Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - I did quite a bit of cursing during the Buffalo Bills' game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday night. I sure hope Santa doesn't hold it against me.
The cursing was very much negative in its tone in the early stages of the game, but they were positive curses by the end of, what turned out to be, an extremely stressful three-hour event.
Shortly after the Chargers' attempt at a Christmas miracle came to an end, I headed straight for our liquor cabinet for a much-deserved drink (or two).
The Bills won the game. Period. That is all that matters.
It was far more difficult than many of us had expected, but there are no style points in the NFL standings. Thoughts of a playoff berth, via the Wild Card route or even winning the AFC East, are dancing in our heads thanks to the Bills' third-straight victory, and fourth in the last five games.
Six days after obliterating a very good Dallas Cowboys defense, the Bills' offense wasn't the same, but they made enough key plays, including a game-winning field goal drive late in the fourth quarter to compliment another strong performance from the Buffalo defense.
Josh Allen completed just 15 passes and was off target on a few throws. Stefon Diggs managed a mere 29 yards on five catches, and the running game produced only 105 yards on 30 carries.
However, Allen did some Josh Allen things, Diggs had a couple of critical catches to keep, what turned out to be, a scoring drive going, and the running game did enough to keep the Chargers defense honest.
Throw in a massive game from Gabe Davis, who had 140 yards on just four catches, including a beautiful grab on a 57-yard touchdown, and it added up to a hard-earned 24-22 victory.
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Credit, once again, goes to the Bills defense, which has gone from costing the Bills games to being a reason why they are winning games. For the second time in the current three-game win streak, the defense closed out a one-score game with a stop on the opponent's final drive.
Sean McDermott's group was the difference maker, as they held the Chargers offense to field goals on five of their six drives that ended up with points. On the first of those five field goal drives, Los Angeles had a 1st-and-goal at the Bills' nine-yard line but were kept out of the end zone.
On the four other field goal drives, the Bills came up with a big play on each one:
- A Poona Ford sack on 3rd-and-9 at the Bills' 16-yard line.
- A Taron Johnson pass breakup on 3rd-and-7 at the Bills' 29-yard line.
- An Ed Oliver sack on first down at the Bills' 25-yard line.
- A Terrell Bernard sack on 3rd-and-5 at the Bills' 28-yard line.
I should point out: The Chargers were playing without their starting quarterback (Justin Herbert) and their top-two receivers (Keenan Allen and Mike Williams). The Bills defense should have won their matchup, but you still have to go out and make plays.
The Chargers converted just 29% of their third downs (4-of-14), were only 1-for-3 in the red zone and gave up five sacks.
It was far from pretty, but a win is a win.
Now we can enjoy Christmas!
