Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills’ defense couldn’t get off the field for much of Sunday’s snow-filled home game against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. That is, until back-to-back plays halfway through the fourth quarter.
First, cornerback Christian Benford leapt to anticipate a Burrow pass and rumbled in for a game-changing pick-six, becoming the first defensive player in franchise history to score TDs in consecutive games. Then, on the very next pass attempt, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips got his hands on a Burrow pass and defensive end A.J. Epenesa was there for the INT, which led to a three-yard TD toss to Jackson Hawes and a 39-28 Bills lead as Buffalo held on for an improbable, thrilling, 39-34 victory.
Before we turn our attention to Buffalo’s huge showdown with the New England Patriots in Week 15, today’s edition of Buffalo Rumblinks offers up final observations and lessons learned from the Bills’ comeback win over Cincinnati.
First, the bad from Buffalo’s clutch comeback victory: the third-down defense was abysmal, allowing Burrow to extend drives by converting on their first six third-down attempts, finishing 10-of-12 on third downs for a Cincinnati squad that scored TDs on its first three possessions. Part of the third-down struggles was Buffalo’s inability to generate much pressure on Burrow. Without his sidekick, edge rusher Joey Bosa, defensive end Greg Rousseau managed only one QB hit and one total tackle as the Bills logged one sack (by Benford, who else!). Speaking of bad, with the Bills driving for the go-ahead score, running back James Cook cost the Bills a potential TD when he fumbled on a 1st-and-goal from the 2-yard line. Cook now has four fumbles in his last two games, and a league-high six fumbles on the season.
Then, the good: Josh Allen put on his blue Superman cape, completing 22 of 28 passes for 251 yards, three TDs and more importantly zero turnovers. His 40-yard scamper through the snow sliced the Cincinnati lead to 28-25 as the Bills scored 21 points over a span of 4:30. Allen put the Bills on his back and finished with perhaps his most complete game of the year. He now has a record 50 games with at least one rushing and passing TD, including an insane TD toss into a tight window to Khalil Shakir on fourth down for Buffalo’s first TD of the game.
Speaking of good, head coach Sean McDermott deserves credit for an aggressive game plan that saw the Bills convert three of their four fourth-down attempts. Leading 32-28 following Benford’s pick-six, McDermott went for it, culminating in Allen’s TD pass to Hawes that put the Bills up 39-28. McDermott also let Allen and the offense stay on the field to convert a 4th-and-4 from the Bengals’ 45-yard line that led to Shakir’s TD catch, and also successfully went for two after Shakir’s score.
Linked below: Revisiting Allen’s remarkable performance; exploring how a resilient, mentally tough Bills squad was able to...
