ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — A week ago, Josh Allen lifted his teammates, whether they were deep backups, doghouse dwellers or the recovered ill. He pulled his Buffalo Bills back atop the AFC East.
With the ability to clinch a playoff berth Sunday, he needed them to return the favor.
Allen had the worst passing performance of his NFL career, but tailback Devin Singletary plus a pair of critical defensive stops erased Allen’s insufficiency and a halftime deficit to help the Bills defeat the surprisingly spry Atlanta Falcons 29-15 at Highmark Stadium.
The Bills hadn’t won a game this season by mashing like they did Sunday on the icy turf. They ran for a season-high 233 yards, second most in coach Sean McDermott’s tenure.
“It brings to the surface our two-dimensional offense,” McDermott said, “and that’s a hard type of offense to defend.”
As excited as the Bills were to rely on a fallback offensive strategy two weeks before the playoffs begin, tournament defenses — particularly in the front seven — are better than what the Falcons fielded.
The Bills won behind their eighth starting offensive-line group and fourth combination in four weeks. They didn’t allow a sack for the second straight week and paved the way for boffo rushing stats.
That’s great, but can Buffalo depend on such a ground-and-pound approach in the playoffs?
The Bills played totally out of character, running on 30 of their 36 second-half snaps. They notched 13 of their 19 rushing first downs after halftime.
