Poor Decisions Wasted A Historic Josh Allen Performance
Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
The Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Rams played in arguably one of the best games of the year, and it was one in which the Bills came up short. The Rams’ offense was just too much to stop, and Sean McVay’s squad ultimately prevailed in a 44-42 shootout. The game was the highest-scoring game in the NFL this season, barely edging out last week’s 44-38 tilt between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.
What are our top takeaways from today’s high-scoring affair?
Poor Decisions Wasted An All-Time Josh Allen Performance
Sean McDermott’s decision-making in crunch time has come under fire more times than one. Who could forget his blunder against the Houston Texans in Week 5? In a tie game and with the Bills pinned at their own 3-yard line with 32 seconds left, McDermott called three consecutive passing plays. Houston had zero timeouts remaining, meaning any play on the ground would force overtime. Instead, the Bills were forced to punt, and Houston secured the winning field goal despite having seven seconds of clock to work with.
Once again, poor situational decision-making cost the Bills a chance at victory. This time, instead of ignoring the opponents’ timeouts, he burned one of his own at an awful moment.
I am sitting here in utter disbelief just shocked beyond words that Sean McDermott would use that time out instead of hurrying up and running the same play.
A NFL coach just cannot do that.
— Patrick Moran (Talking Buffalo) (@PatrickMoranTB) December 9, 2024
Josh Allen failed a QB sneak with 1:06 left on 1st & goal from the one-yard line. At 1:02, McDermott used the first of his three timeouts. Allen got his third rushing score of the day on the next play, but that timeout proved crucial when the Bills didn’t recover the ensuing onside kick.
Instead of having three timeouts and a handful fewer seconds to work with, Buffalo’s defense had to force a three-and-out with LA able to run 40 seconds off on third down. By the time the Rams hit fourth down, seven seconds remained, and punter Ethan Evans had just one job: Send a punt to Mars. The ensuing touchback took enough off the clock that the Bills didn’t get to run another play.
That meant that Allen — who between his arm and legs combined for 424 yards and six touchdowns en route to becoming the first QB to ever log three passing and rushing TDs in a single game — was taken completely out of the game with an ill-fated timeout. Fans were robbed of seeing Allen get that one last chance for heroics, all thanks to a brutal lack of game sense from McDermott, and that’s unacceptable.
Josh Allen Is Still Firmly In the MVP Race
At some point, you probably resigned yourself to the Bills getting spanked. Maybe it was midway through the third quarter, when the Rams enjoyed a 31-14 lead. Or maybe it was at the end of the third, after the Rams responded to a Bills TD by marching 70 yards down the field in under four minutes to go up 38-21.
And if you did that, national observers probably did, too, chalking the game up as an embarrassing loss. Maybe even embarrassing enough to give Saquon Barkley or another MVP challenger some daylight to dethrone Allen’s place in pole position.
Then Allen went Sicko Mode.
The #Bills lost, but Josh Allen just showed why he is the most valuable player in the #NFL .
Buffalo finished with 42 points while Allen accounted for 95.2% of their yards and 85.7% of their points, and Buffalo loses.
The #Bills are still dangerous because they have JA17.
— Hänsel (@UberHansen) December 9, 2024
Forget stats and fantasy numbers — Allen’s command of the game was about more than that. The Bills’ offense performed at an absurdly high level in the second half, scoring touchdowns on their final four drives, and it was all thanks to Allen. He distributed the ball evenly, with six receivers getting multiple catches. Meanwhile, Khalil Shakir (106 yards and a TD), Amari Cooper (95 yards), and Mack Hollins (57 yards and a TD) were all big contributors. Even Ty Johnson got in on the fun.
Good things happen when former Terp Ty Johnson gets his hands on the ball. He takes this one 41-yards for a TD 🐢📈 pic.twitter.com/dIc9FgM3au
— Terps Recruiting (@TerpRecruiting) December 8, 2024
On a day when Buffalo frequently being down by multiple scores kept James Cook out of action, Allen made sure being forced into a one-dimensional offense didn’t make the Bills any easier to defend. Allen was able to take the game into his own hands and lead the offense in a monumental comeback effort that was literally one for the ages.
So it came up just a bit short. Who cares? In a game where LA had a 96.2% chance of winning at the end of the third quarter, Allen single-handedly took it down to the wire. Win or loss, that’s an MVP, right there.
The Defense Had Zero Answers
It’s impossible to not love a shootout. Touchdowns are plentiful. Stats are accumulated in bulk. Momentum constantly changes from one team to another. Of the thirteen scoring drives in today’s game, only one of them resulted in a field goal. There’s a phrase for that: great football.
However, lost in the hoopla of these high-scoring games are the two defenses left scratching their heads, wondering how things ever came to this. The Bills’ defense, in particular, had a performance to forget.
Entering today, teams with at least six touchdowns and zero giveaways in a game were 245-0 in the Super Bowl era (including playoffs)
The Bills are the first to do so in a loss
— Dante Koplowitz-Fleming (@DanteKopFlem) December 9, 2024
Coming into today’s game, Buffalo had the sixth-worst run defense in the NFL, per PFF (54.9 run defense grade). They had given up the third-most yards per carry in the league (4.9) and allowed the longest rushing touchdown of the year. Before the aerial attack took over the game for both teams, the Rams got a very solid performance from Kyren Williams.
Kyren Williams today:
29 Carries
87 Yards
2 TouchdownsSurpasses 1,000 rushing yards in back-to-back seasons. pic.twitter.com/2e3Uaf5sXi
— StatMuse Football (@statmusefb) December 9, 2024
Though he only averaged three yards per carry, Williams scored two touchdowns. Unfortunately, Williams was far from being the biggest contributor for the Rams today.
This might be the best catch I’ve ever seen Puka Nacua make 🤯 pic.twitter.com/acX8pk5lHK
— Cougs in the Pros 🤙🏼 (@BYUpros) December 8, 2024
Puka Nacua eviscerated the Bills defense for 12 receptions, 162 receiving yards, and two all-purpose touchdowns. His score late in the fourth quarter helped put the game on ice for the Rams and a bow on his season-best performance.
Look, Matthew Stafford is a future Hall of Famer, Cooper Kupp has an OPOY Award and a Receiver Triple Crown under his belt, and Nacua was the Sporting News’ Rookie of the Year last season. Sometimes guys like that go off and beat you. It’s the NFL. It happens.
Still, Buffalo’s defense was simply outmatched with the Rams clicking on all cylinders. The Bills did not record a single sack, interception, or forced fumble. With the scorching-hot Detroit Lions — and all the high-end offensive players they boast — on the docket in Week 15, Bobby Babich must figure out how to get his defense to rebound so they can contain the NFL’s highest-scoring offense.
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