Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘“For Buffalo, this has continued a trend of poor second-half play,” Tony Dungy said on the Sunday Night Football pregame show. “Leaky run defense in the second half, Josh Allen with bad decisions … just not playing good ball. They’ve been outscored 43-12 in the second half of their last three games. They’ve got to get that fixed.”’

‘Sorry if that offends the legions of Allen supporters who literally think he can do no wrong, but let’s be perfectly honest here: The Bills quarterback is suddenly doing a whole lot wrong and a once-promising season has taken a nasty and ugly detour.’

‘What the hell were the Bills thinking late in the third quarter when they had fourth-and-2 at the 7? Rather than kick a field goal for a 30-17 lead, meaning the Vikings would need two TDs to win, they went for it and Allen threw his first pick. It was a horrendous coaching decision by Sean McDermott that played a major role in losing the game.

‘Sal’s prediction: Buffalo Bills 24, Minnesota Vikings 20.’

‘Cable/Network: FOX. The game will be available locally via the following stations: WUHF (Channel 12, Rochester), WUTV (Buffalo area), WSYT (Syracuse area), WFXV (Utica area), WYDC (Elmira area), WXXA (Albany area), and WICZ (Binghamton area).’

‘Allen did not practice Wednesday or Thursday, though he was listed as a limited participant on Friday. What that means is anyone’s guess because media is not allowed to watch practice. When reporters were allowed into the fieldhouse at the end of the session, Allen sprinted off the field and into the locker room. Make of that what you will.’

‘And yet, there is a sense of disappointment because, by all rights, the Bills could very easily be 8-0. They completely outplayed Miami everywhere but on the scoreboard, and they had some critical and uncharacteristic mistakes that enabled the Jets to rally from a 14-3 deficit to pull the upset.’

‘Just as numerous other Bills backup quarterbacks have in the past when they were thrust into action, either because the starter got hurt or benched. Here are 10 occasions when a Bills backup played and came out on the winning side…’

‘However, one thing he did say is that Allen’s status will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis and that’s certainly more encouraging than week-to-week which is the way he typically answers questions about players who are injured a bit more severely.’

‘Add it all up and he’s 29-35 as a starter with a 62.3 completion percentage, a 190.8 passing yards per game average, 78 touchdowns and 48 interceptions.’

‘A report by NFL Network Monday afternoon indicated that Allen will probably be limited in practice this week, but that the hope is the injury is not serious enough to keep him out of the game.’

‘It seems rather hard to believe that Minnesota at 7-1 has a better record than the 6-2 Bills, but that’s the case thanks to Buffalo’s shake-your-head 20-17 loss to the New York Jets Sunday.’

‘It sure seemed like we were past games like this for Josh Allen, but Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, the Buffalo Bills quarterback had a performance that took us back five years to his rookie season.’

‘Perhaps we’ll look back at this and call it the necessary slap in the face they needed on their way to the Super Bowl. But if they aren’t careful and their play Sunday continues, not only are they not going to make it to the Super Bowl, they’re going to have a tough time winning the now extremely competitive AFC East and securing a home playoff game.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Buffalo Bills 23, New York Jets 10.’