INGLEWOOD, Calif. – On a day when Josh Allen became the first player to have three touchdown passes and three rushing TDs in the same game, it was a play during which Buffalo’s quarterback didn’t reach the end zone that was the most discussed after the Bills’ 44-42 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Trailing by nine late in the fourth quarter Sunday, Allen was stopped for no gain on a sneak up the middle on first-and-goal from the Rams 1-yard line. Buffalo then use the first of its three timeouts with 1:02 remaining.
“I have to find a way to get in,” said Allen, who passed for 324 yards and rushed for 82. “I don’t know the stats, but I know it wasn’t good enough to win the game.”
After being stuffed, Allen went off left guard on second down for his ninth rushing score of the season to get the Bills within two points. But with a minute left, Buffalo was forced to attempt an onside kick.
The Rams’ Ronnie Rivers recovered Tyler Bass’ kick at the Bills 45, allowing Los Angeles to run out the clock and end Buffalo’s seven-game winning streak.
Instead of still being within striking distance of Kansas City for the top spot in the AFC, the Bills are 10-3 and tied with Pittsburgh for the second seed.
Allen and the Bills have been successful on short-yardage sneaks this season. It was only the third time in 19 rushing attempts he was stopped with a to-go distance of at least 1 yard. Two of those stops have occurred on the opponents’ 1-yard line.
The Bills quarterback is 20 of 27 on sneaks from the 1 during his seven-year career and four of six this season.
Bills coach Sean McDermott, who didn’t appear for his postgame news conference until 67 minutes after the game was over, defended the play call and then taking the timeout.
McDermott also noted that 15 to 20 more seconds would have come off the clock if they would’ve tried to spike the ball instead of taking the timeout.
“You have two options and neither are great,” he said. “When you’re in that situation with three timeouts, we were underneath the time where we could get the ball with a legit chance to win with no timeouts. We ran what we thought was our best play all year.
“I thought we could get it on the first play. If we did get the onside kick, we had 15 yards and roughly 50 seconds and felt good about ourselves.”
Recovering an onside kick, instead of having all three timeouts and trying to stop the Rams on three plays, has ended up having a lower rate of success. With teams having to declare an onside kick and rules preventing the kicking team from overloading players on one side, there have been only three instances out of 41 this season where a team has recovered an onside kick.
The Bills reached the end zone on their final four possessions, but Allen said not scoring near the end of the first half and then going three-and-out on their first drive of the second half loomed large.
“We have to find ways to score before and after the half. We didn’t do our part,” said Allen, who completed 22 of 37 passes. “I have to make one more play than they do. It was a total team loss in three phases. We didn’t play up to our standards.”
Allen had all but one of his rushing yards in the second half as the Bills nearly rallied from a 38-21 deficit late in the third quarter. He joined Kordell Stewart as the only players in NFL history with at least three TD passes and two rushing scores in multiple career games.
It also was Allen’s fifth game with at least two rushing and passing scores, surpassing Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young for the most in NFL history.
“I mean, he’s a nightmare to defend, and so it’s a balance. I don’t think you can just sit back and let him navigate the pocket,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “He can beat you from the pocket, he can beat you with his mind, he can beat you with his arm, he can beat you with his legs. That’s why he’s a legitimate MVP candidate.
“He’s one of the best players in this league, but we were searching for some different answers.”
Buffalo forced the Rams to punt only twice in nine possessions and also had a breakdown on special teams when Sam Martin’s punt in the second quarter was blocked by Jacob Hummel. Hunter Long scooped up the loose ball and went 22 yards to extend Los Angeles’ lead to 17-7.
McDermott said Allen had an “incredible” game but that “we have to do a better job around him,” especially with a road game at 12-1 Detroit next week.
“We have our work cut out for us this week,” he said.
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