Alaina Getzenberg, ESPN
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The kick to begin with appeared find it irresistible was once headed throughout the uprights. Nearest, it sharply modified course with the 11-13 mph winds in Orchard Landscape serving to the ball exit up and to the correct, clear of the upright.
The neglected 44-yard ground objective via Buffalo Bills kicker Tyler Bass left 1:43 at the clock for the Kansas City Chiefs, the ball on the Chiefs’ 34-yard order and a three-point govern.
“Ultimately, it’s completely on me. I’ve got to do a better job of getting through to my target,” Bass mentioned. “I’ve got to do a better job of playing it a little bit more left when you have a left to right (wind). I’ve been here long enough to know that you have to do that. You know, I was trusting my line that I had in warmups. Hit a good ball, but it didn’t work out. I feel terrible, you know? I love this team and it hurts. This one hurts bad. Yeah, I’ve got to do a better job. Totally on me.”
Bass completed the ordinary and postseason along with his lowest ground objective share in his four-year profession (76.5%). Educator Sean McDermott mentioned nearest the sport that they’ve “full confidence” in Bass. The schoolmaster additionally pointed to protection and particular groups now not enjoying the “way we needed to.”
The ground objective struggle might be simply some other what-if month for the Expenses in a match filled with probabilities and various extra game-changing moments that ended with extra of the similar. For a third-straight season, the Expenses’ 12 months ended within the Divisional Spherical of the playoffs with the 27-24 loss at house to the Chiefs and prolonged the staff’s report vs. Kansas Town with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback within the postseason to 0-3. Any other postseason, some other loss for Buffalo to Kansas Town.
“I wish (Bass) wouldn’t have been put in that situation,” quarterback Josh Allen mentioned. “You win as a team, you lose as a team. One play doesn’t define a game. It doesn’t define a season. I know people are going to be out there saying that. We got to be there for him because again, we execute a couple of plays prior, probably singing a different tune right now.”
Bass’ kick was once joined via two incompletions from the Kansas Town 26-yard order prominent as much as the kick on a 16-play, 54-yard pressure that led to negative issues. That features a 2d-and-9 play games that noticed huge receiver Stefon Diggs observable as he ran around the heart of the ground, however quarterback Josh Allen focused Khalil Shakir deep as he was once careworn via defensive take on Chris Jones. Upload to {that a} release via Diggs on a protracted cross downfield at the first play games of the general pressure.
The what-ifs for the Expenses additionally lengthen to an offensive means that noticed the Expenses now not having an offensive play games longer than 18 yards, handiest the second one year in Allen’s 103 profession begins, together with playoffs, that the Expenses had 0 performs achieve 20-plus yards in a match (Day 5, 2018). Allen averaged 0.7 breeze yards on 26 completions with 24 coming inside of 5 yards of the order of scrimmage. Since 2006, handiest two quarterbacks have finished 20-plus passes in a match and averaged fewer breeze yards on their completions.
Allen completed the sport finishing 26-of-39 passes for 186 yards and a landing, along with dashing for 72 yards on 12 carries and two dashing rankings. There have been negative submits or sacks. The Expenses owned the year of ownership (37:03), however as an offense handiest produced seven 2d part issues.
“Losing sucks,” Allen mentioned. “Losing to them, losing to anybody at home sucks.”
Defensively, the Expenses gave up two touchdowns at the Chiefs’ first drives of the second one part, and the obese performs made their mark. The Chiefs had a season-high 8 performs that received 20-plus yards. Accidents performed a job on protection, however the unit was once not able to drive a surrender — one thing that it has taken satisfaction in doing with takeaways a signature of a six-game successful streak that the Expenses got here into the sport with (recorded no less than one in 5 of the video games). The protection additionally allowed tight finish Travis Kelce to get reduce, catching 5 receptions for 75 yards and two touchdowns. The protection serving to drive a fumble out of bounds via Mecole Hardman nearest a failed pretend punt via the Expenses on a Damar Hamlin lift proved not to be plethora to be a game-saver.
“Just comes down to making the plays that come your way, making the tackles and doing your job,” defensive take on DaQuan Jones mentioned. “Some of those plays, we weren’t doing that and they exposed us.”
An offseason with obese selections and query marks awaits the Expenses nearest some other AFC East identify — person who had a 4% probability of going down, consistent with ESPN Analytics, when the Expenses have been 6-6 nearest Day 13. Any other probability for the franchise’s first Tremendous Bowl identify will wait some other 12 months.
“I’m extremely disappointed. I mean, you put so much time into this,” McDermott mentioned. “We put so much time into a season, let alone this game, and the preparation for it, and to come out and to not perform the way I’d hoped we would’ve, it’s extremely disappointing and frustrating and it’s a type of situation in our business where you got to spend the whole offseason thinking about it, but it drives you harder, if that’s even possible to drive someone harder, drives you harder to come back next season and continue to work at it.”
