Bills QB Josh Allen Assigns Blame for Team’s Struggles
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is putting blame in a familiar spot after the team’s recent struggles.
Allen spoke to reporters as the team looks to bounce back from a stunning loss to the Miami Dolphins, a game where the Bills struggled on both sides of the ball. Though there was plenty of blame to go around, Allen pointed to his own play as a major factor in the downturn.
Josh Allen Points to Common Factor
The Bills had a chance to make keep pace with the New England Patriots atop the AFC East last week but struggled against an otherwise reeling Dolphins team. The Bills turned the ball over three times, all of them with the team driving.
The team now has eight turnovers in their three losses this season while forcing just three turnovers in those games, a reversal from last season’s winning formula of protecting the ball while forcing turnovers.
Allen said the turnovers are a major factor in the team’s struggles, saying he is to blame for much of it.
“It sucks losing,” Allen said. “But knowing in the losses this year, we’ve turned the ball over. And that’s pointing the thumb directly at myself. If we take care of the football we are a good football team.”
Allen regularly points to his own play after losses, placing blame on himself for missed opportunities or negative plays. The Bills quarterback had two turnovers on Sunday, losing a fumble and throwing an interception.
The loss dropped the Bills to 6-3, two wins behind the Patriots for the lead in the AFC East. The Patriots also have a tie-breaker based on their October win over the Bills.
Sean McDermott Sees More Factors
Bills head coach Sean McDermott said it was more than just turnovers hurting the team, pointing to the team’s struggles on first downs. The team’s official website noted that they had an offensive success rate of just 29.2% if the first half, the lowest of any game since Allen’s rookie year in 2018.
McDermott said the team’s struggles on first and second downs were a major factor in those struggles, putting the team in difficult situations on third down.
“Too many third down and longs, one dimensional type situation,” McDermott said.
Allen agreed that the team’s struggles in setting up manageable third-down situations was a big factor in the loss.
“I just feel like early on, (we were) kind of beating ourselves,” Allen said.
While Allen did miss some open receivers, the group of wide receivers largely struggled in getting separation — which was also a factor in the team’s other two losses. McDermott called out the deficiency in speaking to reporters.
“There were some times where we weren’t open,” he said. “But it’s never just one thing.”
The Bills aimed to address the issue this week, signing former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman. The Bills could also see veteran Gabe Davis take the field soon as he nears a full recovery from the ankle injury that cut short his 2024 season.
Eagles Owner Makes Surprise Decision in A.J. Brown Dispute
While the Philadelphia Eagles are by far the most recognizable part of his business portfolio, it’s not the only thing Jeffrey Lurie has to do.
He’s also an Academy Award winning film producer with the type of business acumen you can’t get from a Harvard MBA — he borrowed $185 million to buy the Eagles in 1994 and the team is now valued at approximately $8 billion.
So, with a net worth of $7.6 billion, when Lurie shows up at practice on a random Thursday in November, it’s worth remembering how valuable his time is. He wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t important.
In this case, the important thing was putting out fires in the locker room of the defending Super Bowl champions at the behest of famed Eagles head of security Dom “Big Dom” DiSandro.
This particular fire was caused by star wide receiver A.J. Brown, who went on social media (again) to vent his frustrations with the Eagles offense, this time describing the season as a “(expletive) show” during a Twitch livestream.
The Eagles are 7-2, winners of 3 consecutive games and have a 3-game lead in the NFC East Division.
“Today at Eagles practice Big Dom got Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and AJ Brown together and it looked like they had a very good conversation about AJ‘s frustration and they all want the offense to be better,” NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark wrote on his official X account on November 13.
Ask yourself — what would you do if someone you were paying $32 million per year constantly complained about their job?
You might want to go have a talk with them.
Lurie’s Family Money Came From Hollywood
Lurie is the heir to a family fortune that began when his grandfather, Philip Smith, founded the General Cinema movie theater chain in 1935, which became one of the largest drive-in movie theater and movie theater chains in the country, and at one point operated over 1,500 screens across the U.S.
Lurie actually failed in two previous attempts to buy NFL franchises when Robert Kraft beat him to buy the New England Patriots, and Stan Kroenke beat him out to buy Los Angeles Rams before finally spending $185 million to buy the Eagles in 1994.
He’s also won 3 Academy Awards for documentaries, including “Inside Job” for Best Documentary Film in 2011 and “Summer of Soul” for Best Documentary Film in 2022.
Eagles Owner No Stranger to Controversy
While common sense tells us Lurie was probably at practice to have a “Come to Jesus” moment with Brown, a 3-time NFL All-Pro, he may have just been there to commiserate on how to make it through various media landmines of your own creation.
As Lurie passionately campaigned to keep the Eagles’ signature Tush Push play legal this summer, he ended up in his own maelstrom due to his comments doing so.
“Lurie (said) regardless of whether the play was banned, it was a ‘win-win’ for the Eagles, adding that it was like a wet dream for a teenage boy’ to create a play that was so successful that the only way for it to be stopped was for it to be banned,” ESPN’s Seth Wickersham wrote on May 21. “ … executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent chastised the Eagles owner for the ‘wet dream’ comment, specifically for saying it in front of women in the meeting.”
