Buffalo Rumblings
James Cook notched a career day against the Carolina Panthers and the Bills Bills defense made a huge statement against Andy Dalton to secure an easy win in Charlotte. Sean McDermott is 9-0 coming out of the bye during his NFL career. The Bills avoided a three-game losing streak for the first time in Josh Allen’s career.
The Carolina Panthers took the opening kickoff with backup QB Andy Dalton and went three and out. Jordan Poyer got the start in place of Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin, both on injured reserve. Joe Andreesen was in the game in place of the injured Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard.
From the jump, the Bills rode the running game. James Cook started the first Bills drive with a 12-yard toss run on his way to four carries for 38 yards. After that, they subbed in Ty Johnson for a run for no gain, then a pass to Ray Davis couldn’t find the mark, so the rotation continues as does the ineffectiveness of it. On third and 10, the Panthers brought pressure away from the Bills offensive line slide and brought down Josh Allen for a four-yard sack. Matt Prater was true. Bills 3, Panther 0
The Bills saw the rookie debut of first-round pick Maxwell Hairston in their second defensive drive, taking the spot of Tre’Davious White. Carolina got a couple first downs through the air and via penalty to move into Bills territory before Rico Dowdle busted off a 24-yard gain. A couple plays later, Andy Dalton was flushed from the pocket and trying to just pick up a few yards when Greg Rousseau hit him from behind and popped the ball loose. Christian Benford returned it six yards to stop the scoring threat. Shaq Thompson was in for Buffalo Joe on that drive.
Buffalo went back to Cook on the first two plays for a combined 30 yards. The Panthers gave up 44 rushing yards in Week 7, and Cook went over that already. Two incomplete passes brought up third and 10, but on National Tight Ends Day, Allen found Dalton Kincaid over the middle for 23 yards. An Elijah Moore reception was correctly overturned on replay, but they picked up the first down into the red zone.
The Bills found a lot of success running behind Dion Dawkins in the first quarter. They finished the first 15 minutes with 79 rushing yards from James Cook on 9 carries, an average of 8.8 yards per rush. Josh Allen was not locked in, going just 3-of-8 for 38 yards.
The second quarter started with a Dawkins false start but a pass to Dawson Knox made it third and short. A successful tush push was negated by illegal formation on Curtis Samuel, and on 3rd and 6, Josh Allen took a 16-yard sack. Allen has looked bad today — not just bad for him, but bad in general. Prater...
