“This is perfect. This is what we needed. Let’s see how we respond,” Buffalo Bills’ head coach Joe Brady told the team at halftime after they tied the score 10-10 in the Week 3 game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Buffalo went on to beat Los Angeles 24-16 at Highmark Stadium, but it did not take its first lead until the fourth quarter. The win kept the Bills unbeaten at 3-0 and dropped the Chargers to 0-3. But let’s face it, how the Bills got there was not a pretty sight.
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“Thank the Lord, thank our defense,” Allen told FOX Sports’ Erin Andrews during the on-field interview after she asked him to weigh in on the said response. “Five turnovers. We don’t deserve to win that one.”
The trouble started on Buffalo’s first offensive play, when James Cook lost a fumble. Chargers rookie safety Genesis Smith then intercepted Allen twice before halftime. Those three turnovers helped Los Angeles build a 10-0 lead, though the Bills recovered to tie the game by the break.
The mistakes continued after halftime. Dalton Kincaid lost a fumble in the third quarter, and Khalil Mack stripped Allen on a fourth-quarter sack. That left Buffalo with three lost fumbles and two interceptions. Allen was responsible for three of the five turnovers, but the Chargers scored no points off the final three.
Allen’s passing numbers reflected those struggles. He completed 16 of 26 attempts for 204 yards, with no passing touchdowns and two interceptions. He was sacked four times and lost a fumble, though he scored twice on the ground.
He posted a 48.9 QBR, down from the 91.5 he recorded in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions.
“Our job is to score one more point than they did, and we scored a few more,” Allen continued. “But our defense played lights out. We put our defense in some bad situations tonight. We won. That’s all that matters.”
It’s the same story that happened during the divisional round last season. Following a 33-30 defeat against the Denver Broncos, Allen noted that the Bills “can’t expect to win with five turnovers.” He fumbled thrice (with 2 lost) and was picked twice in that game.
The Chargers were often able to put pressure on Allen with the pocket collapsing within just three seconds.
During one play, a Chargers defensive lineman batted Allen’s pass at the line of scrimmage, but Allen caught the ball himself. Buffalo punted on the drive, and Genesis Smith intercepted him on each of the Bills’ next two possessions.
The first pick led to Cameron Dicker’s 31-yard field goal, giving Los Angeles a 10-0 lead. Earlier, James Cook’s fumble on Buffalo’s opening play had set up Justin Herbert’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Keaton Mitchell.
Smith’s second interception gave the Chargers another chance to extend the lead, but Dicker missed a 45-yard field goal. Tyler Bass got Buffalo on the board with a 28-yard field goal in the second quarter. On the Bills’ final drive of the half, Allen found Keon Coleman for 37 yards to the Chargers’ 1-yard line, then ran it in himself. The touchdown came with 16 seconds left and tied the game at 10-10.
LA couldn’t score on drives after the last three turnovers, or Buffalo might have had to exit this game 2-1.
“I thought they did a good job with their pressure plan, showing a lot of different looks,” Allen said after the game. “They had a good plan, and it’s something we’ve got to learn from. Teams are going to see this and try to implement the same thing. But we still feel like we shot ourselves in the foot a lot tonight.”
Joe Brady had a similar opinion. However, instead of putting the offense on the line, he took the blame upon himself.
“You turn the ball over five times in a game, you’re not going to win many games,” Brady said after the game. “That’s unacceptable. That’s purely a reflection of me.
“Just because we get up with the ball doesn’t mean it was right. It showed its head today. That’s going to get you beat. We can’t just gloss over this because we won the football game like, ‘We won, let’s keep moving.’ No, that’s going to get you beat. Right, wrong, or indifferent, we’ve got to make better decisions. I have to call a better game.
“There’s going to be a lot for us to clean up, but finding a way to go 1-0 at the end of the day is everything, and I’m so proud of those guys.”
For now, the Buffalo Bills will have to take stock of how and why they went wrong in this game. Their next matchup is with the New England Patriots on October 4.