Bills fail to muster another comeback, don't look playoff-ready: 'Just dysfunction, really'
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Tim Graham
The Bills haven't look like a dominant team for any stretch of this season.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The blood vessels in Spencer Brown’s left eyeball were an angry crimson and spoke more loudly than he did.
There was a slight seethe in Brown’s voice, although he stayed calm. The mountainous Buffalo Bills right tackle stood at his locker stall and explained what transpired, how Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter jammed a thumb in his eye socket, how he thought it was intentional, how his vision was still hazed over, how he was headed to see an ophthalmologist as soon as he finished talking to reporters.
And how Buffalo’s offense suffered from “just dysfunction, really.”
“The defense played their ass off,” Brown said. “They did their job, and we didn’t do ours.”
Two weeks before they open the playoffs on the road, the Bills found themselves down two scores early again Sunday in Highmark Stadium, but failed to add another comeback to their ledger. The Bills failed to score for nearly 55 minutes and, despite a pair of late touchdowns, lost 13-12 in a cold, constant rain.
The Bills ran out of time to conjure the magic that helped them dig out of a 21-0 hole against the New England Patriots and stage various other against-the-odds rallies over the past four months. And time has all but expired to prepare for the postseason.
“It’s not something to be proud of to say every single weekend, ‘Oh, yeah! We came back from 20 points! We came back from 14 points!’ Nobody wants to be in those shoes,” Brown said.
Next week’s regular-season finale and farewell to Ralph Wilson Stadium will essentially be a scrimmage against the New York Jets because the Bills’ streak of five consecutive AFC East championships ended with the loss. It’s too late to solve whatever your pet concern has been all season — the wideouts or the play calling or the defensive line or whatever keeps Bills fans awake at night.
Every player I spoke with in Buffalo’s locker room insisted they were playoff-ready, but Sean McDermott sounded glad to have a little more time.
“You learn things from this game that we’ve got to get shored up if we want to advance in the playoffs,” McDermott said.
Rest can help a few dudes maximize their impact. Josh Allen is hobbled, and Buffalo desperately needs kicker Matt Prater’s quadriceps to heal. We don’t know if tight end Dalton Kincaid’s knee bends anymore. Or maybe it doesn’t straighten out. I can’t remember.
Defensive tackle Ed Oliver might be back for the playoffs, which would be a nice development because defenders have been dropping all season. Buffalo entered Sunday without defensive tackles DaQuan Jones and Jordan Phillips and safety Jordan Poyer, and lost linebacker/captain Terrel Bernard to a calf strain in the third quarter.
Aside from getting healthier, not much can change at this point. The Bills’ strength and conditioning staff has been criticized all season. A bizarre number of injuries have occurred during the practice week. The Eagles on Sunday noted their conditioning was superior.
Josh Allen played better in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the Eagles. (Mark Konezny / Imagn Images)
“You can see the body language, hands on hips, breathing heavy, seeing the fog,” Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “Our guys, I think we’re better conditioned. We really are. … Especially when they blew that timeout (in the final minute), and you see a few of the Bills’ guys on their knees. We were more than confident that our boys were going to get the job done.”
It’ll be 2026 in a couple days — a little late to drastically improve your cardio.
Buffalo is what Buffalo is: a mixed bag, an inconsistent and unreliable squad that doesn’t appear ready for a deep run.
That’s a shame because the AFC is agape. Super Bowl quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow have long been eliminated, and another former MVP, Lamar Jackson, must win next week to make the tournament.
Allen is banged up. McDermott admitted he and head athletic trainer Nathan Breske were keeping a close eye on the reigning MVP’s injured right foot with the notion of pulling him if necessary. Allen withstood a beating, though. Philly sacked him five times and hit him once more while passing. He fumbled twice on the same first-quarter possession, and with eight minutes left in the third quarter grabbed the foot while under a pile of Eagles.
For a second straight week, Allen went for X-rays on gameday. McDermott said they were negative again. Allen claimed his foot had “zero” impact on his performance.
Allen heated up in the second half, but not enough. Over and over, Buffalo’s defense slammed the door on Philly quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Saquon Barkley, forcing five punts in a row and closing the game with four straight three-and-outs.
