Josh Allen Lost Seven Straight Overtime Games. Then the Rams Had to Kick
The Bills beat the Rams 37-34 at SoFi after a blocked 48-yarder in overtime. Allen ran for 121 yards. Sean McVay had thoughts about his field goal unit.
By the Heckle Desk · · 2 min read
On Monday night at SoFi Stadium, the Buffalo Bills beat the Los Angeles Rams 37 to 34 in overtime. Tyler Bass kicked a 45-yard field goal with 1:55 left in the extra period. It was Josh Allen's first overtime win as a pro, after seven straight overtime losses counting the playoffs, and the NBC write-up says it was his 100th career win. He had to win a hundred times before he figured out the bonus round.
Allen threw for only 210 yards, which for him is a light jog, and ran for 121 on ten carries, which for anyone is a lot. Matthew Stafford was better through the air, 40 of 54 for 383 yards and three touchdowns, and Puka Nacua caught 17 passes, a career high, on 24 targets. At that point he wasn't a receiver. He was a mailbox.
The fourth quarter had a little of everything. James Cook ran in from 5 yards out with 1:39 left to put Buffalo up seven, and Kyren Williams answered with a 1-yard plunge with 5 seconds left to tie it. Then, in overtime, Cook fumbled for the second time that night, and the Rams took the ball back with every chance in the world.
Which brings us to Harrison Mevis, the Rams' kicker, who had already missed from 50 in the first quarter. In overtime he lined up a 48-yarder to win it, and Greg Rousseau blocked it. Allen then drove 35 yards in five plays, two of them runs, and Bass did what Mevis couldn't. Afterward Sean McVay said the field goal unit cost them the game, which is the kind of thing a coach says right before a kicker learns to check his email very carefully.
I've always felt for kickers. They spend all game standing alone on the sideline like the one guest at the party who doesn't know anybody, and then, for one moment, the whole night is their fault. It's the only job in America where you can work three seconds and get blamed for three hours.
The two teams were a popular preseason pick to meet in the Super Bowl, and on Monday they looked like it. Buffalo goes to 4 and 1, the Rams fall to 2 and 3. Football is a game of inches, they say. On Monday it was a game of one hand, a little higher than the other fellow's foot.