In his 11th season as a pro, safety Micah Hyde has learned not to take the bye week for granted.
"I think the bye week, you can always saw it comes at a good time, just getting rest," Hyde said after the Bills' 37-34 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. "This late in the season, it's definitely coming at a good time."
For the Bills defense, it was a tale of two halves. Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts completed just four of his 11 passing attempts for 33 yards and their high-octane rushing attack was held to just 99 yards. Their only score came in the first quarter from a Hurts run and the Bills held a 17-7 lead at the half.
Over the remainder of the game, Hurts looked more like the MVP candidate he has been all season, going 11-for-15 with three touchdown passes and a game-winning rushing touchdown in overtime. The Eagles scored touchdowns on five of their seven second-half drives as Buffalo's defense struggled to keep the defending NFC champs out of the end zone.
Before Sunday, no team had scored 34 points against the Eagles this season. For the Bills, the total was the most they had scored since Week 4 against the Dolphins. After averaging 20.5 points per game between Week 5 and 10, the Bills have scored a combined 66 points in their last two contests.
Quarterback Josh Allen rushed for a season-high 81 yards, 35 more than any other game this season. For just the seventh time in his career, Allen rushed for two touchdowns, strong arming his way into the end zone on a designed run and improvising and taking off on a passing play.
However, head coach Sean McDermott was quick to say that, in the NFL, a loss is a loss no matter how close of a game it was.
"We're a good football team and we just came out on the short end here," McDermott said. "There are no moral victories. Each and every one of us have to look at ourselves and that starts with me and that's what you do. That's what the best do and I know our football team is a darn good football team."
The bye week will serve as a chance for the Bills players and coaching staff to not only get some much-deserved physical and mental rest, but to evaluate what they must do in order to put themselves in the best position to make the playoffs.
After Sunday's loss, the Bills have a 15 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to The New York Times playoff simulator. With a win, their odds would have increased to 41 percent.
For Hyde, thinking about what could have been is a waste of time.
"We could have nine or 10 wins right now but that's in fantasy land and in real life, we understand what our record is and this is the NFL, man," Hyde said. "We would have liked to get that win, get some momentum going into the bye and going into [Kansas City] next week, but that's the reality. You have to live with it, got to swallow it and find a way to correct things that we haven't been able to correct throughout the first 12 games over the bye week."
The Chiefs game will be incredibly important in the Bills' quest to fight for a playoff spot. For now, the Bills will travel back to Buffalo ready to reflect on what has been a long and arduous season, recover from the exhaustion that comes with playing 12 consecutive weeks and get ready for the final stretch of the season.
"You just gotta go back to the drawing board, we get a week to get our bodies back and come back out versus another good Kansas City team," said defensive tackle Ed Oliver.
The Bills will take on the Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium on December 10 at 4:25 p.m.
