The loss against the LA Rams hurt the Bills' chances of securing the one-seed and even hurt Bills' fans more when Josh Allen put up a historic performance and still lost the game. It seems like an annual thing with the Bills, as they seem to be part of the game of the year where Allen puts up great numbers however, his defense sells out at the end every time.
Allen is not a weakness with the team. Without him, the Bills would probably have at most three wins. The defense, however, looked abysmal. I'm not taking credit away from the Rams' offense, but the defense, specifically the defensive line played very poorly.
These issues have been reoccurring in important games, especially come playoffs. One concerning consistent problem is the coaching staff mismanaging games in the clutch. Sean McDermott, once again, failed to make the right decisions to close out games.
If the Bills want to beat the red-hot Detroit Lions on Sunday, they must take advantage of the team's weakness. That team's weakness would be their defensive depth, due to their severe number of injuries.
Bills need to heavily control the clock vs. Lions
The Bills' offense needs to stay on the field as long as they can while still scoring touchdowns. The Bills need to keep the Detroit offense off the field and control their time of possession. With the lack of the Lions' defensive depth, the Lions will have almost no one else to replace the tired defenders, which can result in the Bills winning the game of physicality, and being able to control the game.
Putting more pressure on the Lions' offense to score will make the offense a little more predictable, especially in late-game situations. The Bills' defense would rather see Jared Goff try and win the game for them than their two elite running backs, Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery.
At the same time, this will give the Bills' defense rest, and match their energy with the Lions' high-powered offense. However, it will be determined whether or not the Bills will match their physicality with the Lions' which will be a must if the Bills want to win this game.