Inglewood, Calif. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Bills didn’t play their best football, but were able to pull out a 24-22 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday night to climb back into a playoff spot in the AFC.
Here are my Arrows, starting with Up again after the team’s third-straight win:
ARROW UP:
Survive and advance
Maybe it was having to fly across the country on a short-week playing a team that had 10 days to prepare. Maybe it was playing a Chargers squad that played inspired for their new head coach. Or maybe the Bills just took them too lightly.
Whatever it was, the Bills clearly didn’t play their best football game. But at the end of the day, it’s about finishing on the right end of the scoreboard, and they were able to find a way to do that, despite all of their mistakes.
Sam Martin
With the Bills up just five points and facing a 4th-and-32 from their own three-yard line, they needed a big-time punt from Martin, who promptly crushed the ball 58 yards.
Martin boomed punts all night, finishing with four of them for an average net of 49.0 yards, a 52.3 gross, and three of them pinned inside the Chargers' 20-yard line.
Gabe Davis
Davis had a monster game, catching four passes for 130 yards and a touchdown.
On the final offensive drive and trailing 22-21 with 5:26 remaining, the Bills started at their own 25-yard line. From there, they marched 64 yards in 13 plays to set up the game-winning field goal.
Josh Allen was 4-of-5 for 68 yards on that final possession.
Defensive close-out
For the second time in three games, the Bills defense had to close out the final drive of the opposing team, and did it.
With 28 seconds remaining, the Chargers needed about 30 yards to get into possible game-winning field goal range. However, Ed Oliver sacked Easton Stick, which was then followed by a terrific pass breakup by the secondary.
Then a final desperation play ended the game with another Bills win.
Ed Oliver
Oliver had that huge sack on the final drive, finishing the game with two sacks, four total tackles, and two quarterback hurries.
Taron Johnson
Johnson tied for second on the team with seven total tackles, and also had two huge pass breakups in the fourth quarter.
Poona Ford
In his first action since Oct. 26 and only his fifth game of the season, Ford finished with two total tackles, a sack, and a quarterback hurry.
Job on Khalil Mack
Once again, the Bills faced one of the league’s premier pass-rushers. Once again, they did a great job of not letting him wreck the game.
Mack finished with four total tackles, one for a loss, and no sacks.
Run defense
The Chargers ran the ball 27 times for just 98 yards, averaging only 3.6 yards per-run.
Third down defense
The Chargers were just 4-for-14 (28.6%) on third downs.
Red zone defense
The Chargers were inside the Bills' 20-yard line three times, but scored just one touchdown (33%).
Related
ARROW DOWN:
First quarter/start
The Bills were basically sleepwalking through the first quarter. They punted their first two possessions, were down 10-0 early in the second quarter, and made things very hard on themselves.
Von Miller
Miller was held to just one total tackle, and didn’t really come close to making an impact. The Chargers handled him all day.
Deonte Harty fumble
With the Bills trailing 3-0, the defense made a big stop on the Chargers, but punt returner Deonte Harty fumbled the ball back to Los Angeles. That set up the Chargers at the Buffalo 13-yard line. They scored a touchdown four plays later to go up 10-0.
James Cook’s fumble
Up just 21-19 in the fourth quarter, Cook had a nice five-yard run, but fumbled at the end. The Chargers recovered, leading to the go-ahead field goal with 5:26 left in the game.
Critical penalties
On back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter, the Bills were called for a tripping and then holding penalty. The first wiped out a six-yard gain. The second erased a 28-yard gain on 2nd-and-15.
After Allen was sacked and then a false start penalty, it eventually became a 4th-and-32 from their own 3-yard line.
Running game
After a terrific performance just a week ago, the Bills ran for 105 yards on 30 carries, averaging just 3.5 yards per-run.
Allen-to-Diggs
Once again, the Allen-to-Stefon Diggs connection was off and not productive. Diggs finished the game with five catches on eight targets for 29 yards.
