For the first two weeks of the 2026 season, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen gave the Bills Mafia a dream of mistake-free games. But that narrative shifted when he committed three turnovers in his win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3. This week, he threw another interception against the New England Patriots. Only this time, Buffalo lost 29-26, making it the second straight year the Bills have had their strong start stuffed by New England.
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But even in the aftermath of that costly mistake, new head coach Joe Brady took the blame upon himself when addressing Allen’s pick, acknowledging that the coaching and play-calling could have been better.
“We obviously have plenty of time right there. I’m going to start by saying I got to have a better play call in that situation,” Brady said in his postgame presser. “And we got to protect and put him in a better position to have success. They do a TE right there, and they get a free runner at Josh who makes it a little tough.
“I’m trusting that if it’s not there, he’ll throw it away. In those moments, I got to be better. Everybody on the field has to be better in that situation. So, there wasn’t a second during that drive I didn’t think we were going to go down and much less kick a field goal, but score a touchdown. And we obviously didn’t get it done.”
The Bills entered the Week 4 game on the back of a 3-0 lead. At one point in the fourth quarter, they even managed to carve out a 26-21 lead when Josh Allen connected to Keon Coleman for a 34-yard touchdown. However, the Patriots answered it with another Drake Maye touchdown pass to Efton Chism III.
When Buffalo got the ball back, on a 2nd & 6 from their own 40-yard line with just 1:14 left in regulation, Allen got pressured in the pocket, and fired off a desperate shotgun intended for Joshua Palmer. But New England safety Craig Woodson intercepted it. All the Patriots had to do after that was hold on to their 29-26 lead and run out the clock. After the game, Allen acknowledged the mistake, and just like his head coach would do later, took the blame on himself.
“I mean, just a flood concept. They went man. Made a guy miss. Threw one up. Should throw that out of bounds and live another day.”
Josh Allen finished with 23-of-33 passes for 253 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. But it was the second straight week when the quarterback committed a turnover.
Just last week, he turned the ball over multiple times against the Chargers, including two interceptions and one fumble. He couldn’t even score a single passing touchdown as he went 16-of-26 for 204 yards. Buffalo had two more fumbles by running back James Cook and tight end Dalton Kincaid. At that time as well, Brady took the blame on himself, noting, “That’s unacceptable. That’s purely on me.”
He also said, “That’s purely a reflection of me. You turn the ball over five times in a game, you’re not going to win many games… learning a lot about the team as we go, I’m proud of the defense and just their response.”
But this isn’t exclusive to Weeks 3 & 4. Even in the season opener against the Houston Texans, these cracks showed. With just two minutes on the clock in that game Allen tried to loft a deep ball to the end zone but almost got picked off by cornerback Kamari Lassiter. Had that pick been secured by Lassiter, that would have given Houston a chance to seal the game. Fortunately, Allen drove a 34-yard touchdown on the very next play to edge them out.
Last season, Allen completed 69.3% of his passes for 3,668 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, but none of those picks came in the first three games. Across four games this season, Allen has recorded 1039 yards and six passing touchdowns, but has already thrown three picks.
Heading into Week 4, the Bills were only one of five teams with a 3-0 streak, but that’s history now. Joe Brady and Josh Allen now have one week to polish things up before they face the Los Angeles Rams, who have just upset the Philadelphia Eagles 24-20. No amount of shouldering the blame will be enough if these mistakes roll over to Week 5.