Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Despite a late push from the offense to win the game, a failed two-point conversion with five seconds left in the game cost the Buffalo Bills in a 13-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Highmark Stadium.
Not only did the loss drop Buffalo to 11-5 and to the seventh seed in the AFC standings with one game remaining in the regular season, it cost the Bills the division, officially clinching the AFC East for the New England Patriots.
Sunday was a rough outing for the Buffalo offense, as the unit was held scoreless right up until the last two drives of the game.
Despite that, the Bills managed to score a pair of touchdowns while facing a 13-0 deficit, but a blocked extra point on the first score put Buffalo in a position to go for a two-point conversion to win the game, rather than try another extra point to tie the contest with five seconds to go.
Despite Khalil Shakir finding some open space in the back of the end zone, a throw from quarterback Josh Allen was off the mark and fell incomplete.
"I just missed rolling left. Gotta give him a better ball," said Allen following Sunday's loss. "It was there, and I gotta make it."
This is the first time in five years the Bills will not win the AFC East, thus hosting a home playoff game to open the AFC Playoffs.
"That sucks, not giving ourselves a chance," Allen acknowledged. "We're still in the playoffs, and that's the main thing."
Related
As for McDermott, he says it was about being aggressive and not sitting back when deciding to go for the two-point conversion and the win at the end of the contest.
"We feel like there's only a certain amount of time left at that point, and felt like we had a great, great opportunity to go win it," said McDermott following Sunday's loss in Orchard Park.
Allen has taken a significant amount of hits this season, especially compared to last year when we won honors as NFL MVP. McDermott admits he is concerned with the amount of hits his quarterback is taking, especially since the Bills are likely going to see similar types of defenses in the postseason.
"You're going to see it again in the playoffs. It's usually teams that are built up front that are in the playoffs, and they have long success in the playoffs," McDermott said. "That's a part of us, making sure we're sharing that piece of what we do. It's never one position group, it's never one player. It's a deal where we've got to continue to grow as an offense. I'm confident in Joe [Brady] and the offensive staff."
McDermott also remarked on his team losing out on the AFC East for the first time since the 2019 season.
"It is important that we win the division. It's something we've taken a lot of pride in. That's obviously not in our control anymore," he said. "We've got to focus on, as I said before, here's where we're at, what are we going to do to shore things up? What are we going to do to learn from this game?"