Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills defense came into Week 2 looking to prove that its struggles vs. the Baltimore Ravens just a week ago were a fluke. Head coach Sean McDermott said that they had to make things “hard” in practice this week. Playing against a New York Jets team that loves to run the ball — and had great success doing so in Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers — the Bills knew they had to be better than they were in the season opener.
Not only were the Bills better this week, but they were absolutely dominant. Buffalo played up to their own lofty standard, and even surpassed it in some ways by turning in a lock-down performance on defense. Buffalo allowed just 154 total yards, the lowest total they’ve allowed in a game since 1990. After the Jets racked up nearly 400 yards of offense in Week 1, the Bills brought them crashing back down to Earth in this game — a contest which really wasn’t close for any time at all.
Buffalo’s top players all showed up this week — special shout-outs to Joey Bosa and James Cook — but some of our players to watch entering the game answered the bell, as well. Here’s how those five players fared in Sunday’s blowout victory.
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RB Ty Johnson
After seeing plenty of run in Week 1, Johnson was the clear third-wheel in this week’s running back game plan. Johnson saw just 19 snaps on offense, totaling 25% of the snaps. Ray Davis saw a bit more, totaling 27% on 20 total offensive snaps. James Cook was on the field for much of this one, as he handled 35 offensive snaps, or 47% of the offensive total. Cook had 21 carries for 132 yards and two touchdowns, so sticking with him made sense.
Johnson only carried twice for six yards, and he was targeted once on a screen pass that Quincy Williams blew up immediately by leveling Johnson as the football arrived.
WR Keon Coleman
The Bills didn’t do much through the air, and as a result, Coleman’s overall numbers were the type that likely frustrated fantasy football managers who added him after his huge Week 1 performance. Coleman caught all three of his targets for just 26 yards on the day. No Buffalo receiver saw more than tight end Dalton Kincaid’s six targets, and the Bills passed just 27 times overall.
Between Buffalo’s defensive dominance and the success of the run game, there wasn’t much need to throw it. Coleman did what he needed to do, and we’ll take that even when it doesn’t translate to huge fantasy football numbers.
DT T.J. Sanders
The second-round pick did, in fact, see his first NFL start, but he didn’t do much with it in terms of his overall stats. Sanders had just one tackle on the day, playing a team-high 23 defensive snaps at defensive tackle. Zion Logue, who played just 16 snaps in his first action after being called...
