Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills won a back-and-forth affair on Sunday, defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 44-32 in an entertaining matchup. Both offenses came to play, and both teams actually had to resort to the other thing they do on offense in order to be successful.
Whereas the Bills have been a juggernaut running the football, they were unable to find momentum on the ground in this one. Conversely, the Bucs have been great when passing and mediocre when running; on Sunday, that was not the case.
Our players to watch were a mixed bag, as well. Some contributed plenty, some didn’t contribute at all, and others found themselves somewhere in between. Here’s how our five Bills to watch fared against the Bucs in Week 11.
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QB Josh Allen
That was a vintage Allen performance in more ways than one. For starters, there were plenty of head-scratching plays, like the opening-drive shovel-pass interception to avoid a safety. There was also the wide-open miss of fullback Reggie Gilliam for a two-point try, where Allen looked like I do when trying to cash in a five-foot putt for birdie. He missed wide receiver Joshua Palmer for what would have been a third-down conversion, as well, when Palmer was wide open on a crossing route.
Okay, there are all of the negatives. Allen was superb on the whole, throwing for 317 yards and three scores, adding 40 rushing yards and three more scores on the ground. In a game where running back James Cook III struggled to find any room to run (he carried 16 times for just 48 yards) Allen was able to distribute the ball to his pass catchers in chunks.
Cook caught all three of his targets for 66 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown pass to put the Bills ahead for good in the fourth quarter. Running back Ty Johnson turned a third-down screen pass into a 52-yard score late in the first half. Allen played backyard football for his first passing touchdown, rolling right, coming back to the left, and firing a 43-yard strike to wide receiver Tyrell Shavers, who somehow found space in an eight-man coverage to haul in his second career touchdown pass.
It wasn’t always pretty, as the blustery Orchard Park, NY winds combined with a strong Tampa Bay defense to play tricks on Allen at times. But how can we complain when the quarterback goes 19-for-30, accounts for six scores, and totals 357 yards of offense? It was a little boom-or-bust, and there was definitely a roller-coaster feel that I haven’t had while watching Allen for some time.
And yet, it was comforting to watch that big oaf go out there, hit people, and throw the ball over them there mountains. As long as Allen stays upright and locked in, Buffalo has a chance.
[Insert Wide Receiver Here]
Well, we had plenty of questions, but one of them wasn’t “Will Keon Coleman play this week?” I assumed that the Bills’ top pick in the 2024 NFL...
