Cleveland, Ohio (WGR550) - The Buffalo Bills were able to hold on for a 23-20 victory over the Cleveland Browns Sunday and improve to 11-4 on the season, winning their fourth game in a row.
Here are my Arrows Up and Down from the contest, starting Up for the fourth straight time:
ARROW UP
RB James Cook in the first half
Cook was sensational in the first half, running for exactly 100 yards on just nine carries, an average of 11.1 yards per run. He scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground, including an electrifying 44-yard run.
DE Greg Rousseau
Rousseau came up huge with a sack and a split of another on back-to-back fourth quarter drives to help seal the win. He had another sack in the first half and finished the game with 2.5 sacks and a whopping 7 quarterback hurries.
S Jordan Poyer
Poyer was a big part of the Bills defense all afternoon and collected his first interception since 2022 when he grabbed a ball that wasn't caught and popped up in the air. He led the team with eleven total tackles, including a half a sack, and added a QB hurry and pass breakup.
DT DaQuan Jones' first interception
DaQuan Jones collected hs first-ever interception - at any level of football - when he pulled down a ball that was batted into the air by Joey Bosa. Jones also had four total tackles and a pass breakup.
OT Dion Dawkins and offense limiting Myles Garrett
The Bills did an excellent job on Browns future Hall of Fame defensive end Myles Garrett, who finished the game with just a single tackle. Garrett was credited with a half of a sack when Josh Allen fell near the goal line and Garrett was closest to him. Dion Dawkins, who had missed two days of practice while sick this week, was matched up with him one-on-one for much of the day.
Running game
As a team, the Bills ran for 164 yards on 29 carries, an average of 5.7 yards per run.
Three straight touchdown drives to start game
The Bills scored touchdowns on their first three possessions of the game on drives of 81, 61, and 68 yards.
Red zone offense
The Bills had the ball inside the Browns 20-yard line three times and scored two touchdowns. The only time they didn't convert was after a dropped pass in the end zone by Dawson Knox.
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ARROW DOWN
Defending the screen pass
The Browns opened the game with a successful screen pass and then continued to go to it, hurting the Bills multiple times throughout the game on big plays.
Run defense
Despite losing excellent rookie running back Quinshon Judkins before halftime to an injury, the Bills run defense still gave up a total of 160 yards on 31 carries by Cleveland, who averaged 5.2 yards a run.
Tackling
As it has been several times this season, tackling was an issue for the Bills defense. Too many times a ball carrier should have been taken to the ground but wasn't.
2nd half offense/Joe Brady
After gaining 197 yards of offense in the first half, the Bills only mustered 60 total yards in the second half. The Browns were able to shut the Bills run game down and offensive coordinator Joe Brady did not come up with better answers to counter them. After scoring 20 points in the first half, Buffalo scored just three points in the second half.
TE Dawson Knox's drop
Up three points and faced with a 4th down and 1 at the Browns 11 yard line with 2:53 remaining, Bills head coach Sean McDermott elected to go of it. It was a terrific play design by Joe Brady. Josh Allen rolled out, threw the ball, and it hit Dawson Knox in the hands, but he didn't bring it in. The Browns got the ball on a turnover on downs.
WR Brandin Cooks
Cooks had one target the entire game. It came on a 2nd and 9 in the fourth quarter when the Bills really needed to sustain a drive up only three points. Josh Allen threw a ball that Cooks stretched out for, but had in his hands and couldn't come down with. That set up a third down and long. Allen was sacked.
K Michael Badgley
Filling in for the injured Matt Prater, Badgley missed an extra point and hit a kickoff that did not go far enough to make the landing zone, so the Browns started at their own 40-yard line.
Third down offense and defense
The Bills were bad on third down on both sides of the ball, going just 2-8 (25%) when they had the ball. and allowing the Browns to convert 8-of-14 (57.1%) of their third down chances.
Slow start on defense again
Once again the Bills defense got off to a slow start and allowed a touchdown on the opposing offense's opening drive.
Lack of wide receiver production
Just like last week, Khalil Shakir was the only Bills wide receiver to catch more than one pass. Outside of Shakir, Bills receivers accounted for 2 catches for 23 yards.
Allowing QB scrambles
Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders escaped too often and for too many yards and big plays. He finished the game as the Browns leading rusher with 49 yards on 4 carries. He had carries of 13, 14, and 16 yards.
