Allen’s long TD dash wows Bills in wild-card win

Alaina Getzenberg, ESPNJan 15, 2024, 11:33 PM ET
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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — As Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen dashed and darted his way down the field, preparing to meet Pittsburgh Steelers defenders, it was interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady who was calling over the headset to his fellow coaches for Allen to slide to avoid the contact.

Others from the Bills on the field and the sideline were screaming for him to get down, per Allen, but instead, he just kept running. His legs continued to move on third-and-7 from the Buffalo 48-yard line midway through the second quarter and resulted in a 52-yard touchdown run as part of a playoff performance that reset the NFL and the Bills’ record books.

Allen’s play powered Buffalo to a 31-17 victory over the Steelers in Monday’s wild-card playoff game. Cue the snow being thrown in the air around Highmark Stadium.

“They played man, we didn’t have a great man call on, so I decided to try to find a lane and got 15-20 yards downfield and there’s a lot of guys screaming slide,” Allen said. “And didn’t slide and scored. So, it worked out that time.”

Or as McDermott described, “That’s Josh doing some of what Josh is known for. And so, it’s everything in moderation.” That from a coach that has emphasized the importance of Allen learning how to slide over the years to avoid hits.

Wide receiver Khalil Shakir recalled his jaw dropping on the play in surprise with rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid agreeing it remains surprising to him. Tight end Dawson Knox remarked that it’s almost normal now to see him make at least one crazy play a game.

“The awe part, I feel like I’ve been spoiled since I’ve been in the league,” right tackle Spencer Brown said. “I’ve been with Josh every single year I’ve been here, but like, just his ability to make plays and do stuff like that, it’s almost, you don’t see that a lot, but I’ve seen it numerous times and, I don’t wanna say I’m desensitized to it, but it’s just like, ‘Yep, we’ll take it.'”

Allen finished the rescheduled game — originally scheduled to kickoff at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday but moved back a day due to a snowstorm — completing 21-of-30 passes for 203 yards and three passing touchdowns. He ran for 74 yards on eight carries and the score. The touchdown run was the longest rushing score in Bills’ postseason history and the second-longest by a quarterback in NFL postseason history (Colin Kaepernick, 56 yards, 2012 divisional round).

“I think Josh did such a fantastic job of when we needed the yards the most … he just took off and made some gritty runs and kudos to him,” center Mitch Morse said. “I thought he might be sliding at first and then it’s one of those things like ‘No, no, no. Yes, yes, yes, yes.’ Just like he always does, he gets us out of sticky situations.”

The game marked Allen’s third career playoff game with four combined passing and rushing touchdowns and zero turnovers, tying Joe Montana and Patrick Mahomes for the most in NFL history. It was just the second time since Week 4 that Allen did not turn the ball over.

A reduction in the turnovers by the Bills offense has been tied to Brady taking over playcalling in Week 11 and his increase in running the football. From Weeks 1-10, Buffalo had a designed rush percentage of 36% and a drive turnover percentage of 17. Since then, the rushing play percentage has increased to 47% and the percentage of drives that end in turnovers has decreased to 10%.

It wasn’t a perfect game from Allen and the offense with a slow start to the second half — a three-and-out followed by only getting a field goal out of a 14-play drive — helped the Steelers work back into the game and get it within one score.

But when they needed it most, Allen and the offense responded with a touchdown on the very next drive, thanks to some elusive moments by wide receiver Khalil Shakir after a catching a pass from Allen to get into the end zone.

“[Allen’s] so different. He’s the best quarterback in the league, hands down,” Shakir said. “What he’s able to do. And yeah, those moments like that, it’s a good feeling, of course.”

Next up for the Bills is hosting the Kansas City Chiefs in Mahomes’ first road playoff game on one less day of preparation due to the game being pushed back. Mahomes and Allen mark the third set of starting quarterbacks to face each other three times in the postseason before turning 30, joining John Elway and Bernie Kosar and Troy Aikman and Brett Favre.

“[Mahomes] might wanna come here, man, the many times we played there, he might need a change of scenery,” defensive tackle Ed Oliver said. “He might be happy to come here. Never know.”