Following a week of postponements, rescheduling and a lot of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Tennessee organization, along with a nine-day layoff between games, the Buffalo Bills returned to the field Tuesday night for long-awaited matchup with the Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
The result, however, was not one the Bills were hoping for, as they dropped their first game of the season, 42-16, falling to 4-1 in 2020.
The Bills have typically started games pretty well this season, but it seemed like it was going to be a long night right from the get-go on Tuesday.
On Buffalo’s first offensive possession, a Josh Allen pass went off the hands of wide receiver Andre Roberts and into the arms of Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler, abruptly ending their drive and giving Tennessee a short field to work with.
With the ensuing drive starting at the Buffalo 16-yard line, Tennessee capitalized quickly, needing just two plays to strike first blood and take a 7-0 on an A.J. Brown reception touchdown.
The Bills answered the Titans' score with a touchdown drive of their own. Isaiah McKenzie’s three-yard touchdown reception capped-off a 15-play drive to even the score at 7-7 midway through the first quarter.
The game stayed pretty even for the remainder of the opening frame, but once the second quarter came around, momentum began to really swing in Tennessee’s favor.
Rushing touchdowns from Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill book-ended the second quarter for the Titans. Henry’s score came just a little over a minute into the frame, while Tannehill found the end zone with just 16 seconds left until halftime.
Buffalo trailed 21-10 at half, thanks to a 43-yard field goal from Tyler Bass at the 8:38 mark of the second quarter. Aside from Bass’ made field goal and a 74-yard punt from Corey Bojorquez, there were not many other positives for the Bills before halftime.
Things went from bad to worse for the Bills in the third quarter.
Butler intercepted Allen for the second time, this one being a poor throw from Allen, and returned it 68 yards to the Buffalo 12-yard line. The Titans made good on the turnover and extended their lead with Tannehill finding tight end Jonnu Smith for a four-yard passing touchdown, making it 28-10.
The Bills tried to climb back in the fourth, but couldn’t come close to mustering up enough. T.J. Yeldon caught a 22-yard pass from Allen for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but two late scores from the Titans put the finishing touches on a night where seemingly nothing went the Bills’ way.
Here are five quick observations from the game:
1.) Bills defense struggled without some key players
Injuries are part of the game and every team deals with them, but the Buffalo defense has had it’s struggles with all of it’s starters in the lineup this season. Without guys like linebacker Matt Milano, and cornerbacks Tre’Davious White and Levi Wallace on the field, weaknesses are showing even more, and depth could certainly be one of them.
Josh Norman, who played great last week against the Las Vegas Raiders in his season debut, had a rough evening all-around, especially when he was on the receiving end of a vicious stiff-arm from Henry.
Taron Johnson had struggles at corner as well, as did linebacker A.J. Klein. To go along with all this, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds is still playing at less than 100% health as well.
Many believed the offense was going to have to shoulder the load against the Titans going into Tuesday’s matchup, but I’m not sure how many saw this kind of result coming.
2.) Allen may be relying on Stefon Diggs a little too much
It didn’t help that Allen was down a receiver with John Brown inactive for Tuesday’s game due to a calf injury. However, he threw to Diggs 16 times against Tennessee, seven more targets than the next closest receiver, who was Gabriel Davis with nine. Diggs has obviously earned the right to be targeted the most, but one thing Allen has done well this season is spread the ball around and get a lot of guys involved.
Tuesday night just seemed different.
Diggs performed, catching 10 passes for 106 yards, both game-highs for all receivers. But, Cole Beasley didn’t really get involved until the second half. Davis contributed with five catches and is consistently improving, but also went quiet at times.
The final box score will show eight different Bills receivers caught passes, but for a good portion of the game when it was still winnable for Buffalo, Diggs was getting the majority of the looks.
3.) Tennessee took advantage of opportunities
The Titans were the better team all evening, and it was pretty clear to see.
