Stefon Surrogates: Bills WRs Rally Around Josh Allen
Josh Allen can be a gunslinger at times, playing loose and free with the football at key moments.
But his playoff history going into last Sunday’s Wild Card game suggested otherwise. In his six previous postseason games, the Buffalo Bills quarterback had just two combined turnovers. That’s one interception and one lost fumble.
That a pretty good track record of taking care of the ball. That wasn’t the case against the Miami Dolphins.
The MVP candidate accounted for three turnovers – two interceptions and lost fumble that led to a Miami scoop-and-score. The latter left the Bills trailing in the second half of a game they were favored to win by two touchdowns.
The Bills did prevail 34-31 to advance to face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in the divisional round.
Allen’s teammates, especially the receiving corps, didn’t let a few miscues and a deficit get in the way. If anything, they worked harder to make it easier on Allen.
“That’s what we have to do,” Cole Beasley said. “We’ve got to be there for him, just give Josh easy throws.”
Beasley’s 6-yard touchdown catch – his first career playoff TD – in the third quarter gave the Bills a lead they wouldn’t relinquish again. Allen would connect with Gabe Davis on a 23-yard score later in the third for a 34-24 edge.
Davis caught six balls for 113 yards. Khalil Shakir had three receptions for 51 yards. Their production was critical, as the Dolphins were determined to shut down Stefon Diggs after a monster first quarter.
Diggs had six receptions in the 110 yards in the opening period. He had one catch for four yards the rest of the game.
“They’re going to try to take Stef away,” said Beasley, who had 35 yards on two catches. “He’s a big-time player. He’s our No. 1 guy. If you’re going to give him one-on-one coverage, he’s going to eat you alive. So when it’s our chance to take advantage, we’ve got to do so.”
Bills coach Sean McDermott praised the resiliency of his receivers in rallying around Allen.
“Great job by them,” McDermott said. “Cole came back, a lot of them came back after some early plays, I would say that didn’t go their way and they hit the reset button.
“Whether it was Cole, Shakir, they all contributed down the stretch, which was what we needed. That’s hard to do, just in terms of the reset button, but our guys are mentally tough. They’ve shown that, and when the game doesn’t start the way you want it to in terms of an individual player in the first quarter, how do you get yourself back, and they did that.”
You can follow Art Garcia on Twitter @ArtGarcia92.
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