Grading the Buffalo Bills in their 44-34 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Bills Stadium …
RUNNING GAME: C
The Bills’ 19 rushing attempts were their fewest in a game this season. They didn’t produce much – just 34 yards – but there were a few bright spots. Rookie Zack Moss had a 1-yard rushing touchdown. He also picked up three first downs on his seven carries. That included the first down that allowed the Bills to run out the clock when Moss gained 1 yard on a third-and-1 attempt with 1:40 left to play. Excluding three kneeldowns at the end of the game, quarterback Josh Allen rushed four times for 13 yards, including a 3-yard rushing touchdown. At the end of a couple of those runs, he took bigger hits than he probably should have. Devin Singletary had just two carries for 1 yard.
“The message was, ‘Just execute whatever is called.’ That’s what we did,” Singletary said of the pass-happy attack.
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PASSING GAME: A+
Allen absolutely feasted on a historically awful Seattle pass defense. In going 31 of 38 for 415 yards and three touchdowns, he became the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era with 400-plus passing yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 130 or better (Allen was at 138.5 Sunday) in multiple games in a single season. Only Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Patrick Mahomes have multiple such games in their careers. Stefon Diggs led the Bills with nine catches for 118 yards. Diggs now has four 100-yard receiving games this season – the most for the Bills in a single season since Sammy Watkins had five in 2015. Singletary and Moss combined to make five catches for 63 yards. Both Isaiah McKenzie and Tyler Kroft caught a touchdown on their only targets of the game.
At 7-2 for the first time since 1993 after defeating the Seattle Seahawks 44-34 Sunday at Bills Stadium, the Buffalo Bills put themselves back in the conversation of being one of the league's elite teams. See photos, analysis and more from the game.
RUN DEFENSE: A
Just like with the rushing offense, a bit of an afterthought. Seattle ran the ball just 17 times for 57 yards (3.4 yards per carry), but did have two rushing touchdowns. Leading 14-0, linebacker A.J. Klein and safety Jordan Poyer combined to stop Seahawks running back Travis Homer for no gain on a third-and-1 play from the Bills’ 5-yard line in the first quarter. That was significant, given that quarterback Russell Wilson threw an interception on the next play. Tremaine Edmunds and Vernon Butler Jr. had tackles for loss in run defense.
PASS DEFENSE: B-
Wilson’s final numbers – 28 of 41 for 390 yards and a pair of touchdowns – are impressive, but the Bills got the big plays when they needed them in pass defense. Poyer and Tre’Davious White each had an interception. Jerry Hughes had a strip sack. So did Klein. A team is going to win almost every time when it's plus-four in turnover differential, as the Bills were Sunday. The pass rush was ferocious. The Bills sacked Wilson five times – two from Klein, one by Hughes, one by Mario Addison and one by Edmunds – and hit him a whopping 11 times. In addition to the two interceptions, the Bills had four more passes defensed.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B+
Andre Roberts started things off on a strong note with a 60-yard kick return – his longest of the season. It took Allen and Co. just three plays to cash in the good field position with a touchdown. Roberts also gained 11 yards on his only punt return of the game. Tyler Bass went 3 of 4 on field goals, with the only miss coming from 61 yards. Each of Bass’ three made field goals gave the Bills a three-score lead at the time, so each was clutch. Bass also had a whopping eight touchbacks. The only time Seattle did return a kickoff, the Bills covered after just a 17-yard gain by Freddie Swain. Punter Corey Bojorquez was only called on twice. He averaged 40.5 net yards on those two punts, but did put one of them into the end zone for a touchback.
COACHING: B
They’ll largely go unnoticed because of the win, but Sean McDermott made some questionable decisions. The Bills had to use a timeout on their first defensive series and another one after a first down with more than 4 minutes to go in the second quarter. That came into play when the Bills had just one timeout to work with on their final drive before halftime. McDermott could have thrown the challenge flag in the third quarter when a TV replay appeared to show that wide receiver Gabriel Davis did not step out of bounds at the Seattle 1-yard line at the end of a 39-yard reception, but rather made it the full 40 yards into the end zone. The Bills didn’t score a touchdown, despite having a first-and-goal after Davis’ catch, with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll’s play calling on that particular sequence leaving a lot to be desired. McDermott also elected to punt on fourth-and-1 near midfield in the first quarter. That’s defensible, but electing to use a timeout before punting was also questionable. If the plan was to leave the offense out to try to draw the Seahawks offside, fine, but just take the delay-of-game penalty from that spot on the field. Those issues aside, McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier had a strong game plan ready for Wilson, who was pressured relentlessly. McDermott rolls his eyes at the idea of “statement” wins, but this certainly qualifies.
