Josh Allen didn’t hide from the moment after the Bills’ first loss of the run on Sunday. When Buffalo came up short against New England, the quarterback put the spotlight squarely on himself instead of looking elsewhere.
That fits the way Allen has handled these situations for years. He’s not the type to shift blame, and he wasn’t about to start after a game that slipped away late.
Buffalo still had a path after the Patriots grabbed the lead inside the final two minutes. With three timeouts remaining, the Bills needed only a field goal to force a tie or a touchdown to go back ahead.
But Allen tried to force a play under pressure, and it backfired when he threw an interception into triple coverage. New England closed it out with a 29-26 win.
Allen was candid afterward and admitted he had another option on the play.
"Should throw that one out of bounds. Live to fight another day," Allen said, as reported by Spectrum News reporter Andy Young.
It was a painful finish for Buffalo, especially after the Bills had taken control earlier in the fourth quarter. Allen connected with Keon Coleman for a go-ahead touchdown, though Buffalo couldn’t convert the two-point try, leaving it 26-21.
New England answered with a 73-yard touchdown drive, and that set up the closing stretch that ended Buffalo’s unbeaten run. Allen finished with both a rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown, but the late interception overshadowed all of it. It was his third interception over the last two games.
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Bill Vinovichs crew was in the middle of it all, and the scrutiny did not come out of nowhere. His officiating team has already drawn attention for controversial calls earlier this season, which only made the latest round of criticism land harder in Buffalo. For Bills fans, the frustrating part is not just what happened in the game, but the sense that the conversation afterward is once again about the officials instead of the plays that decided it. [Read more 🡒]
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Bills First Loss Leaves Buffalo With One Brutal Question
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For Buffalo, the frustration is less about one bad break than the familiar ache of missed chances in a game that was there to be claimed. The offense did enough to keep pressure on New England, Coleman continued to look like a growing part of the passing game, and Allen found a way to make history with his legs, but the final drive exposed the margin for error in a tight AFC race and left the Bills with a simple, brutal question about how they finish games from here. [Read more 🡒]