In “The Xs and Os” with Greg Cosell this week, while previewing all the divisional round games, Greg made the point (which he’s made before) that Buffalo Bills receiver Stefon Diggs is not the deep target he used to be.
That played out in a highly unfortunate way for the Bills in their 27-24 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night.
With 8:23 left in the game, and the score 27-24 in favor of Kansas City, Josh Allen threw an absolute howitzer of a deep ball to Diggs, who had beaten safety Justin Reid on an inside release vertical route up the numbers. Diggs did have to slow down a tick as the ball came down, but the ball was right in his hands at the Kansas City 28-yard line – that’s a 60ish-yard throw, since Allen threw it from his own 12-yard line – and all Diggs had to do was reach out and catch the thing.
Which he didn’t.
Stefon Diggs couldn't come down with it, but good lord Josh Allen. pic.twitter.com/SV5AJQy59Y
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 22, 2024
NBC’s cameras panned to Allen after the drop, and his expression seemed to say, “That’s the best throw I’ve ever made, and I threw it to my best receiver, and we got nothing out of it.” Just brutal.
You literally, physically, cannot throw a deep ball any better than this. Just brutal. pic.twitter.com/I9z0IO7gqv
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) January 22, 2024
That was the first play of the Bills’ final drive, which ended with Tyler Bass missing what would have been a 44-yard game-tying field goal with 1:47 left in the game. There were a lot of things that went wrong on that final drive, but imagine how different things would have been if Diggs had caught that deep throw. It was probably a touchdown, and then, it’s literally a whole new ballgame.
Diggs was targeted three times on that final drive, with no catches. Which further complicates matters, of course. Neither of these were deep throws, but they further illustrate a separation issue.
The first was on first-and-10 from the Buffalo 43-yard line with 5:47 left in the game…
…and the second happened one play later.
The Bills are in a perilous financial situation for the 2024 season, and if Diggs — one of the team’s highest-paid players — can’t find a better footing next season and beyond, we could be entering a dimension in which he’s more of a problem than a solution.
