by Bobby Greco
Week 7 is in the books and the Buffalo Bills have stopped a two losing streak, by defeating the J-E-T-S. Sure it wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but at the end of the day, a win is a win. I definitely wasn’t happy with how the game started, but I thought the team showed a lot of grit with how they fought back and ended up strangely dominating. I also don’t think the score told the whole story because even though Buffalo didn’t score a TD, they really controlled most of the game. I was especially happy with how the defense responded to a rough start, not to mention the past two weeks. After an early touchdown in the second quarter, Buffalo held the Jets scoreless and I really think it will get them rolling.
This game is a prime example of a score not telling the full story. If you look at it you will see that buffalo didn’t score a touchdown in the game and they still won, so you will assume the offense didn’t perform well. However that is not the case here, buffalo drove up and down the field the entire game and just couldn’t finish off a drive. Buffalo had a total of 433 offensive yards, which doubled NY’s production. Josh Allen had a 70% completion rate and threw for 307 yards, while also leading the team with 61 rushing yards. Singletary and Moss added another 76 yards on the ground, though I think it could have been more if the Bills had a good fullback. There were just too many times that a hole would collapse just as the RB would reach it, if they had a fullback the running lanes would be open longer. Allen was able to spread the ball and completed a pass to eight different receivers. This was also done with a beat-up offensive line, which says a lot about the grit this team has. Unfortunately for the Bills, every time they got in the red zone some mistake would cost them and stop the drive in its tracks. Whether it was one of Buffalo’s 11 penalties or a negative play, it just seemed like every mistake they made in this game came in the red zone. That is why it’s difficult to really see what happened in this game, only by looking at the score. Yes, I would have loved a few TDs instead of just field goals, but I can’t say the Bills offense played bad just because they had zero touchdowns.
Defensively the game didn’t start well, as the Jets drove the field pretty effortlessly and kicked an opening drive field goal. Thankfully after a touchdown extended the lead, Buffalo’s D finally woke up and started playing how they were expected to. The second half was a breath of fresh air, as the D-Line took control of the line of scrimmage and really got Darnold off his game. I have to give credit to Jordan Poyer because he executed a couple of safety blitzes perfectly for sacks and it really got the defense going. Honestly, though Jordan Poyer is probably the most underrated defensive player in the league. He is a do-everything safety and is always making plays. Whether it’s stuffing a run or covering a pass, Poyer always seems to be in a position to make a play. However I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about Jerry Hughes, he was surely the defensive player of the game and maybe even had Player of the Week stats. Hughes was tied for most tackles on the team with 6, he also had 2 sacks, 2.5TFL, and an INT that sealed the win. He wasn’t only the leader statistically though, because you could really see how he was bringing the energy and that his teammates would be fired up the more he did. The second half of the game was great because we got to see the defense that was expected. Now I hope they can carry that over into next week's showdown with division rival New England.
We can talk about this game, without talking about the performance of rookie kicker Tyler Bass. Bass missed his first FG attempt by a lot and had me thinking here we go again. Thankfully he turned it around and ended up tying a team record with 6 successful field goals. I think the confidence Coach McDermott showed in him really helped because it let Bass know the team had his back and I’m hoping that confidence will carry over for the rest of the season. Either way, the Bills have a big matchup against the Patriots Sunday and this could be a big statement win for a team looking to win the division for the first time since 1995. I know New England is on a three-game losing streak, but you just can’t ever count them out, so Buffalo better not take this game lightly.