Josh Allen is one of the toughest players in the NFL to stop when the Buffalo Bills need a yard.
Move the ball back one yard and things have gone very differently.
Allen has seven rushing touchdowns this season. Four have come from the 1-yard line and two more from 2 yards out.
The Bills, meanwhile, are just 2-for-11 on two-point conversion attempts. an 18% success rate, since the start of last season, a surprising problem for an offense built around one of the league's most dangerous short-yardage weapons.
It showed up again Sunday.
Buffalo had a chance to take a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter against the New England Patriots but failed on a two-point attempt when Allen tried to squeeze a pass to Joshua Palmer in the back of the end
zone.
Dalton Kincaid was coming open. Allen never got back to him.
The Patriots scored a touchdown on their next possession and converted their two-point attempt to take a 29-26 lead with less than two minutes remaining.
Bills head coach Joe Brady acknowledged Buffalo's two-point conversion struggles Monday.
"We haven't been good in the last two years for sure," Brady said. "You get that two point yesterday and you make it a where, hey, you put stress on them. If they score, either we get the opportunity or they can decide if they want to go for two for the win and you put stress on them. And we obviously didn't do that."
The NFL's league-wide two-point conversion success rate in 2025 was 46%. The Bills went 2-for-9 (22%). They are 0-for-2 this season.
"The percentages aren't necessarily high on two-point plays, but we're not where it needs to be," Brady said.
Brady said the Bills have studied the problem and don't believe there is one simple explanation.
"Some of that is obviously play call," Brady said. "Some of that is us just keeping plays alive. ... We just got to execute at a higher level."
Sunday offered an example.
Kincaid initially chipped a defender before releasing into the end zone. Allen attempted to fit the ball to Palmer while Kincaid eventually found himself uncovered.
Asked Monday whether it was a missed opportunity, Brady acknowledged Allen likely would have preferred to keep the play alive longer. Rather than forcing the throw if his initial options weren't available, Brady said Allen could have continued through his progression or used his legs.
"It's not there, I don't have to just try to thread it in there," Brady said. "I can kind of get through my progression and Dalton's there, I pop it. If not, I scramble, especially in two-point situations."
Brady already felt the Bills didn't get Kincaid involved enough against New England.
Kincaid ran a route on 17 of Buffalo's 34 dropbacks and finished with two targets, one catch and a season-low 7 receiving yards.
Kincaid led NFL tight ends in receiving yards through the first two weeks but has totaled only 45 yards over the last two games.
"The ball needs to find him a little more," Brady said. "And in order for him to do that, he has to run more routes."
"Anytime Dalton comes away with two targets and one of them being in the last drive of the game, obviously I didn't do a good enough job."
Brady put the responsibility on himself to create more opportunities for Kincaid and on Allen to trust those opportunities when they appear.
One appeared on the two-point try in the fourth quarter.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills have a 2-point conversion problem and Joe Brady knows it
