Perennial AFC contenders the last six seasons running, the Buffalo Bills were once again sent home early after falling to the Denver Broncos in heart-breaking fashion.
Josh Allen, who had four giveaways in the 33-30 overtime defeat, was emotionally struck by the loss and shouldered the blame after Saturday's Divisional Round exit.
"It's extremely difficult," Allen said with tears running down his face. "I feel like I let my teammates down tonight."
There were a number of self-inflicted mistakes by the Bills, whose five total turnovers in the game led to 16 points for Denver.
Included in Allen's four giveaways was an OT interception that transferred a next-score-wins scenario Buffalo had to the Broncos. Denver's ensuing drive was then aided by a pair of Bills penalties, which set up the Broncos with a chip-shot field goal for the win.
"Can't win with five turnovers; I fumbled twice, threw two picks," Allen lamented. "When you shoot yourself in the foot like that, you don't deserve to win football games."
Allen's mistakes mounted after fumbling the ball away just before halftime. With just 16 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Allen scrambled for 12 yards before losing the ball as he was swung to the ground by Nik Bonitto. With just one second on the clock, Wil Lutz nailed a 50-yarder on the very next play to give Denver a 10-point lead at halftime.
"Just trying to be aggressive," Allen said of the fumble. "Can't do that."
Bonitto came up big again on the second play of the second half, strip-sacking Allen for a quick turnover that led to another three points. Allen then threw his first INT midway through the third quarter on a deep pass intended for Curtis Samuel that was a bit underthrown.
"Just missed opportunities throughout the game," Allen said. "It's been a long season. I hate how it ended, and it's gonna stick with me for a long time."
Despite Allen's blunders, the Bills wouldn't have been in the game if it weren't for their star quarterback.
Allen followed up his strip-sack with a scoring surge that got Buffalo back in the game, tossing touchdown throws to Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid before orchestrating a long possession that ended with a field goal to give the Bills a 27-23 lead.
After the Broncos answered with a go-ahead TD score, Allen carefully led a scoring drive with 50 seconds remaining in regulation, getting Matt Prater just in range for a 50-yard FG to send the game to OT.
Allen finished 25-of-39 passing for 283 yards with three TDs and two INTs for a 90.0 passer rating. He also produced 66 rushing yards for an offense that converted 10 of 15 third downs, scored TDs on three of five red-zone possessions, totaled 449 yards and earned a lopsided time of possession (40:58 to 29:18). The Bills became just the third team all-time to score 30-plus points with zero punts in a playoff loss, per NFL Research.
Dion Dawkins, Allen's blindside protector, was also emotional following Saturday's defeat but sure to say Allen "didn’t let us down," per NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe.
Since Allen's emergence in the NFL, Buffalo has enjoyed a Super Bowl-contending era but no appearances past the AFC title game. The Bills QB had been efficient entering Saturday's game, too, with his last playoff turnover coming since the 2022 Divisional Round.
But calamity struck for Allen and Co. beginning with James Cook's fumble in the second quarter, another key turnover that prevented the Bills from adding to an early lead as they creeped toward the red zone.
Allen, despite overcoming a majority of his blunders on Saturday, is left dwelling on yet another early playoff exit.
"I haven't been doing a lot of talking; other than I love my teammates, and I'm extremely sorry," Allen said. "I am disappointed with how this ended."