Allen was asked what was going through his mind in that moment.
“To be in that moment… Obviously it sucks the way it happened,” Allen continued. “We wanted to win that game, we had our opportunities and ya… I’m taking it all in and holding onto that feeling and making sure we don’t feel like this again. Like I said, back to back years in the same spot. It’s tough to take in, but it’s part of the game and it’s part of the learning process. Again, we gotta use this and figure out how we can be better and how we can accomplish what we want to accomplish.”
While players often regurgitate the same sort of stock answers after losses, Allen said this is different because he actually believes in what he’s saying despite it sounding, “cliche.”
“I know it’s disappointing right now and it hurts right now, Allen said. “You can say it’s going to be better and we’re going to learn from this and it’s very cliche and nobody wants to hear that. But I truly believe this unit will learn from this. You know, we’ve got a pretty young squad. A lot of guys coming back next year and again, we’ve just gotta use this as fuel, fuel for the fire.”
While there will be a lot to digest in a game of this magnitude that ended in such a surreal fashion, one person that is naturally going to get some heat is Bills head coach, Sean McDermott.
While generally regarded as one of the better coaches the last few years in the league, one bugaboo for McDermott has been his decision making in crucial moments. That criticism seemed to read it’s ugly head tonight.
“Chiefs are a good football team. We knew it was going to take a heck of an effort coming out here and I thought the guys gave us that effort,” McDermott told the media after the loss. “Starting with Josh, all the way down the line and you know, we gotta do some things better, but you know those guys are hurt. We’re disappointed, we’re all disappointed. We’re all hurt, sick to our stomachs. You know, you move on and you try to get yourself to learn from it, but it stings, it stings. I’m not gonna try and sugarcoat it. It stings.”
Similar to what his QB said, McDermott knows all you can do from tough losses is try to learn from it… even if that’s not what anyone wants to hear with the wound still fresh.
When asked what he told the team following the game, McDermott seemed emotional in his response.
“I just said, ‘great effort’ and ‘I’m proud of all of them.’ These guys came through, a lot. They really did. To come out here and the game come down to pretty much 13 seconds. You know, I think they all feel the same way I do. We’re all sick to our stomach and it hurts. We work really hard to get here, number one. And I know the fans are disappointed. I wish I could take that off of them. I wish I could take it off of the team, but we can’t. What doesn’t kill you should only make you stronger and I think this should make us stronger. It’s going to take some time, but it should make us stronger.”
While it probably doesn’t help much for fans to hear that in this moment, losses either build you up or tear you down. Like Allen said earlier, this team returns many of its young talented players and is in a position to continue to run it back, if you will.
The main issue becomes overcoming the obstacle that is Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Until the Bills can do that, all this learning after tough losses will continue to go for not.