Joe Brady came away from the Bills’ win over the Rams with one clear takeaway: Buffalo survived a clock-management mistake and lived to tell about it.
Brady admitted the Bills probably should have handled the end of regulation differently before lining up for the game-winning field goal. The issue was simple enough - if the kick had been missed, the Rams would have had too much time left to work with.
“#Bills HC Joe Brady confirmed they probably should’ve taken two knees before attempting the game-winning FG last night to drain more time in case they missed and the #Rams got the ball back. Brady says a 45-yard FG and 47-yard FG isn't a big difference in that situation.”
Brady said he’d make a different choice if the same moment came up again.
“If I had that opportunity again …” Brady said. “Look, I was convicted about it.
The best thing would be, is to take two knees. Be a completely different story if the ball was a little further back.
They’d have 45 seconds and not two minutes (if the Bills had missed).”
Buffalo ended up getting bailed out anyway. The Rams had a chance to win it with a field goal, but Harrison Mevis was blocked, giving the Bills another opening. Josh Allen called that the kind of break football can throw your way.
“That’s the beautiful thing about football: You get another drive,” Allen said. “All you can do is keep moving forward.
You’re hoping someone on defense or special teams can make a play, and that’s what happened. Greg Rousseau made a play.”
Brady pointed to the finish as a reflection of his team’s makeup.
“That overtime kind of showed the type of character of who our team is,” Brady said. “You don’t want to fumble.
That can’t happen. But we just keep playing.”
The Bills also leaned hard on the run game to wear down the Rams. James Cook piled up 111 rushing yards, while Allen added 121 of his own.
With a couple of carries from Ray Davis, Buffalo finished with 37 rushing attempts for 234 yards. Cook scored twice on the ground, and Allen added a rushing touchdown of his own.
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