Grading the Buffalo Bills in their 43-21 win over the Washington Football Team on Sunday at Highmark Stadium …
Running game: B-
It was a tough go for Devin Singletary, as he managed just 26 yards on 11 carries, with a long gain of 7 yards. Singletary, who opened the season with a pair of strong games, found little running room all game. Luckily for the Bills, Zack Moss stepped in with a team-high 60 yards on 13 carries. His long run was just 9 yards, which showed that yards were tough to come by on the ground. Buffalo’s long gain was 22 yards, and that came from backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky on the final drive in garbage time. That made the total of 122 yards look pretty good. The yards per carry of 3.7, however, told the story of how tough the running game found it at times. Quarterback Josh Allen reached the end zone on the ground from 2 yards out in the fourth quarter.
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“This one was for Brian Daboll,” offensive lineman Dion Dawkins said. “He puts a lot of love in faith in us, and we went out there and did this thing for him.”
Passing game: A+
A 22-yard completion to Gabriel Davis on a third-and-15 play on the third snap from scrimmage showed what was to come for Allen and the passing game. That is, a massive performance. Allen was in MVP form with 358 yards and four touchdowns. He spread the ball around, completing passes to eight receivers. Cole Beasley was his favorite target, with 11 catches for 98 yards. Emmanuel Sanders had a 41-yard reception on his way to a big game – five catches for 94 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Perhaps most encouraging was the play of the offensive line. After a couple of tough snaps by right guard Cody Ford early in the game that led to pressure on Allen, the offensive line settled in and did not allow a sack and Washington got only six hits on Allen. That’s an impressive accomplishment against a Washington defensive line that features four first-round draft picks.
Run defense: A
Quietly dominant again. Just like in Week 2 at Miami, it helped that the Bills got out to such a big lead in the first half, but that shouldn’t distract from the overall effort. The Bills held Washington to just 78 yards on 25 carries, a meager 3.1 yards per attempt. That included holding Antonio Gibson to just 31 yards on a dozen carries. Washington’s long run was just 11 yards. Tremaine Edmunds led the defense with seven tackles, including one for a loss. Rookie defensive end Greg Rousseau added four tackles. Defensive tackle Star Lotulelei also had three tackles – a solid total for a player not always known for being on the stat sheet. Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke scrambled his way to 21 yards on eight carries. Although he showed good elusiveness in the pocket, the Bills did a good job in making sure he didn’t find much daylight in the open field.
Josh Allen completed 32 of 43 passes for 358 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another TD as the Buffalo Bills defeated the Washington Football Team 43-21 at Highmark Stadium.
Pass defense: A
Another example of how sacks don’t always tell the whole story: The Bills sacked Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke just once (by Lotulelei), but had him on the run plenty. When it was still a game, cornerback Tre’Davious White shadowed Washington No. 1 receiver Terry McLaurin, who finished with just four catches for 62 yards. Interceptions by Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer continued the defense’s run of creating takeaways, as did a fumble forced by Tre'Davious White that was recovered by linebacker Matt Milano. Hyde and Poyer each also had a tackle for loss. Heinicke finished with just 14 completions for 212 yards – 54 of which came when the score was 43-14. In addition to his fumble recovery, Milano also had two tackles for loss, a quarterback hit and a pass defensed.
Daboll’s grandmother, Ruth, died last week, Bills quarterback Josh Allen revealed after the team’s 42-21 victory against Washington Sunday.
Special teams: C-
That’s two potentially game-altering mistakes in three weeks. It ultimately didn’t cost them the game, but the failure by the special teams to field Dustin Hopkins’ short kickoff in the second quarter, which Hopkins recovered to set up a Washington touchdown, is the type of critical mistake that’s simply not acceptable. All of a sudden, what looked like an easy afternoon was quickly a 21-14 game. That wasn’t the only miscue, either. Tyler Bass kicked the ball out of bounds on the opening kickoff of the second half. Linebacker Tyler Matakevich had a holding penalty on a 33-yard punt return by Isaiah McKenzie, resulting in 28 yards of lost field position. There was some good, like when Siran Neal downed a Matt Haack punt at the Washington 1-yard line. Bass made three field goals, from 21, 48 and 29 yards. Still, the big mistakes have got to get cleaned up.
Sanders has 49 career TD catches from 11 NFL quarterbacks.
Coaching: A
Love, love, love the aggressiveness of going for points at the end of the second quarter, despite taking over at their own 20-yard line with just 26 seconds remaining. It would have been easy to take a knee and go into halftime with a 10-point lead, but coach Sean McDermott put on a master class of time management and made good use of his three timeouts to get in position for Bass’ 48-yard field goal. Coaching with a heavy heart after the loss of his grandmother, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll called an inspired game. The only real second guess from this corner came when McDermott decided to punt on fourth-and-4 from the Bills’ 49-yard line with 5:34 left in the second quarter. A yard or two closer and maybe he goes for it, but we favor aggressiveness in that situation.
