Stefon Diggs didn’t need long.
The Buffalo Bills’ star receiver entered Saturday’s game against the Denver Broncos needing a single catch to set the franchise single-season record. Diggs got it on the very first offensive play, with his 7-yard reception giving him 101 catches on the season. That broke a tie with Eric Moulds, who held the record with 100 catches in 2000.
“Hey, I wanted to say congratulations to Stefon Diggs on breaking my catch record, going over 100 catches and setting a new Bills franchise record,” Moulds said in a video message tweeted by the Bills a short time after the record-setting catch. “It’s well-deserved, and I wouldn’t want any other guy beside Stefon Diggs to break the record. Congratulations. Keep it going.”
Diggs did just that. By the time the first half was over, he had seven catches for 67 yards. He finished the game with 11 catches for 147 yards as the Bills blew out the Broncos 48-19 to clinch their first AFC East championship since 1995.
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“Diggs is hard to cover,” said Broncos coach Vic Fangio, getting a late entry into the understatement-of-the-year category. “He’s caught over 100 balls coming into this game and he’s a tough assignment.”
Allen accounted for four touchdowns against the Broncos. He completed 28 of 40 passes for 359 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 33 yards and two scores, delivering a division championship that this week felt like an inevitability.
Diggs also closed in on another of Moulds’ team records – most receiving yards in a season. He now has 1,314 yards – just 54 yards away from Moulds’ team record of 1,368 yards set in 1998 and third in franchise history, behind Moulds’ 1,326 yards in 2000. Diggs topped 100 yards for a second straight game, joining Frank Lewis in 1981 as the only receivers in franchise history to have two separate streaks of consecutive 100-yard games in the same season.
By making 10-plus catches for a third straight game, Diggs became just the eighth player in NFL history to accomplish that and the first since the Saints’ Michael Thomas in games 13-15 last year. Thomas and Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey also are the last two players to have at least five games of 10-plus catches in a single season, as Diggs now does. He is just the 11th player in NFL history to do that.
Consider this: Andre Reed had six games of 10-plus catches in his entire career. Moulds had five. Diggs has matched him in just 14 games.
"I’ve never been big on breaking people’s records and that stuff kind of happens organically, but he’s definitely a guy that’s respected around these parts,” Diggs said last week of Moulds. “He’s got my utmost respect and that’s a guy you kind of want to always give the love and respect to because they played before you, they know this game, they love this game just as much as you love this game.”
Diggs’ longest reception of the game came in the third quarter, when he got behind Broncos cornerback De’Vante Bausby for a 55-yard gain – the longest play of the season for the Bills.
“I went to (quarterbacks coach Ken) Dorsey, and I said, 'This is the play I want to get called.' And (offensive coordinator Brian) Daboll gave me the opportunity to do it,” quarterback Josh Allen said. “He trusts me in those situations if it's not there to find my outlets down underneath. But it's one of those plays we kind of got them with a quick count and our guys outran theirs and I gave him the chance to go catch the ball. And that's what he did.”
It wasn’t all good news for Diggs, though, as he left the game in the fourth quarter with a foot injury. Diggs appeared to get his left foot stepped on with 7:14 remaining as he was blocking at the end of a run play.
At first, all that talk about "The Process" made us smirk, made us laugh, made us roll our eyes, writes Vic Carucci.
The TV broadcast reported that Diggs was carted to the locker room for additional observations. He was shown returning to the field with 1:40 to play.
“Don't have an update at this point,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “Just praying that everyone turns out to be healthy.”
There was some good news late Saturday, as an NFL Network report said Diggs’ injury is not believed to be serious and should not hold him out next week.
That means more records are in danger.
2. Dawson Knox opened the scoring. The Bills’ second-year tight end caught his third touchdown in the past four games, hauling in a 9-yard pass from Josh Allen in the first quarter. Knox left the game briefly in the first half with a stinger – the second consecutive week he has dealt with that injury – but was able to return to the lineup. He made a 27-yard reception in the second quarter, helping to set up the Bills’ third touchdown.
3. Daryl Williams left the game. The Bills’ right tackle, who came in having taken more than 99% of the offensive snaps this season, suffered a groin injury. He was replaced in the lineup by Ty Nsekhe. Unfortunately for the Bills, that was far from their only injury. Rookie tight end Reggie Gilliam suffered a knee injury, but was able to come back in.
