Buffalo Bills

Josh Allen, Bills in danger of missing playoffs after loss to Bucs

Updated Dec. 13, 2021 7:49 p.m. ET

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Before the season started, Week 14's matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers could have been viewed as a potential Super Bowl preview.

On one side, you had Tom Brady and the reigning Super Bowl champions. On the other? Josh Allen and the AFC runners-up.

But while Sunday's 33-27 overtime thriller had all the makings of a classic, it has become a bit more difficult to envision these teams forging a rematch in Super Bowl LVI now than it was in the preseason.

The 10-3 Bucs are holding up their end of the bargain, but the Bills –– now at 7-6 and clinging to the seventh and final AFC playoff spot –– haven't looked the part of late.

Take Sunday, for example.

Sure, taking Brady and the Bucs to overtime is nothing to sneeze at, but Buffalo had to mount a monster comeback just to get to that point. They were down 21 points at halftime before Allen turned in an all-time performance to force the extra period.

Allen attempted a career-high 54 passes, completing 66.7% of them for 308 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He ran for 109 yards and a touchdown, becoming the fourth player in league history to throw for 300-plus yards and rush for 100-plus yards in the same game.

By the time OT came around, the Bills won the toss but went three-and-out on their initial possession, opening the door for Brady to hit Breshad Perriman for a walk-off touchdown. 

To make matters worse, Allen was spotted with a walking boot on his left foot when he did his postgame news conference.

"I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal," he said, via the AP. "It’s pretty sore. It’s football."

As the Bills await further news on that front, that wasn't the only noteworthy topic to come from the postgame media sessions. Despite the loss, Allen said he was "damn proud of our team." 

Meanwhile, head coach Sean McDermott praised his squad's resilience.

"Incredible, incredible amount of heart and guts that they showed — this team, Josh included, but all of them. All of them," he said, via the team's website. "Again, we came up short, they made one more play than we did, but I love how the team fought."

However, to Chris Broussard of "First Things First," that kind of reaction was embarrassing.

"This isn't about character development and participation trophies!" Broussard said Monday. "You are a team that was expected to make the Super Bowl, and you're 7-6? And you're excited about coming close? They didn't show up against the defending Super Bowl champions in a game they had to have. … This is ridiculous!"

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It isn't just coming up short against the Buccaneers that has folks doubting Buffalo. 

As Nick Wright pointed out, losing close games has been a theme for the Bills all season.

"You now, five times this year, [they] have had one-score games, and five times this year, [they] have lost them," Wright said Monday. "Four in a row, by the way, ball in Josh Allen's hands [with a] chance to deliver a victory, and he either literally or figuratively falls flat on his face. ... They should feel like a mediocre football team."

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As far as solutions go, Colin Cowherd of "The Herd" said the Bills need to find a running game.

"You don't have to be great running the football. You really don't," Cowherd said Monday. "But you've got to keep people guessing. ... There's their kryptonite. They can't run the ball. Everybody should take that game plan that Tampa used — which was just disrespectful — and use it from this point forward."

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To Cowherd's point, Allen has accounted for 33.8% of Buffalo's rushing yards this season, second only to Lamar Jackson's 40.7% for the Baltimore Ravens.

In fact, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (33.4%) is the only other QB to account for more than 25% of his team's total rushing yards this season.

The good news for the Bills is they still control their playoff fate. However, with a whopping five teams in the AFC sitting at 7-6 — the threshold for the sixth and seventh playoff spots as of Monday — the margin for error is razor-thin.

For now, the Bills are in the seventh spot by virtue of holding a four-way tiebreaker over the Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos.

Considering where expectations were set coming into the season, this isn't where most would have expected to find the Bills after Week 14.

With four more weeks to play, time is running out for Buffalo to restate its title-winning credentials. 

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.

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