Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills just exhaled in a sigh of relief.
Allen was equal parts electric with three touchdown passes as he was an enigma with three turnovers in the Bills’ as the Bills escaped with a 34-31 win in their AFC wild-card playoff game against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
The Bills were pushed to the brink, and they have plenty to improve on heading into their next playoff game, opponent to be determined.
“We’ll grow from it,” Allen said after completing 23 of 39 passes for 352 yards. “All that matters is surviving and advancing. It doesn’t matter how we win, it’s if we win. And I’m proud of our guys.”
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The Bills will celebrate this win, but they were dealt a reality check against the Dolphins: If Allen keeps turning the ball over, he’ll be the reason Buffalo’s goal of reaching and winning the Super Bowl falls short.
Allen is regarded as one of the NFL’s best young quarterbacks, but his 16 interceptions and 22 giveaways this season, including this playoff game, tell another story of careless play.
And that’s not an encouraging sign for Allen and the Bills, three games from their end goal of the Super Bowl.
“At the end of the day, you turn the ball over, you die a pretty quick death,” said Bills coach Sean McDermott.
Perhaps more importantly, Allen must stay within the means of Buffalo’s offense.
Allen has a penchant for playing loose with the football, and he often finds himself trying to play hero, taking deep shots down field that don’t convert. .
Sometimes, those plays work. And sometimes, they hurt more than they help.
Buffalo’s playoff hopes nearly came crashing down against Miami. The Bills entered the game as double-digit favorites to beat the Dolphins, who were without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, recovering from his second documented concussion.
After the Bills stormed out to a 17-0 lead with third-string rookie Skylar Thompson, Allen threw two interceptions in the second quarter that allowed Miami to get back in the game.
Allen’s worst turnover was a fumble that resulted in a Dolphins touchdown and their first lead of the game early in the third quarter.
“The turnovers, they hurt us. It really let them back in the game,” Allen said of his three miscues that led to 18 points for the Dolphins. “It’s just things you can’t do, and you can’t expect to win like that. It’s stuff we have to clean up.”
That’s where Allen’s prowess came into play.
Allen broke free for a 12-yard run inside his own red zone on a third-and-8, and he threw two touchdown passes in the span of three minutes to help the Bills retake a double-digit lead with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.
“The thing is you have to keep the foot on the gas,” Beasley said. “You can’t ever get complacent. You have to be consistent, and we were a little inconsistent, and we can’t do that moving forward.”
Allen and the Bills had two final drives to score again and put away they game, but were unable to get much going offensively.
They punted the ball back to Miami on both possessions, and relied on their defense and Miami’s inexperience, including a crucial delay of game penalty on fourth-and-1 on Miami’s final drive, to escape with a victory.
The Bills may not be so lucky again this postseason.
While the Dolphins were inexperienced, other teams with Super Bowl experience like the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals won’t be so forgiving.
“I give our guys credit,” McDermott said. “They hung in there and figured out a way to get a win. That’s one of the things they’ve been really good at this year. But we definitely have a lot to take from this game and learn from.”