The Buffalo Bills headed West in NFL Week 14 to kick off a two-game road trip, and the first stop was in sunny Los Angeles, CA to take on the Rams at SoFi Stadium.
Buffalo had been on a winning streak since dropping two losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans earlier this season. However, their third loss of the year came on Sunday in Inglewood, 42-44.
Allen, who is in the midst of an MVP-worthy campaign, had another big day with the Buffalo offense as he went 22/37 with 342 passing yards and 82 rushing yards to go with 6 total TDs while becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to throw and rush for three touchdowns in the air and three on the ground.
The Bills defense, however, gave up 44 points.
And while Allen dazzled in the second half to give Buffalo a shot, the defense simply could not get enough stops or limit the Rams offensive scoring enough to make the game winnable.
Even still, his focus after the game was on his responsibility as the offensive leader.
“Hate losing,” Allen said. “If you lose by two or lose by 100, it doesn’t matter, you are still losing. Offensively, we have to find ways to score before and after the half. We didn’t do our part.”
The two teams exchanged blows on offense for four quarters, with Allen and company fighting to keep Buffalo in the game and coming back to bring the score within two points in the final minutes before the Rams recovered a failed onsides kick to run the clock out.
“I have to make one more play than they do. It was a total team loss in three phases. We didn’t play up to our standards,” Allen noted.
“I don’t know how well we did on third down or completion percentage, I don’t know any of that. I just know it wasn’t good enough to win a football game. I just got to find more completions, got to be better for our guys.”
Nonetheless, the QB’s performance was nothing short of historical.
“Incredible,” said Bills head coach Sean McDermott to the media. “Incredible. We’ve got to do a better job around him. If you look at the game, it’s line of scrimmage and being able to run the ball with our running backs. It’s line of scrimmage on defense, it’s special teams giving up big plays.”
In a clash of the league’s top clubs, each with Super Bowl aspirations this season, the Bills will next face one of their biggest tests yet in the Detroit Lions.
“Sometimes this can be as hard as it is, a good reminder of what you need to do every week in this league and how we have to adjust as a football team,” McDermott added. “Next week is a challenging game as well – they’re all challenging – against a really good football team on the road so we have our work cut out for us this week.”