Tennessee was gifted great field position in the early stages, starting their first two offensive drives at the Buffalo 16- and 30-yard lines respectively. The Titans made good use of the short field on both occasions, scoring touchdowns on both drives. The trend continued throughout the game, and it wasn’t just capitalizing on a short distance to the goal line.
Tennessee’s two biggest scores came at the end of the second and third quarters. In the second quarter, following Bojorquez’s 74-yard punt, the Titans went on a 12-play, 90-yard scoring drive in less than three minutes to make it a two-score game before halftime. In the third quarter, after Butler’s second interception and the long return, Tennessee scored in just three plays, stretching the lead to 28-10 and taking full control of the game.
Along with all of that, Tennessee finished 6-for-6 in the red zone. The Titans really, really executed well all night.
4.) Bills offense was really good on third down
It’s hard to find a lot of positives to take away from the loss to the Titans, but Allen, despite some mistakes, made quite a few big plays in big spots. Whether it was using his legs or his arm, Allen converted on third-and-long on a number of occasions.
The Bills were 13-for-17 on third down Tuesday night, an impressive rate to say the least. It’s a small thing to take away from a game that was full of negatives, but Allen’s play was impressive in certain moments.
5.) The loss to Tennessee is on everyone
Nothing really broke the Bills' way on Tuesday night; that much was pretty clear.
The offense that scored 30-plus points in each of the first four games this season was held to just 16. The defense, once again, struggled at all areas. The offense wasn’t explosive or consistent and turned the ball over twice. Even special teams had its issues. Andre Roberts fumbled a kick return late in the fourth quarter. Bojorquez had a bad hold on Tyler Bass’ made field goal.
It was a night where just too much went wrong for the Bills and everything seemed to go right for Tennessee.
GAME SUMMARY
First Quarter:
- 7-0 TITANS - Titans touchdown (12:45) – Ryan Tannehill passes to A.J. Brown for a 16-yard touchdown (Stephen Gostkowski’s extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 2 plays, 16 yards, 0:44
- 7-7 TIE - Bills touchdown (6:02) – Josh Allen passes to Isaiah McKenzie for a 3-yard touchdown (Tyler Bass’ extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 15 plays, 76 yards, 6:43
Second Quarter:
- 14-7 TITANS - Titans touchdown (13:54) – Derrick Henry rushes for a 1-yard touchdown (Stephen Gostkowski’s extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 7 plays, 30 yards, 3:05
- 14-10 TITANS – Bills field goal (8:38) – Tyler Bass’ 43-yard field goal attempt is good)
Drive info: 10 plays, 50 yards, 5:16
- 21-10 TITANS - Titans touchdown (0:16) – Ryan Tannehill rushes for a 10-yard touchdown (Stephen Gostkowski’s extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 12 plays, 90 yards, 2:39
Third Quarter:
- 28-10 TITANS - Titans touchdown (1:49) – Ryan Tannehill passes to Jonnu Smith for a 4-yard touchdown (Stephen Gostkowski’s extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 3 plays, 12 yards, 1:16
Fourth Quarter:
- 28-16 TITANS - Bills touchdown (10:00) – Josh Allen passes to T.J. Yeldon for a 22-yard touchdown (Buffalo’s two-point conversion attempt is unsuccessful)
Drive info: 14 plays, 90 yards, 6:49
- 35-16 TITANS - Titans touchdown (3:57) – Derrick Henry rushes for a 9-yard touchdown (Stephen Gostkowski’s extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 11 plays, 75 yards, 6:03
- 42-16 TITANS - Titans touchdown (1:59) – Ryan Tannehill passes to Jonnu Smith for a 7-yard touchdown (Stephen Gostkowski’s extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 6 plays, 18 yards, 1:50
SKYWORKS EQUIPMENT RENTAL STATS OF THE GAME:
WHAT'S NEXT:
The Bills will return home for a matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, Oct. 19 at Bills Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m., as the game was moved from this upcoming Thursday, Oct. 15. Be sure to hear all the action on WGR with John Murphy, Steve Tasker and Sal Capaccio on the call.