The Buffalo Bills had the New England Patriots right where they wanted them in the first half. Sure, the Bills trailed 24-7 at halftime, leaving everyone in Western New York in a state of distress, but Josh Allen was ready to do his thing once again.
Allen orchestrated another comeback, good to set another opponent stadium record for the second time in three weeks, rallying the Bills to a win that staves off the Patriots’ first AFC East title since 2019 for now.
The comeback wasn’t too dissimilar from the past two weeks, with dramatic turnarounds quickly out of the locker room. After the game, head coach Sean McDermott credited his quarterback for leading the charge in the second half.
“I saw Josh as I was kind of bringing everybody up, and he looked at me, and I just knew he was seeing it like I was. And then the entire team was on the same vibe,” McDermott said.
Josh Allen reflects on the confidence fueling Buffalo Bills' second-half surges
Allen, who threw three touchdowns, two to Dawson Knox and another to James Cook in the first half, had to put the cape on again for Buffalo, leading the comeback bid. It’s becoming familiar territory for Buffalo, which is as scary as it is exciting.
Allen credited the defense for their role in the quick turnaround this week and the past two, but cautioned the volatility of winning in this manner regularly.
“Score-stop-score,” Allen said. “I think we’ve been pretty dang good at that over the course of the season. Now, obviously, we want to start faster, and we don’t want to continue to put ourselves in these holes that we’re finding ourselves in, but being able to dig ourselves out and be battle-tested coming down the stretch here… But, yeah, would love to find ways earlier on in the game to get things going so we don’t have to put ourselves in that situation.”
The Bills’ win over New England only prolonged the Patriots’ likely 2025 AFC East crown. Buffalo still holds a slim chance to take the division, but it would require New England to melt down almost completely down the stretch.
Allen, who admitted there was motivation to keep New England from taking the title outright this week, is keeping the broader scope of the win in perspective.
“Honestly, we’re not in first place right now, so I can’t say that we’re the standard bearer (of the AFC East). Obviously, the last five-ish years, you know, we’ve found sustained success but, never been able to punch our ticket to the Super Bowl,and at the end of the goal, that’s every team’s dream,” Allen said. “Our goal is not just to win AFC Easts, you gotta get into the playoffs to give yourself a chance to win a Super Bowl, so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
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A ‘slow’ start to the season, with the early loss to New England, haunts Buffalo in the division standings, but, to Allen’s point, everything is still in front of the Bills.
With another 10-win season in the books, Buffalo is set to clinch their spot in the postseason tournament in the coming weeks. And as Allen and the Bills have shown this season, and especially in the past three games, it’s not how you start - it’s how you finish.