Return man Andre Roberts suffered a lower-back injury in the second half and did not return, leading to safety Micah Hyde taking over as the punt returner.
Rookie defensive end A.J. Epenesa was evaluated for a head injury, as well.
4. Tre’Davious White, Levi Wallace and Vernon Butler suffered injuries in garbage time. The last thing the Bills wanted to happen in the fourth quarter of a laugher was an injury to a key player. Unfortunately, it happened three times. White was first to go down with a stinger, followed by Wallace a short time later with an ankle injury. Butler also went down, also with an ankle injury.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” White said after the win. “Go ahead and get treatment … I’ll do my best to be at full strength, to be ready to go, for sure.”
Wallace and Butler were able to return to the lineup.
5. The third-quarter woes appear to be fixed. The Bills outscored the Broncos 17-0 in the third quarter. Over the last two weeks, the Bills have outscored the Broncos and Steelers by a combined 31 points (31-0). Coming into the game against Pittsburgh, Buffalo had been outscored by 47 points in the third quarter through the first 13 weeks, meaning they’ve nearly erased that deficit in two games. Buffalo outgained Denver and Pittsburgh 314-40 in the two games.
“Just the type of team that we have, the guys we have on offense,” Allen said of what’s gone right in the third quarter recently. “No matter how good or bad the first half's going, we understand the third quarter – especially when we're getting the ball to start – being able to go out there – my coach in college, coach (Craig) Bohl – said the game's won in the third quarter. It's won in that first drive.
“We've been stepping up to the challenge and coach Daboll has been challenging us and calling really good plays, and we're going out and executing. That's really all there is to it.”
Bills fans finally can break out some AFC East champions gear after their team Saturday clinched the division title for the first time since 1995.
6. McDermott made a questionable challenge. The Bills’ coach fell to 4-15 on challenges in his three-plus years with the team, unsuccessfully trying to get a spot overturned in the third quarter. Rookie running back Zack Moss was stopped for no gain on a fourth-and-1 run play from the Broncos’ 4-yard line. The TV replays didn’t provide an adequate view to see if Moss got to the 3-yard line, as needed, but McDermott challenged anyway.
7. Lotta offense. The Bills piled up 534 yards of offense, which is sixth in team history and the most since the Bills had 579 yards at Seattle in the 2000 season. Buffalo has posted 300 or more yards in eight consecutive games, which has only been accomplished five times. The total was the 12th-most allowed by the Broncos in their history. Along with those yards came 29 first downs, extending the franchise record to 14 games in a row with at least 20 first downs
8. A tale of two kickers. The Broncos placed veteran kicker Brandon McManus on the NFL’s reserve/Covid-19 list after he had close contact with a person outside the organization who tested positive for the coronavirus. McManus was not cleared in time to play Saturday, and it hurt Denver’s chances. Broncos rookie kicker Taylor Russolino missed a 51-yard field on the first possession of the game, and it only got worse from there for the 31-year-old. Russolino, who was making his NFL debut after spending time in the XFL, the CFL and even the Chinese Arena Football League, missed a pair of extra points.
“He had a really good day in practice the other day and I was encouraged by him,” Fangio said. “Obviously, there was some wind out there, but it didn’t bother their kicker. I thought he was going to kick better than he did.”
To Fangio’s point, Bills rookie Tyler Bass hit both of his field goals, each from 27 yards, and was perfect on five extra points. Bass has now made 12 consecutive field goals, the team’s longest streak since Stephen Hauschka converted 17 in a row in 2018.
9. Lee Smith was able to give it a go. The veteran tight end was questionable on the final injury report heading into the game. Smith, though, was able to suit up. As a result, the team made offensive lineman Jonotthan Harrison inactive. Harrison was called up from the practice squad Friday.
10. Safety Jaquan Johnson missed his second straight game. The Bills’ second-year safety was previously ruled out because of an ankle injury. The Bills’ other inactives were all healthy. That group included tight end Tyler Kroft, defensive end Trent Murphy, rookie quarterback Jake Fromm and running back T.J. Yeldon. That group has been inactive for the past four games.
For the Broncos, running backs Melvin Gordon III (shoulder) and Phillip Lindsay (hip) were active. Both were been questionable on the final injury report. Guard Graham Glasgow (foot) and safety Trey Marshall (shin) also were active after being questionable.
