who feels like the Bills are close to figuring things out vs. the better teams.

“I think this loss and the Patriots loss rank in the same category, as far as two prestigious teams you’re playing right there with them and ultimately just coming up short,” Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver said. “That’s what really pisses you off. You know, you go to work every day. You go to work with your guys and we know how good we can be, we just have to finish.”

At 9-4, the Bills don’t have much time to dwell on this loss, as their next test will be facing off vs. the 8-5 Steelers, in Pittsburgh, on Sunday Night Football in front of the entire country.

With a win vs. the Steelers next week, the Bills would clinch a playoff spot and perhaps show they can not only hang with good teams, but beat them as well.

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