Bills' Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs Lack Christmas Connection vs. Bears; Reason for 'Panic'?
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was the first to admit that Saturday's 35-13 Christmas Eve win over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field was far from pretty despite winning by 20-plus and clinching the AFC East.
But in a far-from-perfect frigid and windy win, there was still plenty of reasons to find room for improvement.
The most glaring of these was the lack of pass-game production between Allen and star receiver Stefon Diggs, who had a lackluster receiving game compared to the numbers he's used to putting up.
Diggs finished with just two catches for 26 yards on a day where Buffalo's rushing attack dominated for the offense. This came nearly two weeks after he had just three catches for 37 yards in a 20-12 win over the New York Jets.
Saturday’s season-worst performance certainly raised some eyebrows toward a receiver who is currently third in the league in receiving yards.
But is Allen panicking?
"At this time, I'm not panicking, I'm not freaking out about it," Allen said. "He's had such a great year and he's helped us get to this point right now ... We'll learn from it, we'll move on from it."
Without being asked, Allen admitted after the game that he has to get Diggs the ball more, something that many Bills fans would love to see as well despite the win.
"I wanna get 14 more involved," Allen said. "That's something that I gotta continue to do ... He's the best receiver in the game."
Allen finished with his second-fewest completions (15) and passing yards (172) of the season in the win, making it understandable that Diggs’ day wasn’t a productive one from a statistical standpoint. He leaned on solid days from Gabe Davis and Dawson Knox, who both caught a touchdown but still managed to only finish with a combined 83 receiving yards.
"Spreading the ball around is obviously when we're at our at best, but as many times as I can target 14 and get him the ball ... He’s such a special talent, we want the ball in his hands,” he said.
But Allen made it clear that forcing throws to Diggs isn’t in the plan just in order to follow through with his promise. This could lead to more interceptions for Allen, who had two bad ones on Saturday.
"The last thing I want to do is force-feed someone when it's not there,” Allen said. “I wanna continue to find the right guy to throw it to.”
In some ways, it might be considered a positive that the Bills were able to cruise to a double-digit win in the second half despite getting next to nothing from their star receiver.
But if a Super Bowl is meant to be this season for arguably the best team in the league, getting the ball to Diggs will have to be on the to-do list.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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