With only five seconds left, the Buffalo Bills had one last breath against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17. Quarterback Josh Allen rolled out and fired for a two-point try to Khalil Shakir in the back of the end zone. Instead, the ball sailed wide. Just like that, Eagles Nation exhaled at Highmark Stadium. The Eagles escaped with a 13-12 road win. Meanwhile, Bills Mafia stood frozen. And now, head coach Sean McDermott addressed the failed play.

Speaking after the game, the Bills’ head coach shut down any doubt regarding his quarterback even after his miss.

“[Allen] is the best quarterback in the world… I’d take him 1,000 times out of 1,000 times to make that play.”

HC McDermott also addressed the bigger question. Why chase two on the road against the Eagles instead of playing it safe? So, McDermott leaned on his belief.

“Wanted to be aggressive, going for the win… I trust Josh Allen with the ball in his hands, and I would do it over again,” the Bills’ head coach added.

That trust runs deep at Highmark Stadium. However, the coach was not alone in owning the moment. Allen did not hide either. He stepped up and faced it head-on.

“Yeah, I just missed. Rolling left, I’ve got to get him a better ball,” said Allen, who got the Bills into position for the winning 2-point try by rushing for two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter.

“It just comes down to us executing, making one more play than they did. And obviously you saw that we didn’t make that last play,” he added, before correcting himself. “I didn’t make that last play.”

No excuses, no deflection, just honesty. And for the Bills Mafia, that may matter even in defeat.

Josh Allen feels he let down the team

In the postgame, Josh Allen sat at the podium quietly and heavily. Despite taking five sacks and plenty of hits, he never mentioned pain. Instead, he circled back to one moment. One missed chance. For Allen, effort was not the issue. Still, it was not enough to change the ending for Bills Mafia.

What bothered Allen most was not the loss itself, but rather the circumstances surrounding it.

“We can learn a lot from this experience,” Allen said. “I’d rather have won and learned from that too, but again, I got to make a play.”

After that, Allen shut down any excuses fast. Yes, he visited the X-ray room postgame. But he refused to lean on it.

“I’m good,” Allen said when asked about his injury.

On the field, he completed 23 passes in 35 attempts for 262 yards against the Eagles. He also ran for 27 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Still, the bigger picture softened the blow. The Bills already got the postseason ticket. Buffalo dropped to 11-5 and slid to the AFC’s No. 7 seed. But because of the loss, the AFC East crown shifted to New England, ending a five-year run.

So, Allen felt he let the team down. And that feeling may drive what comes next.