The Buffalo Bills looked to be in control.
A 22-yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Cole Beasley put the team up 23-9 over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday with 9:52 left in the third quarter at State Farm Stadium.
Less than 25 minutes of game time stood between the Bills and an 8-2 record at their bye week. What transpired over that time included a pair of wild swings, but those would have never happened if it were not for several system-wide failures that started after the Bills opened their 14-point lead.
Take the ensuing defensive possession. The Cardinals had to convert just one third down in driving 75 yards in nine plays to trim their deficit to 23-16 after a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Kyler Murray.
After getting the ball back, the Bills’ offense promptly went three-and-out. The drive started slow when Devin Singletary was stopped for just a 1-yard gain on first down. Punter Corey Bojorquez punted 12 – yes, 12 – yards, basically handing the Cardinals three more points, which came on a 45-yard field goal by Zane Gonzalez.
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After getting the ball back again, the Bills hurt themselves with a huge penalty. A 21-yard completion from Allen to Singletary was wiped out by an illegal block in the back against tight end Dawson Knox that offset an Arizona offside penalty, leading to no play. The Bills would have had first and 10 from the Cardinals’ 40-yard line – instead, Allen was intercepted by Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson on the next play.
Murray promptly ripped off a 28-yard run on a zone read after the turnover, moving the ball to the Bills’ 28-yard line. Two plays later, Bills cornerback Daryl Worley – in the game after an injury knocked out starter Dane Jackson – committed a pass-interference penalty that gave Arizona a first down at the Buffalo 15-yard line. On the next play, Murray raced in almost untouched for another touchdown. Three plays, 56 yards, lead gone.
“The third quarter was big,” Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes said. “We gave up 17 points. You can't do that coming out of the half. We've got to play better. We know that if we want to win games, if we want to go in the direction that we want to go, the defense has to be the backbone of this team.”
The fourth quarter didn’t start much better. The Bills strangely called for a run on second-and-10 from their 36-yard line, and Devin Singletary was stuffed for a 1-yard loss. On third and 11, Singletary was dropped for a 5-yard loss on a completion, necessitating another punt.
The defense made a big play when Jordan Poyer intercepted Murray, but the offense then shot itself in the foot on the ensuing possession. Taking over at the Bills’ 29-yard line with 9:17 remaining, Buffalo’s offense went just 8 yards on four plays. Four penalties on the drive wiped out 35 yards, including a third-and-23 conversion that came on a 24-yard completion to John Brown. That came back because of a holding penalty against right guard Brian Winters.
“We’ve got to take care of the football better. We gave them extra opportunities,” receiver Cole Beasley said. “If we play better in those situations, the game would probably be a different game. And then we had a million penalties, as well, and that hurt us big time.”
After another defensive stop, Allen was intercepted for a second time, ending Buffalo's drive after just one play.
“We've got to find ways to get going a little better. Too many punts. Two turnovers and we can't do that,” he said. “In the first half, we had a pretty good thing going, moving the ball and putting some field goals up. But that third quarter, late third quarter, early fourth quarter, we've got to be better and find ways to move the ball. And that's on me.”
To recap: In the five possessions after Beasley’s touchdown, the Bills ran 17 plays that produced 33 yards. Those possessions ended in a punt (that went 12 yards), interception, punt, punt, interception.
So, yes, there are painful ways to lose, and there is what happened Sunday. But there’s a reason that coach Sean McDermott said, correctly, that “at the end of the day, it came down to a one-score game and it should have never came down to that.”
2. Tyler Bass came to play. The Bills’ rookie kicker set a career long with a 54-yard field goal in the second quarter. Then he did it again, connecting from 55 yards out. Still not satisfied, the Georgia Southern product did it a third time before halftime, booming a 58-yarder as time expired.
In the process, Bass made franchise history. He became the first kicker to make at least three field goals of 50-plus yards in a game and just the second kicker in NFL history to make three of at least 54 yards in a game, joining Houston’s Kris Brown against Miami in 2007. Bass’ 58-yarder ties for second longest in franchise history, behind only a 59-yarder by Steve Christie on Sept. 26, 1993 against Miami.
