Buffalo Bills Quarterback Josh Allen Bounced From The Playoffs Sobbing

Josh Allen was sobbing. No, crying. The tears streamed from his bloodshot eyes down his reddened cheeks as he blamed himself for something that wasn't totally his fault.

"I feel like I let my teammates down tonight," Allen said after the Buffalo Bills lost an overtime divisional round game to the Denver Broncos. "It's been a long season. I hate how it ended. It's going to stick with me for a long time."

He sniffled, took a deep breath and continued.

"You can't win with five turnovers," he offered. "I fumbled twice, threw two picks. When you shoot yourself in the foot like that, you don't deserve to win football games."

Josh Allen Distraught After Loss

He never looked anyone in the eyes. One imagines he's going to have a hard time looking himself in the mirror for a while. That's how terrible this looked.

How gutted Allen looked.

"Yeah, I mean, losing that way regardless, losing in the playoffs is not fun, so…" he finally said. 

These AFC playoffs didn't have Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, or Lamar Jackson, which is what seemingly cleared the path for Allen to finally have his day. But these playoffs have officials in stripes.

And, rightly or wrongly, nothing feels as it should when officials decide matters in big games.

Josh Allen looks on from the ground after a run against the Denver Broncos during the first quarter in the AFC Divisional Playoff game. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

Allen Continues Overtime Drought

That's what happened in overtime Saturday evening when officials called multiple defensive pass interference penalties on the Bills to set the Broncos up for a game-winning field goal that sent them to the AFC championship game and Allen home.

Again.

So, Allen is now 0-7 in career overtime games.

And he's 0-3 in career postseason overtime games.

What that tells you is Allen is close. He can get his team so close as to force matters beyond regulation. But he simply hasn't been good enough to get above that plateau.

And that included this game.

Josh Allen runs the ball against Zach Allen during the first quarter in the AFC Divisional Playoff game. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Allen Cannot Carry Team Alone

So, the question has to be asked:

Is Allen, always great in the regular season and easily the best player coming into this whole postseason, not good enough to put an entire team on his back in a win-or-go-home game? Or are the Bills simply not serving Allen by giving him enough help in carrying the load? 

I believe this game it was both. But generally, it's more the latter than the former.

Because the things that have dogged the Bills the past couple of years continue to be problems.

This is a team without enough talent on the outside, at wide receiver. And it doesn't have an elite or even good pass rusher that can close out opponents to prevent game-deciding drives that send Buffalo to defeat.

The issue at receiver has been apparent since Stefon Diggs was traded a couple of years ago, and that simply has not been solved.

And finding a pass rusher has been a lost cause in that the draft resources the team used to address the issue, the signing of Von Miller years ago, and the signing of Joey Bosa this season, did not fix anything.

Josh Allen fumbles the ball against the Denver Broncos during the second quarter in the AFC Divisional Playoff game.  (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

Allen Had Three Turnovers

So, the defending NFL MVP is out of the 2025 postseason. And now the part about him:

The Bills had five turnovers. And Allen accounted for three of them.

He threw an interception.

He fumbled in the first quarter.

He fumbled in the second quarter.

Three turnovers!

That's an opportunity lost. And Allen knows it.

One gets the feeling that he's not going to be done crying over this one for a while.