Josh Allen keeps it real after Bills beat Chargers

The Buffalo Bills were 14-point favorites coming in to Saturday, but Josh Allen tried to tell people earlier in the week that the Los Angeles Chargers were not to be taken lightly, no matter what the current state of the team is.

"I can tell you one thing - they're gonna be ready to play come Saturday night, so we got to put on our game face and prepare to play a 60 minute battle," Allen told reporters on Wednesday.

He wasn't wrong. Sure, a very slow start by the Bills -both on offense and defense- contributed to a 10-point Charger lead early into the second quarter. But one has to give credit to LA for making plays early in the game. Easton Stick and co. converted two 3rd and longs on the offense's first drive of the game and they also converted Deonte Hardy's fumble into six points. This was all while the defense kept Allen and the Bills offense off-kilter.

It wasn't just a hot start, either. The Chargers never trailed by more than one possession once the Bills woke up and obviously, held a one-point lead going into the final 5-1/2 minutes of the game.

The Bills overcame everything, ultimately, and obviously pulled out the win. Now, they control their own postseason destiny thanks to the Pittsburgh Steelers' big win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but Allen doesn't care. He -along with the rest of the Bills- knows all that matters, right now, is winning.

"This is our playoffs. It doesn't matter how we get them done - just get it done," Allen told reporters after the game. "... I mean, again, [our] backs [are] against the wall. But again, [there's] still some season left and we gotta we gotta finish on our own terms and just try to find a way to get in."

Style points don't matter, right now, but still...

You don't want to get off to the slow start the Bills experienced on Saturday. It's one thing to have a slow start because the other team is forcing you into it, but it's completely different when it's the self-inflicted mistakes we saw during the first quarter and change.

That kind of stuff will quickly sink a team in the playoffs. Especially if they're on the road. And unless the Miami Dolphins lose their next two games before the finale against the Bills - Buffalo will be on the road when the playoffs start in mid-January. 

The key, right now, is to keep taking care of business. Because even then, the Bills still have a shot at the AFCE crown thanks to the Dolphins' next two games.

"I think we were [down] 10-nothing, right away," said Allen. "Things weren't clicking, [but we] just continued to stay patient. We got that one play to Gabe [Davis] and kind of felt ourselves getting into a groove. But again, [there's] still a lot to learn from.

"... I mean, these are highest level professional athletes in the world, each and every week that we're playing, it's not easy to win. It's not easy to win by a lot. I'm just fortunate that we found a way... But you know, again, just find a way."

The Bills have an extra day to figure out how to avoid the slow start and they'll need it this week against the New England Patriots. Yes, the Patriots are easily one of the NFL's worst teams, but they already have one win over the Bills in 2023. That was during the middle of the Bills' slump, but still, it's a road game against a division opponent. It'd be silly to assume Week 17 will be an easy win - just like it was silly to assume that going into the Chargers matchup.