After a week of saying they needed to fix their run game, the Buffalo Bills showcased exactly that.
Four Bills players had rushing touchdowns in Sunday’s 45-17 win over the Jets, the first time that has happened in a game in team history.
Running back Matt Breida, active for the first time since Week 2, finished with 28 rushing yards on three carries and a touchdown and 22 receiving yards on three catches and a score. Breida did lose a fumble in the fourth quarter, but the Jets were unable to capitalize.
Though Breida hasn’t been a consistent starter in his five-year career, it was his third game with both a receiving and a rushing touchdown.
People are also reading…
Coach Sean McDermott said Breida gave the team a spark, and they knew entering the game he’d be more involved.
“He was going to be part of the plan,” McDermott said. “It was just a matter of how much.”
Part of that was because running back Zack Moss did not clear concussion protocol until Saturday. But it also spoke to Breida's abilities, notably his speed, and the Bills' desire to adjust following the offense's struggles last week in Jacksonville.
“Just the game-breaking speed,” quarterback Josh Allen said. “He’s able to make one cut and go. You see it in the passing game, too. ... This is a guy that hasn’t had many opportunities throughout the year, but he made the most of it today. It was good to see.”
Part of taking advantage of his opportunities comes from the rapport he’s built with Allen outside of games. It showed early Sunday. His first touchdown came on the Bills’ opening drive, and it was a 15-yard reception.
“I actually converted that route,” Breida said. “That goes to Josh and working with him throughout the offseason, OTAs. And then throughout the season, me and him, we just think a lot alike. I’d just seen that they were doubling (Stefon) Diggs on that, so I decided to take off. And he’s a playmaker. He’s probably the best quarterback in the NFL, to all of us. So we just read each other the same, and he just looked at me, and we were on the same page.”
It came on a day where the Bills had 139 rushing yards, their third-most of the season and following a dismal 72 rushing yards last week against the Jaguars.
Running back Devin Singletary led the Bills with 43 rushing yards on seven carries. After Breida’s 28 yards was Moss with 27. Singletary and Moss each had touchdowns as well. It was the first time the Bills had four rushing touchdowns in a game since Oct. 16, 2016, against San Francisco, and the first time on the road since Nov. 28, 2004 at Seattle.
Singletary headed into the game confident the Bills would fix their issues.
“Just refocusing, realigning some things, and getting back to us – being us," he told the News on Friday.
It helped that the Jets entered the game 27th against the run at 133.2 yards allowed per game, but this was more about big-picture fine-tuning for the Bills. Still, they balanced Sunday's result with knowing they have to keep it up, especially with a Week 10 game against the Indianapolis Colts, who had allowed a league-low four rushing touchdowns entering Sunday.
“It’s one game,” center Mitch Morse said. “But you definitely want to take that step in the right direction. I still think there’s some yards we left on the field.”
Three of the four rushing touchdowns came in the third quarter, as the Bills defense’s five takeaways in the game gave their offense plenty of chances. McDermott then watched the run game give the team a bigger boost.
“Just ask an offensive lineman what that does, right? It's good for all of us. It's good for the entire football team,” McDermott said. "It was fun to watch, it really was.
"The running backs making plays, offensive line helping us make plays in the running game, and then getting the ball up in the air a couple of times to some really good receivers, and then hitting the tight ends. It was a good game plan by the offensive staff and Brian (Daboll) and then Brian went and called a heck of a game.”
McDermott credited the offensive coordinator multiple times after the game, as the offense as a whole had a season-high 489 yards.
“I thought Brian Daboll called a great game,” McDermott said. “I really did. Changed the look enough and changed the profile of the offense and I thought that was well executed and good to get stuff going there and he gives us a ton of energy.”
It was creative, too. Wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie scored on an eight-yard jet sweep, and Emmanuel Sanders even picked up 24 yards on the ground the play before to start the third quarter. Backup offensive lineman Ryan Bates was used to provide different formations, reporting as eligible seven times.
The Bills say often they don’t care how they get things done, as long as they win. Breida says that mindset helped him through being inactive the last six games.
“It’s extremely hard, but honestly, with this team, it makes it kind of easy,” Breida said. “We’re not worried about touchdowns or stats or nothing like that. We’re worried about winning. We’ve have a guy like Josh leading every day that makes it easy to come to work. Of course you want to be up every week, but at the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for the team.”
His teammates have taken note of Breida's approach, too. Even in the two games he played in earlier this season, he was only in for 12% of offensive snaps against the Steelers and 3% against the Dolphins, playing more on special teams. On Sunday, the Bills were glad to see all his preparation rewarded.
"That’s one of my favorite dudes," Morse said of Breida. "He comes into work and probably doesn’t play as much as he’d like, but he’s a fantastic teammate and he runs hard. We see that in practice and we see that in the preseason and we see that in games. I love Matt Breida, and we love all our running backs."
