ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Here are my five takeaways from the Buffalo Bills’ 34-28 season-opening victory against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Highmark Stadium:
1. If there was any doubt whether the Bills would need Josh Allen to carry them on his shoulder pads more than ever this season, it only took a game for them to vanish.
This win was all about Allen. Not only because of his two touchdown throws. Not only because of his two TD runs, the second of which had him going airborne into the end zone and injuring his left hand in the process. Not only because he converted two fourth downs with his legs.
It was about Allen’s sheer will to win, his ability to overcome a slow and ragged start by the entire team and lead the Bills back from a 17-3 deficit with three unanswered touchdowns.
“We got Josh Allen, man, we always have a chance to win games,” Von Miller said. “It didn’t matter how much we were down. It didn’t matter what it looked like. We’ve just got so much trust in Josh Allen and that offense. But every time he makes plays like (the one on which he went airborne), it definitely gets us going for sure.”
Get used to it. With so much roster turnover, especially at receiver, the Bills will need this kind of performance from Allen in every game if they are going to be a serious contender. Allen was far from prolific as a passer. He threw only 23 times, completing 18 for 232 yards and had a 137.7 passer rating.
“They did a good job of holding onto the football and running the football well, kind of controlling the game,” Allen said. “We felt like we barely touched the ball, but we felt like we were constantly in the green, we were ahead of the sticks. We got the one fumble by me (that led to a Cardinal field goal) that can’t happen, and then we got a few penalties that pushed us back there. So, we need to clean those things up, but we felt like we were rolling pretty well on offense.”
That was not a great team that pushed the Bills to the brink Sunday. The schedule only gets tougher from here, and Allen is going to have to be the one that squeezes the most out of a receiving corps that isn’t nearly as good as it was before while working behind a line that isn’t up to the lofty standard it set in 2023.
2. Greg Rousseau was a beast.
On a day when the defense was far from stellar, especially through the first half, Rousseau rose to the occasion with three of the Bills’ four sacks (Miller was credited with the other), including one that resulted in a Kyler Murray fumble.
“Big time day, big time day,” Sean McDermott said. “I loved that he carried over to the game what he had shown in training camp and then the last couple of weeks in practice. That’s a mindset, right? That’s also growth and maturation, in and of itself.”
“It’s just a great feeling to see him grow and see him develop into one of the premier pass rushers in this league,” Miller said of Rousseau. “It’s only about five of them, and he’s one of them for sure.”
The Bills’ pass rush was almost non-existent through the first half, but things turned around dramatically through the final two quarters.
Their defensive effort also was compromised when All-Pro nickelback Taron Johnson suffered a forearm injury that caused him to exit the game early. Cam Lewis replaced Johnson and did a credible job in his place, but Johnson is by far the Bills’ best defensive back.
3. Beyond Josh Allen’s heroics, the approach by Joe Brady in his first official game as the Bills’ full-time offensive coordinator was predictably run-heavy.
The Bills ran 33 times for 130 yards, averaging a solid 3.9 yards per carry. James Cook finished with a game-high 71 rushing yards and a 3.7-yards-per-rush average.
The game plan helped an offensive line that underwent two changes, with Connor McGovern moving to center and David Edwards taking McGovern’s place at left guard, to gain some steady confidence. However, it was troubling that the group was called for several penalties, including multiple false starts.
“We’ve got a lot of room for improvement,” McDermott said. “We were beating ourselves in an undisciplined fashion and manner at times … so we can take a lot from this game.”
4. Nine different receivers caught passes, though none in the revamped group stood out.
Rookie Keon Coleman led the way with four catches, including one for 28 yards. But the receivers generally struggled to gain separation. On a play when Allen was strip-sacked, the Bills were in a five-receiver set and no one was open.
So much for the expectation that second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid would be the team’s most dynamic pass-catching force from the start. He was targeted twice and had only one reception for 11 yards.
Kahlil Shakir had the Bills’ most impressive play this side of Allen’s flying TD run when he got in the end zone on a screen while upside down and reaching the ball over the goal line.
5. The Bills have no chance to savor this win, or even spend any time studying it on videotape.
With a game Thursday night at Miami, McDermott and his coaching staff met soon after the coach finished talking with the media.
The short week could create problems with Allen and Johnson healing well enough to face the Dolphins.
“We tried to work a little bit (on the Dolphins) in the offseason, knowing that this is going to be a challenge for us,” McDermott said. “This will be a test overall for us. We’ve got some new players, new staff members, and we’ve got to go on the road to a divisional opponent. So, it will be a big challenge for us.”