Josh Allen isn’t panicking and the Bills are cruising through games without turnovers.
The Buffalo Bills are playing errorless ball — something that head coach Sean McDermott is undoubtedly very proud of. When the Bills defeated the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday evening, their defense caused enough havoc to force the Ravens to turn the ball over three times. On the contrary, the Bills didn’t turn it over even once.
The turnover-free offensive play was the fourth straight playoff game in which the Bills had zero giveaways, setting a new NFL record. The game was the 12 game this season where Buffalo has had no turnovers, also a league record.
Per @NFL, with zero turnovers in their past four postseason games, the #Bills became the first team ever without a turnover in four consecutive postseason games. Josh Allen and company have come a long, long way #BillsMafia
— alex brasky (@alexbrasky) January 21, 2025
The Bills led the NFL in turnover differential this season at plus-24 and didn’t play a single game where they lost the turnover battle. That was in large part because their offense only turned the ball over six times since the start of the 2024 season.
Josh Allen has been criticized heavily in past years for the number of turnovers he himself commits. This year, the seventh-year quarterback had just six interceptions with the first not coming until Week 8, and one being an “arm punt” in which he just heaved the ball downfield on a third down attempt that resulted in the same field position, or possibly better, as had Buffalo punter Sam Martin come in a play later.
Of course, during the regular season, Buffalo’s defense — head coach Sean McDermott’s pride and joy — created 32 takeaways. Is this due to the new schemes coming from first year defensive coordinator Bobby Babich? One thing’s for sure, the Bills are getting around the ball and they’re making things happen.
Buffalo’s defense caused two fumbles and an interception in Sunday’s Divisional Round win. Sure, Taylor Rapp didn’t have to do anything amazing to grab an errant pass by quarterback Lamar Jackson — and, yes, there was a bad snap that Jackson pulled down and no one touched his upper body as he fumbled on the same play. But the Bills’ defense has been great at creating chaotic circumstances that tends to cause panic for opposing offenses — and panic causes mistakes.
If turnovers are mistakes and mistakes are caused by panic, the maturity of Buffalo’s quarterback has taken a huge leap this year because Josh Allen hasn’t panicked. And that’s a very good place for the Bills to be as they head into Sunday’s AFC Championship Game — one that’s sure to be full of emotion with the highest of all stakes.