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'We've got to come out with some urgency' | Bills react to loss to the Rams

Dec 08, 2024 at 09:25 PM

Dorian Alerte

Contributing Correspondent

The Buffalo Bills seven-game win streak came to a screeching halt following their 44-42 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday afternoon in L.A.

"Credit to the Rams, they did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball," head coach Sean McDermott said.

The Bills never had the lead in the game, only tying the game at 7-7 in the first quarter before the Rams took off.

McDermott said after the game that he felt that they lost two of the three phases of the game, being special teams and on defense. The Rams scored their most points of the season, while the Bills gave up their most points of the season.

"Didn't play to our standard, didn't feel like we had the urgency starting out," LB Terrel Bernard said. "We feel like the offense kept us in the game the whole way through, gave us the opportunity and we just couldn't get it done. So we'll go back, look at it, watch the tape, learn from it, and get better and move on."

The defense surrendered big plays to the Rams wide receivers and for the first time this season did not force a takeaway of the opposing offense. The Rams also scored on all three of their first half drives and did not have a three-and-out until the start of the fourth quarter.

"We got to do better job starting fast," CB Taron Johnson said. "Feel like the previous games before that, we did a good job starting fast, but today wasn't that for us. Just making sure that next time we come out, we bring more energy, more juice and be ready to play for the first play."

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In addition to their success on offense, the Rams also dominated the time of possession battle, holding the ball for 38:30 and running 18 more offensive plays than the Bills offense.

Part of the Rams success also occurred on special teams on a punt block that was returned for a touchdown that contributed to the deficit.

"Looked like it came right over Reid (Ferguson) up front… I've got to look at the film obviously to tell for sure," McDermott said. "That's what Coach Smiley thought."

On a day when nothing seemed to go right on two phases of the game, the bright spot was the offense and in particular QB Josh Allen who became the first player in NFL history to throw for three touchdowns and rush for three touchdowns.

"Incredible," McDermott said of Allen's performance. "We've got to do a better job around him."

On a day where the run game outside of Allen struggled, the passing game took over, making highlight play after highlight play.

"You can't make that up," RB Ty Johnson said. "You see that hunger to keep making plays and put points on the board. It's a spectacle to see, and I'm glad to be his teammate."

Even with the Herculean effort from Allen to bring the Bills back to within two points after being down 17, it was not enough, and the Rams were able to come away with the victory. Allen reiterated that they needed to be better as a team to be successful as the playoffs come closer.

"I hate losing," Allen said. "If you lose by two, you lose by 100, it doesn't matter, you're still losing… I don't know the stats, I don't know how well we were on third down or completion percentage. I don't know any of that. I just know it wasn't good enough to win a football game."

"Urgency" was the key word that Allen, McDermott and several other players used after the game and their main point was that they need to come out with more urgency moving forward.

"We got to come out with some urgency, and I don't think in any phase of the game did we do that today," Allen said. "We'll talk about it as a team and try to figure it out… Just trying to learn from this and move on."

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Buffalo Bills vs San Francisco 49ers, Regular Season, December 08, 2024 at Highmark Stadium.

Ben Green/Buffalo Bills

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Buffalo Bills vs San Francisco 49ers, Regular Season, December 08, 2024 at Highmark Stadium.

Ben Green/Buffalo Bills