Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - We have seen this game before.
The Buffalo Bills aren't at their best, for whatever reason, and struggle in the first half against a team they are clearly better than. Then, in the second half, they put away the lesser talented team.
That story, once again, played out in Indianapolis on Sunday, as the Bills stretched their win streak to five games in a 30-20 win over the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The win helped the Bills improve to 8-2 on the 2024 season, and set up a huge AFC showdown with the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs at Highmark Stadium in Week 11.
In terms of the big picture, the victory moves the Bills another step closer to clinching the AFC East, although that appears to be a foregone conclusion. It keeps the Bills second in the AFC behind the Chiefs, and a half game ahead of the 7-2 Pittsburgh Steelers, who already had their bye week.
If the Bills can knock off the Chiefs, they will be just a half game back in the race for the No. 1 seed, but will have the tiebreaker on Kansas City.
I'll admit, the current five-game winning streak hasn't come against the behemoths of the NFL. The wins have come over teams that all have a losing record (New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Seattle Seahawks, Miami Dolphins and Colts), but you still have to go out and beat them.
In case you forgot, last season, the Bills lost games against mediocre-to-bad teams like the Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots and Denver Broncos.
In a nutshell, the Bills offense looked good in the second and fourth quarters, and not good in the first and third quarters.
It was a struggle for the Bills' passing game, but that was to be expected, considering they had to make a go of it without two of their best weapons, as both Amari Cooper and Keon Coleman were inactive due to wrist injuries.
The Bills also lost tight end Dalton Kincaid during the game to a knee injury.
Allen threw two interceptions, and both were on him, as opposed to his previous two picks this season.
Only three wide receivers ended up with targets in the win, but all three had some key catches.
Khalil Shakir caught six balls for 58 yards, two of those six catches were good for first down conversions.
Mack Hollins has come through in back-to-back games with the receiving group depleted by injuries. Hollins caught all four of his targets for a team-high 86 yards. In the last two games, Hollins has nine catches on nine targets for 116 yards and a touchdown.
Even Curtis Samuel made some contributions. Hardly used at all in his first season with the Bills, Samuel did have a season-high four catches for 35 yards.
The offense was its own worst enemy on Sunday. They did roll up 415 net yards, but only got into the end zone two times out of 10 drives. They were just 2-for-4 in the red zone, and had three false starts and two holding penalties on the day.
But when push came to shove, taking just a 20-13 lead into the fourth quarter, the offense put up back-to-back 13-play, six-plus-minute drives that produced a field and game-sealing touchdown.
Allen was terrific on the touchdown drive. He completed 4-of-5 passes for 58 yards, and also had a season-high 21-yard run. The drive ended with a two-yard touchdown run from James Cook to put Buffalo up by 17 points with 3:04 remaining on the clock.
I think I finally figured out the Bills defense.
It is definitely an example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. At any given time, any player has the ability to come up with a big play.
At times, the defense is hard to watch, but when all is said and done, they usually make enough plays and get enough stops to do their part in victory.
Against the Colts, Taron Johnson recorded a pick-six of Joe Flacco on Indianapolis' very first possession. Johnson would later add a sack, becoming the first player in Bills history to record a pick-six and a sack in the same game.
On the very next drive, defensive tackle Austin Johnson recorded his second interception in the last three games. Not bad for a guy who never had an interception in his entire football life up to that point.
Taylor Rapp also had an interception that preceded the game-sealing 84-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.
Greg Rousseau came up with a strip-sack, and the Bills recovered the Flacco fumble.
Von Miller did not record any of the Bills' four sacks, but loked really quick off the snap. So much so that I kept waiting for an offside penalty to be called.
Once again, the Bills defensive coaching staff should receive credit for halftime adjustments.
In the first half, Colts running back Jonathan Taylor had 107 yards on 16 carries. About half of that came on a 58-yard run. But in the second half, the Colts' star back had just seven yards on five carries.
That made the Colts lean on Flacco to lead a comeback, and he looked all of his 39 years.
All-in-all, the Bills defense had four takeaways (which extended their takeaway streak to 12 games going back to last season), four sacks, forced a turnover on downs and scored a touchdown.
Also a shoutout to Tyler Bass, the hero of the Week 9 victory over the Dolphins.
The Bills kicker was perfect in this game, connecting on all three of his field goal attempts and all three extra point attempts. One of his field goal attempts came from 48 yards out after a penalty on the Bills.
Related
Other notes:
- The Bills are 8-2 to start a season for the first time since 1993.
- In the five-game win streak, the Bills have outscored their opponents, 148-87.
- The Bills scored, at least, 30 points for the seventh time this season, and for a fourth-straight game.
- Allen recorded his 57th career rushing touchdown, which puts him in a tie for second in Bills history with O.J. Simpson. Thurman Thomas ranks first all-time with 65.
- This is the third time under head coach Sean McDermott that the Bills have won, at least, five-straight games in the regular season. They won six-straight games in 2020, and then seven in-a-row in 2022.
Bring on the Chiefs!
