Stunning. Shocking. Crushing.
Pick a word, and perhaps an expletive, and you'll properly describe the Buffalo Bills' side of a 32-30 loss against the Arizona Cardinals Sunday at State Farm Stadium.
For the second week in a row, Josh Allen looked as if he would be the hero of the game after overcoming adversity. A week ago, he managed to compose himself after learning of the sudden death of his grandmother a day earlier and throw for 415 yards and three touchdowns to beat the Seattle Seahawks. On Sunday, he seemed on the verge of shaking off two interceptions that helped erode a 14-point Bills lead in the third quarter.
Just when it appeared the Bills would win their fourth game in a row, with Allen connecting for a next-level 21-yard touchdown with Stefon Diggs with 34 seconds left to give Buffalo a 30-26 lead, the unthinkable happened.
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Kyler Murray, the young master of amazing runs and throws on the move, scrambled and heaved a 43-yard pass into the end zone that DeAndre Hopkins caught between three defenders with two seconds left.
KYLER MURRAY HAIL MARY TO DEANDRE HOPKINS🚀 pic.twitter.com/z4aThLrN3p
— PFF (@PFF) November 16, 2020
"To lose like that, it's painful, it hurts," Allen told reporters. "It's why you play 60 minutes of the game."
There was plenty of blame to be shared for the loss that dropped the Bills to 7-3 entering their bye. There were nine penalties for minus-69 yards. There was a 12-yard punt by Corey Bojorquez. And there were three defenders trying to intercept, rather than knock down, Murray's Hail Mary at the end.
Yet, Allen, who threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns, chose to make himself the most accountable for the outcome.
"Throughout the game, I put the ball in harm's way too often," he said. "It shouldn't have come down to one play. I take this very personally. The two interceptions can't happen. You can't expect to win after turning the ball over."
Just when it appeared Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills would celebrate his 12th fourth-quarter game-winning drive, Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals had other ideas.
For two quarters, though, the game did not have the fireworks that went off in the second half. It was mainly a defensive struggle. It also was a game in which the Bills were too sloppy for their own good.
Nevertheless, after connecting with Diggs, Allen watched from the sideline with a firm belief the Bills' defense would close out the game.
"I have an extreme amount of confidence in our defense and was just telling them to close the game out," he said. "Unfortunately, it comes down to one play. It's the game of football, it happens."
Sean McDermott never allowed himself to feel an ounce of comfort after Diggs' TD.
"The game's not over until it's over," the coach told reporters. "So, another reminder of it in this game right there."
McDermott tried to characterize the outcome as being determined more by what Murray and Hopkins did than what his players didn't do.
"As coaches you sit here and you think immediately, ‘What could we have done differently?’" McDermott said. "At the end of the day, they had two special players that made a special play.”
Murray would finish with 245 passing yards yards and the winning touchdown, plus 61 rushing yards and two scores. Yet, for the better part of the first half, the Bills had him mainly under wraps.
Holding the Cardinals to a 23-yard Zane Gonzalez field goal on the game’s opening drive was a big win for the Bills’ defense, especially after allowing Chase Edmunds to run for 25 yards and Kenyan Drake to run for seven and 12 yards on consecutive plays.
The Bills showed creativity on their first possession. Allen connected with John Brown on a wide receiver screen that went for 31 yards to the Cardinals’ 14. That helped set up the Bills’ first score, which came on a 12-yard reception by Allen of a throw from wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie on a flea-flicker to make it 7-3.
There are painful ways to lose, and then there is what happened to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
On the Bills’ second possession, Allen did a superb job of avoiding pressure and buying time to hit Brown for an 11-yard gain. A nine-yard completion to Cole Beasley got the Bills close enough for Tyler Bass to hit a 54-yard field goal (his first of three on the day) that hit the right upright and bounced through to make it 10-3.
A 42-yard Gonzalez field goal cut the margin to 10-6 midway through the second quarter.
The Bills managed to get points out of their third possession as well when Bass connected on a 55-yard field goal to extend the lead to 13-6.
Buffalo’s defense came up with another win after allowing the Cardinals to drive from their 25 all the way to the Bills’ 8, but making them settle for a third Gonzalez field goal to make it 13-9 with 1:24 left in the second quarter.
The Bills were able to preserve enough time to be able to move the ball and set up 58-yard field goal as the clock expired to take a 16-9 halftime lead.
A fumble by Drake early in the third quarter put the Bills in business in Arizona territory and set up a 22-yard Allen touchdown pass to Beasley to expand the Bills’ advantage to 23-9.
Then, the long-awaited fireworks began as the Cardinals proceeded to score 17 unanswered points.
The flurry started with a 1-yard touchdown run by Murray to pull the Cardinals to within seven, 23-16, with 5:44 remaining in the third.
Bojorquez's 12-yard punt followed. It was easily his worst since joining the Bills, and gave the Cardinals the ball at the Buffalo 30. Fortunately for Buffalo, the defense limited the Cardinals to a 45-yard Gonzalez field goal that reduced the margin to 23-19.
Then, after Patrick Peterson’s interception of an Allen pass and return to the Arizona 44, Murray streaked for 28 yards to the Bills’ 28. Two plays later, Bills cornerback Daryl Worley drew a pass interference penalty that put the Cards at the Buffalo 15. From there, Murray ran for his second touchdown to give Arizona a 26-23 lead with eight seconds left in the third quarter.
"I think they did a good job of disguising some things and bringing different kinds of pressures," Allen said of the Cardinals' defense, which did not record a sack and four quarterback hits.
Here's a quarter by quarter look at the Buffalo Bills' 32-30 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Ariz., on Sunday.
Just when it seemed that the Cardinals, driving deep into Bills territory, might deliver at knockout score, they returned the favor when a Murray pass for Larry Fitzgerald bounced out of his grasp as he was going to the ground. Jordan Poyer intercepted to put the Bills at their own 15.
However, four penalties on the Bills for minus-35 yards pushed them back and they eventually had to punt. The Bills’ defense came up big again, keeping the Cardinals pinned in their territory, forcing a punt.
Allen gave the Cardinals another gift when he was intercepted by Dre Kirkpatrick. But Buffalo’s defense stood tall once more, causing another Arizona punt that started the Bills at their 22 with 3:35 left.
Beasley, who finished with 11 catches for 109 yards, converted a big third-and-four when he jumped high to pull down a four-yard pass from Allen for the first down at the Bills’ 32. Two plays later, Allen ran 12 yards and then completed a five-yard pass to Diggs to set up a second-and-five at the 39 at the two-minute warning.
On third-and-5, Allen hit Beasley for seven yards to give the Bills a first down at the Arizona 44. Passes of 17 and four yards to Beasley put Buffalo at the Cardinals’ 21. From there, Allen delivered what looked to be the winning points with his scoring throw to Diggs.
But 34 seconds was enough time for Murray to perform one his signature miracle plays.
"It (stinks) going into the bye week, because it's going to be the only thing on our mind for the next week and a half, two weeks," Allen said. "But it's also a good thing. It makes us hungry. You're not going to win every game, but to lose this one how we did hurts. But at the same time, it's fueling the fire."