Allen, NFL rushing king James Cook and the offense were limp. Play caller Joe Brady was uninspiring.
First downs were abominable. Not counting a kneeldown at the end of the first half, the Bills gained 97 yards on their 28 first-down plays, an average of 3.5 yards. They gained 2 yards or fewer on 13 of their first downs.
At the end of the third quarter, a first-and-goal from the 7 turned into an incomplete pass to Gabe Davis, a 5-yard pass to Khalil Shakir, a 1-yard loss by Cook and Allen’s scramble getting stoned at the goal line.
The Bills were shut out through three quarters at home for just the second time since Allen joined the club, and only the sixth time since 2000. That includes all 17 seasons of droughtball.
“It’s not where you want to live for most of the game,” McDermott said, “and that’s where I felt like we were for quite a bit of it. I did see some of the adjustments later in the game. We started getting the ball out on the perimeter a little bit with the shorter passing game and out of Josh’s hands and into the flat. Things that we’re going to need to learn and take forward with us as we move forward and grow as an offense.”
The Bills went another 9:49 into the fourth quarter before Allen finally scored on a 2-yard run. Michael Badgley’s extra point was blocked. Carter skied to deflect the kick, but McDermott acknowledged flaws from his unit. Badgley in his Bills debut last week missed an extra point against the Cleveland Browns. He previously missed three this year with the Indianapolis Colts.
We can fairly deduce from McDermott’s explanation that Badgley’s problems nudged them to go for two (and the victory) when Allen dove over the goal line with five seconds to play. Allen misfired to Shakir, wide open in the back of the end zone.
Buffalo’s defense did flip a switch in the second half. Philly gained 26 yards after halftime, with Hurts completing none of his seven passes and Barkley running eight times for 17 yards.
When discussing his defense, McDermott emphasized continued growth some more. There might be only 13 days until the Bills go on the road to play a division winner.
“I believe we’re growing. We need to grow,” McDermott said. “The run defense was good to see. That’s part of how you get the team as good as you can get it as you move into the playoffs, and identifying and being honest with yourself of ‘This is what needs to change. This is what needs to improve. This is where we’re good, and who’s out there?’
“We’ve been trying to spin the dial, trying to figure things out, and tonight I was very, very pleased with what I saw from the defensive side. It wasn’t perfect, and it’s not going to be perfect, but some of those young guys and just the overall, relentless nature of the defense, getting off the field on third down.”
Buffalo probably will need to win three road games to reach the Super Bowl. McDermott and Allen haven’t won a single playoff game away from Highmark Stadium.
When was the last time Buffalo put together a comprehensive performance? Took control of an opponent from the opening kickoff and slammed the door?
The Bills never trailed in a game just three times this season and the last time was two months ago. They went wire-to-wire at the fungal Jets in Week 2, against the pitiful New Orleans Saints in Week 4 and (after their bye) at the asterisked Carolina Panthers in Week 8. The Panthers have turned into a decent squad and might win the NFC South, but they had backup Andy Dalton with a broken thumb at quarterback when the Bills ransacked Bank of America Stadium.
Other victories, like the Kansas City Chiefs a week later, felt better at the time. There was a sense that the Bills finally were rediscovering their greatness.
The Bills’ best victories are riddled with “yeah buts.” They dominated the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium last month, yet didn’t take their first lead until Christian Benford’s fumble recovery return in the third quarter. And the Steelers have been pedestrian throughout 2025, squandering an opportunity Sunday to clinch the AFC North by beating the Cleveland Browns, the same screwball organization that a week ago clipped the Bills’ lead to three points in the fourth quarter and had two possessions to tie or win the game.
That’s the thing with these Bills. Even their best wins are white-knucklers. In four of them, they trailed entering the fourth quarter. In another, they were tied.
What Buffalo did two weeks ago against New England was remarkable, but it required storming back from a 21-0 deficit.
Years ago, Von Miller introduced the Bills to a saying: Don’t blink.
I can’t help but think of Brown’s irritated eye. He returned to the game after two plays, a metaphor of Buffalo’s resilience.
But only as long as there’s enough time.
“Give it one more week, get these corrections,” Bills tight end Dawson Knox said. “I think we’re going to have a lot of momentum. Sometimes, a loss like this you learn more from than a win.”
