Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - A road trip of 2,600 miles (whatever). A five-hour flight (hey, it's a charter). A change to your body clocks of three hours (no biggie). The "12s" and all of their collective noise (meh).
None of that bothered the Buffalo Bills, who put together their most complete performance of the season, while throttling the Seattle Seahawks, 31-10, on Sunday afternoon.
Even though the Bills had won their last two games over the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans, the offense and defense took turns having shaky halves.
That was not the story in this one, as the Bills improved to 22-6 against the NFC in games started by quarterback Josh Allen.
From the very start, the Bills set the tone on both sides of the ball.
A defense playing without every down, play-making linebacker Terrel Bernard, recorded a three-and-out on the opening possession of the game.
The offense then came out and put together a 14-play, 90-yard touchdown drive that took nine minutes off the clock. The Bills even overcame 25 yards of penalties on the drive (a false start and two holding calls).
Allen and the passing game looked great from the get go. The very first play, a 23-yard pass to tight end Dawson Knox, was a little preview of what was to come.
On that scoring drive, Allen was 7-of-8 for 80 yards, and saw rookie wideout Keon Coleman catching three balls for 34 yards, including a terrific one-handed grab on the opening touchdown of the game.
In the last two games, Coleman has made some big strides towards gaining the trust of Allen and offensive coordinator Joe Brady. He is finding ways to get open, making tough catches when he isn't open, has shown yards-after-catch ability, and he runs with power after he has the ball in his hands.
Over his last two games, Coleman has nine catches on 14 targets for 195 yards, which is a very impressive average of 21 yards per-catch.
The Bills offense really hit its stride starting late in the second quarter.
Allen got into a rhythm, running back James Cook was adding big runs, and wide receiver Khalil Shakir was showing, once again, why his nickname should be "Mr. Reliable".
The Bills scored points on four-straight possessions from late in the second to early in the fourth quarter. They produced three touchdowns and one field goal, and put the game way out of reach with a 31-3 lead.
I love Cook, by the way. He is so much fun to watch when he carries the ball.
Cook has the ability to explode through a hole, but also the speed to beat defenders to the edge. He is a powerful runner too, and broke numerous Seahawks tackle attempts on the day.
When all was said and done Sunday, Cook ended up with a season-high 111 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns on 17 carries. If you add in his catches, Cook had 20 touches for 133 yards, which is a strong average of 6.6 yards a touch.
What more can you say about Shakir, who is turning into a great draft pick by general manager Brandon Beane.
Not only does he catch everything thrown his way, he consistently beats defenders in 1-on-1 situations after the reception. Shakir knows how to get open, and is deadly in the middle of the field.
Shakir had a career-high nine catches for 107 yards, which was the second-best single game yardage total for him. The 24-year-old had 115 yards in a home win over the New York Jets last season.
For the year, Shakir has caught 36 of his 38 targets for a catch rate of 94%, which is just incredible.
Allen and company had the vertical passing game going, and did a great job of stretching the field. Five of his pass completions went for 20-plus yards. Coleman had catches of 21 and 25 yards, Knox caught passes of 23 and 27 yards, and Shakir added a 35-yard reception.
Related
Now let's get to the defense.
The unit has had some rough first halves this season, and then looked dominant in the second half. In this game, they shut down Seattle from start-to-finish.
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, who came into the game leading the NFL in average passing yards per-game, was held to 212 yards in the air.
It certainly helped the Bills that wide receiver D.K. Metcalf was out with a knee injury, but they still had Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The two wideouts combined for just seven catches and 78 yards.
I was really worried about the Bills' run defense against Kenneth Walker III, but Seattle's top running back was practically invisible. He had 12 yards on nine carries.
Overall, the Bills held the Seahawks to 32 yards on 17 runs, which is an unsightly 1.9 yards per-carry.
This Bills defense truly is a case of the whole being better than the sum of the parts. They gave up just one touchdown (which came in garbage time) on eight Seattle possessions. The defense held Seattle's offense to 233 net yards.
Seattle was just 1-for-7 on third down, 0-for-1 on fourth down and 1-for-3 in the red zone. On five of their eight drives, Seattle totaled single-digit net yards. The yardage totals on those five drives were: 1, 2, 0, -1, and -5.
Tip of the cap to the Bills' defensive coaches and players who continue to perform much better than I thought they would, at least in the first couple of months when I expected injuries and growing pains would be issues.
The only negative on the day for the Bills was penalties.
The Bills ended up with 13 penalties for 85 yards. They've been guilty of 15 false starts this season, which is two more than they had all of last season.
Even the out-of-town scoreboard went the Bills' way on Sunday.
The Miami Dolphins got quarterback Tua Tagovailoa back, but still lost at home to the Arizona Cardinals on a walk off field goal.
Meanwhile, the Jets dropped to 0-3 since they fired Robert Saleh after somehow losing to a New England Patriots team that had lost their last six games.
Here are the updated AFC East standings with Miami coming to Highmark Stadium on Sunday:
1.) Bills: 6-2
2.) Dolphins: 2-5 (Bills have the tiebreaker)
3.) Patriots: 2-6
4.) Jets: 2-6 (Bills have the tiebreaker)
If the Bills beat the Dolphins, it will feel like they would be able to clinch the division by Thanksgiving or early December, at the latest.
Miscellaneous notes:
- The Bills are now 6-2 after eight games for the third time in the last four years (2020, 2022).
- In their current three-game win streak, the Bills have outscored the opposition, 88-40.
- Allen is now 22-6 in his career against NFC teams, and has 78 total touchdowns in those 28 games.
- Allen did throw his first interception of the season, ending a streak of 301 pass attempts without a pick.
- Despite the pick, Allen increased his career touchdown pass total to 181, moving into a second-place tie with Joe Ferguson for the most touchdown passes in franchise history. Only Jim Kelly is ahead of Allen with 237.
- The defense has, at least, one takeaway in every game this season, and extended its streak of forcing a turnover to 10-straight games dating back to last season.