Just 12 times in NFL history has a kicker made at least three field goals of 50-plus yards in a game. Interestingly enough, Bass is already the third this season to do that, joining Tennessee’s Stephen Gostkowski on Sept. 27 and the New York Giants’ Graham Gano on Oct. 11 against Dallas.
“We have an extreme amount of confidence in him,” Allen said of Bass. “He's got the leg – the crazy big leg. He's a young guy and I know early on things weren't going his way. But he's turned it around and we all had faith in him. … And he's only going to get better. It's extremely promising. He's a great dude on top of that and the guys in the locker room love him. We've got his back no matter what. “
3. Mitch Morse was active, but didn’t play. The Bills elected to play it safe with the veteran center, who sat out last week because of a concussion. Morse was not on the final injury report, meaning he was available to play, but with a bye week coming up, the Bills held him out.
The team took a similar approach with left guard Cody Ford, who was questionable for the game with an ankle injury. Ford, who was hurt in the first quarter in Week 9 against Seattle, missed his third game in the past four weeks, having previously missed games against the Jets and Patriots because of a knee injury.
In response, the Bills’ offensive line, from left to right, consisted of Dion Dawkins, Ike Boettger, Jon Feliciano, Brian Winters and Daryl Williams.
4. Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley made history. Beasley finished with 11 catches for 109 yards, while Diggs had 10 receptions for 93 yards and a score. It’s the first time in franchise history the Bills have had a game with two players making at least 10 catches in a game. The Chargers are the only other team in the NFL to have a game like that this season (Keenan Allen had 13 catches and Austin Ekeler had 11 in Week 3. Both Diggs and Beasley have two games this season with 10-plus catches. Only Andre Reed (two in 1989), Pete Metzelaars (two in 1993) and Eric Moulds (two in 2000) have multiple games of 10-plus catches in a single season.
Diggs now has 73 catches this season, the most ever by a Bills receiver through 10 games. His 906 receiving yards makes him just the second player in franchise history with more than 900 in the first 10 games, trailing only Moulds’ 952 yards in 2000.
5. John Brown gutted it out. Playing against the team that drafted him, the Bills’ receiver had his left knee heavily wrapped after gaining 31 yards on a wide receiver screen in the first quarter. Brown had six catches (on eight targets) for 72 yards before being knocked out of the game with a right ankle injury. Brown was hurt on a play that officially doesn’t count. He made a miraculous catch for 24 yards to convert third and 23, landing awkwardly when he was tackled by Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson. The play was called back, though, on a Buffalo penalty. Brown did not return to the game.
6. A.J. Epenesa left in the second quarter. The Bills’ rookie second-round draft pick suffered a concussion on a play in which he chased Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray down for a third-down stop. Epenesa went to the locker room a short time later. The team announced at halftime that he would not return to the game.
7. Old friend Jordan Phillips was inactive for Arizona. The Cardinals’ defensive lineman did not practice all week because of a hamstring injury. That must have killed Phillips, who when he was with the Bills enjoyed nothing more than playing against his first NFL team, the Dolphins. Phillips has 10 tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles this season in his first year with Arizona after signing a three-year contract in the offseason.
The Cardinals also have three members of their coaching staff who are Western New York natives: Offensive line coach Sean Kugler and quarterbacks coach Jordan Hogan are from Lockport, while defensive quality control coach Rob Grosso is from Buffalo.
8. Lorenzo Alexander was in attendance. The retired former Bills linebacker was among the 4,200 fans allowed inside State Farm Stadium. Alexander lives in the Phoenix area. There have been limited fans in attendance at three of the Bills’ road games – at Arizona, Tennessee and Miami.
9. The Bills’ healthy inactives included: rookie quarterback Jake Fromm, running back T.J. Yeldon and defensive tackle Harrison Phillips.
With Jones and Yeldon out, the Bills went with just two running backs – Devin Singletary and Zack Moss – for the second straight game. Phillips was a healthy inactive for the fourth time in the past five games.
Running back Taiwan Jones was previously ruled out for the game because of a hamstring injury.
