Another heroic effort from Josh Allen put the Buffalo Bills within two yards of walking away from their Week 17 contest with a win. Unfortunately, Allen missed Khalil Shakir in the back of the endzone while rolling to his left, and the Bills suffered a 1-point loss instead.
Offensive coordinator Joe Brady called down the two-point play, and it was open. Still, the decision to go for two in the moment, understandably, has come under question. Naturally, if Allen connects with Shakir, it’s a brilliant call instead of a questionable one.
Nonetheless, it’s a call the Bills have to sit with and answer for in the aftermath.
Buffalo Bills players and coaches react to failed go-ahead two-point try
After the game, head coach Sean McDermott said the decision to go for two was an aggressive one, but one he felt confident in.
“Wanted to be aggressive, going for the win,” McDermott said. “You know, we feel like there was a certain amount of time left at that point and felt like we had a great call, great opportunity to go win it. I’m going to be aggressive, so, I’m not going to sit back.”
McDermott admitted the blocked extra point earlier in the fourth quarter ‘potentially’ played a factor in the call, but said it wasn’t “everything,” adding, “I trust Josh Allen with the ball in his hands and I’d do it over again.”
Allen took the blame for the failed two-point conversion.
“I just missed,” Allen said. “Rolling left, gotta get him a better ball.”
Allen also credited the Eagles’ defense for putting Buffalo in such a difficult position.
“Well, they got a good front, they’ve got a good defense. That’s the defending Super Bowl champs for a reason. They had a good plan. They get paid on that side of the football, too,” Allen said. “So, again, it just comes down to us executing and making one more play than they did. Obviously, we saw that we didn’t make that last play. I didn’t make that last play.”
Unsurprisingly, Shakir also shouldered the blame for the sour end to the game.
“Obviously, it’s a play we’ve been working, and it wasn’t there,” Shakir said. “Feel like me personally, feel like I could have come out of my break a little earlier and help 17 out and just make myself more available.”
Right tackle Spencer Brown also defended the call, preferring to avoid overtime, instead trusting Allen to come through once again.
“I think that’s just belief in 17 and him to make a play for us,” he said. “We have all the belief in the world in him. That’s exactly what I wanted to do.”
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Certainly, the Bills gave themselves a shot in the late stages of the game, and while the decision to go for two is one fans and analysts can question for the next week, it’s not as though Shakir wasn’t open in the endzone. The play had a shot, but just fell short.
Ultimately, the Bills’ inefficiencies early were a larger problem to hone in on as the postseason draws near. After all, if the Bills didn’t start so slowly on offense, they would have been better positioned to be able to capitalize on the defense’s dominant second-half performance.