“This is perfect. This is what we needed. Let’s see how we respond,” Buffalo Bills’ head coach Joe Brady told the team at halftime after they tied the score 10-10 in the Week 3 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
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Brady and Co. eventually walked away with a win. But let’s face it, how the Bills got there was not a pretty sight.
“Thank the Lord, thank our defense,” Allen told FOX Sports’ Erin Andrews during the on-field interview after she asked him to weigh in on the said response. “Five turnovers. We don’t deserve to win that one.”
Three fumbles and two interceptions made up the five turnovers. It easily tells how much the Buffalo offense was suffering against the Chargers’ defense.
This was indeed Allen’s worst performance in the 2026 season so far. He could only complete 16 of his 26 pass attempts, throwing for 204 yards, and was sacked four times. Then there are the two INTs and one fumble.
Allen posted a 48.9 QBR, down from the 91.5 he recorded in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions.
“Our job is to score one more point than they did and we scored a few more,” Allen continued. “But our defense played lights out. We put our defense in some bad situations tonight. We won. That’s all that matters.”
It’s the same story that happened during the divisional round last season. Following a 33-30 defeat against the Denver Broncos, Allen noted that the Bills “can’t expect to win with five turnovers.” He fumbled twice and was picked twice in that game.
The Chargers were often able to put pressure on Allen with the pocket collapsing within just three seconds.
During one play, Allen’s pass was batted away by a Chargers defensive lineman at the line of scrimmage. But bizarrely, and luckily, the quarterback caught it himself. The Bills had to punt on this drive, but Allen was intercepted the next two times Buffalo had possession, all within four series.
The Chargers had already scored after the first two turnovers. However, Allen seemed to make up for it with two rushing touchdowns.
LA couldn’t score on drives after the last three turnovers, or Buffalo might have had to exit this game 2-1.
“I thought they did a good job with their pressure plan, showing a lot of different looks,” Allen said after the game. “They had a good plan and it’s something we’ve got to learn from. Teams are going to see this and try to implement the same thing. But we still feel like we shot ourselves in the foot a lot tonight.”
Joe Brady had a similar opinion. However, instead of putting the offense on the line, he took the blame upon himself.
“You turn the ball over five times in a game, you’re not going to win many games,” Brady said after the game. “That’s unacceptable. That’s purely a reflection of me.
“Just because we get up with the ball doesn’t mean it was right. It showed its head today. That’s going to get you beat. We can’t just gloss over this because we won the football game like, ‘We won, let’s keep moving.’ No, that’s going to get you beat. Right, wrong or indifferent, we’ve got to make better decisions. I have to call a better game.
“There’s going to be a lot for us to clean up, but finding a way to go 1-0 at the end of the day is everything, and I’m so proud of those guys.”
For now, the Buffalo Bills will have to take stock of how and why they went wrong in this game. Their next matchup is with the New England Patriots on October 4.