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Carucci Take2: Impressive finish doesn’t erase Bills’ horrible start

WGRZ Bills/NFL Insider Vic Carucci saw plenty of heart and grit, especially from Josh Allen, on Sunday. But this team is still plagued by inconsistency.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Here are my five takeaways from the Buffalo Bills’ 33-27 overtime loss Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium:

1. The Bills’ second-half surge from a 21-point first-half deficit was memorable and showed plenty of heart and grit, especially from Josh Allen.

“I’m damn proud of this team,” the quarterback said. “This is who we are.”

Yet, equally unforgettable – and unforgivable – is the team’s terrible performance through the first two quarters that made the effort to rally necessary. The Bills are that team too.

They’re still plagued by inconsistency.

The Bills began the game looking every bit like the team that embarrassed itself in prime time against the New England Patriots last Monday night, and with other lackluster showings in most of their previous five losses. Despite all the talk during the week of having urgency and continuing to believe in themselves, players on both sides of the ball hardly looked as if they were ready to play.

Not for a half, at least.

Center Mitch Morse said the Bills dug themselves a hole in the first half “communication-wise, execution-wise.” That’s hard to fathom considering the stakes and that we’re in the final stretch of the regular season. Communicating, even on the road, should be sharp. Same with execution.

The Bills are in jeopardy of falling into the dreaded “in the hunt” category of the playoff race because they didn’t play a full game Sunday. Regardless of their valiant attempt to pull out a win, this one will be difficult to digest.

2. Allen was the very definition of a quarterback putting his entire team on his back to try to win a game.

“Incredible,” was how coach Sean McDermott described Allen’s performance.

It wasn’t only that Allen threw for 300-plus yards and ran for 100-plus yards, making him only the fourth player in NFL history to achieve that in a game. It was that did so while dealing with an injury that resulted in his wearing a walking boot on his left foot/ankle after the game.

The injury occurred in the fourth quarter, yet Allen kept running and kept making plays. “There was no way I was going out,” he said.

Allen finished as the Bills’ rushing leader with 12 carries for 109 yards, with 18 on a third-quarter touchdown. He also had career highs for attempts (54) and completions (36) on the way to throwing for 308 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bills desperately needed to find something, anything, to get them out of the 24-3 pit in which they found themselves at halftime. What they found were Allen’s legs, which forced Buccaneer defenders to run to the point of exhaustion as the game progressed and greatly helped the Bills flip momentum their way.

“Josh is one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever been around,” Morse said.

“He’s a baller,” safety Micah Hyde said of Allen. “I’ll go to war with him any day of the week.”

3. It’s hard to see through Tom Brady’s 363-yard, two-TD passing performance … or yet another lonnnng scoring run (the 47-yarder by Leonard Fournette for the game’s first points) … or seldom-used Breshad Perriman making the game-winning 58-yard catch in OT … but the Bills’ defense did some impressive work.

Brady and his receivers were making it look easy through the first half, playing the sort of pitch-and-catch game you see at practice when the offense is going against air.

Nevertheless, the defense did stand relatively tall against Brady. All of the concern about how he would exploit the fact Dane Jackson was starting in place of injured Tre’Davious White at cornerback was mostly unfounded. Jackson had a solid performance, which included an excellent breakup of a long pass for Rob Gronkowski in the middle of the fourth quarter.

4. The primary talking points for Bills fans will likely be less about the admirable determination in a comeback that fell short and more about officials and the NFL doing their best to prevent Buffalo from winning, and McDermott’s decision to punt on fourth-and-3 when the offense was at its 45 and appeared to be gaining momentum late in the third quarter. 

Both are understandable.

There were calls made and not made that contributed to the outcome. No argument there.

My standard response to Bills fans complaints about officiating is this: One, the other team’s fans always have reasons to complain too. Two, there’s zero motivation for the officials or the league to purposely cause the Bills to lose. Last I checked, the Pegulas represent one-32nd of NFL ownership, and the revenue they and their franchise generate is every bit as valuable as the rest of their peers. For the record, the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, is from Jamestown. He isn’t kidding when he says he wants the Bills to remain in Buffalo for many years to come.

Also … if you don’t want your fortunes to be in the hands of the officials, try not sleepwalking through the first half.

As for McDermott’s decision, I didn’t love it, but I also know he would have gotten every bit as much heat (if not more) if the Bills failed to convert and gave Brady the ball in Buffalo territory. The analytics crowd is understandably the most vocal on this point. I don’t hang with the analytics crowd.

5. Where the Bills go from here is anyone’s guess.

McDermott and his players rightfully said they were encouraged by the way the team finished this game. They said it is the kind of team the Bills will be the rest of the way.

Still, there are questions, the biggest of which is whether Allen will be healthy enough to face the Carolina Panthers next Sunday. If he isn’t, his backup, Mitchell Trubisky, should be able to lead the Bills to a win at home against a highly beatable opponent.

Things get much trickier, though, if Allen isn’t able to play the following week at New England. That game could do the most to determine whether the Bills can make the playoffs, let alone win a second straight AFC East title.

Another question regards the Bills’ lack of consistency. Strong finishes are wonderful. But it’s always better not to need them.

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