Remember when the Buffalo Bills lost to the Cleveland Browns and we all thought they absolutely had to win their next two games against the Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos?
Mission accomplished, and it wasn't even stressful.
One week after trouncing the Dolphins, the Bills had a relatively easy day at work while dispatching the Broncos, 20-3 at New Era Field.
The Bills are 8-3 for the first time since 1996, and now the fun starts. The Bills face the brutal portion of their schedule with three of the next four games against teams that are currently leading their division. The Bills got a solid performance across the board in the win over the Broncos.
The running game came alive and registered 244 yards against, what was, the 11th-ranked run defense coming into the game. Devin Singletary topped the century mark for the first time in his NFL career with 106 yards. Frank Gore added 65 yards, while passing Barry Sanders and moving into third place on the all-time rushing yards list. Josh Allen added 56 yards on nine runs.
The Bills did that without Ty Nsekhe, who has been rotating at right tackle with Cody Ford throughout the year, and center Mitch Morse, who was injured during the first series and did not return to the game. Give credit to Jon Feliciano for shifting over from right guard to center and Spencer Long, who came in to play right guard. Allen had a sub 200-yard passing game, but was effective nonetheless. He made a perfect throw into the wind on a 34-yard touchdown to wide receiver John Brown. Brown, who had his fewest yards receiving with the Bills, got a step on Broncos cornerback Chris Harris, Jr. and Allen hit his No. 1 target in stride for the score. It was Allen's first completion this season on a ball that traveled more than 30 yards. Allen was also on the mark on an 18-yard touchdown toss to Cole Beasley, who stepped up with Brown being held in check. Beasley had 76 yards on nine catches.
Allen was very good on third-and-long in this game. He used his passing arm to convert a 3rd-and-9, a 3rd-and-10 and a 3rd-and-11. Allen used his legs to get a first down on a 3rd-and-12 play, running for 18 yards. The Bills were an impressive 8-for-16 on third down.
The only negative for the Bills' second-year quarterback came when he threw his first interception since Week 5 against the Tennessee Titans.As evidenced by the three points scored by Denver, the Bills defense had their way with the Broncos offense.
The Bills' defensive line won their matchup against Denver's offensive line and it made for a miserable day for quarterback Brandon Allen, who was making his third NFL start. Allen threw for just 82 yards, was picked once and sacked four times. 78 of those 82 yards came in the first half. In the second half, Allen was 3-of-14 for just four yards.
When you throw in the yardage lost on sacks, the Broncos' net passing yards total for the second half was minus-15. The Broncos had 10 possessions in total and were limited to just 134 yards. The Bills defense forced a three-and-out on the Broncos' last five drives of the game.
Tre'Davious White and whatever safety help he had took Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton completely out of the game. Sutton beat White on the game's opening drive for a 22-yard catch, and that would be his only reception on the day. White also came up with the defense's first interception in the last five games.
Linebacker Matt Milano was making plays all over the place, whether it was run stops, quarterback pressures or coverage plays. Milano had a team-leading six tackles to go along with one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit and three pass breakups.There really wasn't much to complain about from the Bills' perspective. Penalties would be at the top of a very short list. Buffalo was flagged 12 times for 90 yards.
No time for the Bills to celebrate this one since they have a short work week and a Thanksgiving day matchup with the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Thursday.
After the Cowboys this upcoming week comes games with the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots in Foxboro. It's a major step up in competition since all four teams currently have a winning record.
Through the first 11 games of the season, the Bills faced only two teams that have a winning record at this point: New England (Week 4 - loss) and Tennessee (Week 5 - win).
