ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Here are my five takeaways from the Buffalo Bills’ 30-20 victory against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium:
1. The story of the game — which, thanks to a garbage touchdown by the Colts, wasn’t as close as the score indicates — was the way the Bills’ defense forced 39-year-old quarterback Joe Flacco into four turnovers.
“I thought that the defense and the takeaways were a big-time difference in the game,” Sean McDermott said.
It wasn’t a smothering performance by Buffalo’s D, which continued to show vulnerability against the run in the first half before tightening up in the second. The Bills allowed Jonathan Taylor to gain 114 yards, including a season-long 58-yard gain in the first quarter, and average 5.4 yards per carry.
This was a performance highlighted by opportunism, beginning with the Colts’ first snap when Flacco threw a pick-six to Taron Johnson. Johnson showed exceptional elusiveness as he weaved his weaved through Colts players on the way to a 23-yard touchdown.
On Indianapolis’ next possession, Flacco, facing first-and-10 from the Bills 37, was intercepted by Austin Johnson, giving the defensive tackle the second pick of the season and of his football life. That set up a field goal and marked the first time the Bills have forced a turnover on each of their opponent’s first two drives since Dec. 30, 2018, against Miami.
Taylor Rapp grabbed Flacco’s third interception, which set up a 13-play, 84-yard touchdown drive to give the Bills a 30-13 lead with 3:04 left. The Bills sacked Flacco four times, including one by Greg Rousseau that forced a fumble, and nearly intercepted him two more times.
McDermott rightfully praised his team, which improved to 8-2, for maintaining good focus despite being a clear favorite against the 4-6 Colts and having arguably its most important game of the season next week vs. 9-0 Kansas City.
“They did a great job, led by our leadership group,” McDermott said. “They just did a great job. When they lead by example, I mean, that’s the strongest way to lead, right?”
2. The Bills’ offense didn’t have to be great, and it wasn’t.
Some of that could be attributed to the absences of two of the team’s better receivers, Amari Cooper and Keon Coleman, both of whom sat out with wrist injuries, and tight end Dalton Kincaid missing most of the game with a knee injury.
But not all of it. Execution was generally shaky.
Josh Allen threw two terrible interceptions, giving him four in three games, and was fortunate he did not have a pick-six. Allen completed 22 of 37 passes for 280 yards. Remarkably, his passer rating of 60.6 was significantly less than Flacco’s 79.7.
3. Josh Allen did some impactful running, a dimension that likely will becoming increasingly important given the injuries at receiver.
He carried eight times for 50 yards, averaging 6.3 yards per attempt, and a TD. He had a season-long 21-yard carry that helped lead two a two-yard James Cook scoring run late in the game.
Cook was solid, gaining 80 yards and averaging 4.2 yards per rush, as the Bills leaned more heavily on their ground attack in the later stages.
4. The Bills’ healthy receivers did their best to step up.
Kahlil Shakir led the way with six catches for 58 yards, while Mack Hollins had four receptions for 86 yards, including a game-high 44-yarder that set up a field goal as time expired in the half. Curtis Samuel chipped in four receptions for 35 yards, and Dawson Knox had two grabs for 40 yards, including a 34-yarder.
“Just all hands on deck,” McDermott said. “I mean, what else can you say? I would say (offensive coordinator) Joe (Brady), the (offensive coaching) staff, they didn’t flinch. They just kept dialing it up, trying to adjust. I thought the communication at halftime was great by the entire staff.”
5. Now comes the showdown against the Chiefs, who barely remained unbeaten by blocking Denver’s last-second attempt for the winning field goal.
Once again, the Bills find themselves trying to scale the mountain that has been Kansas City. They’ve beaten them in the regular season but have yet to get past them in the playoffs.
The winner of the game would help its chances of having the higher postseason seed, though the Bills found a way to lose to the Chiefs in last January’s divisional-round clash at Highmark Stadium.
How concerned is McDermott about his players’ ability to not get overly hyped?
“I just think they’ve been able to do a good job of that to this point,” the coach said. “And the expectations that we have for ourselves are the most important ones. We certainly understand everybody putting a lot into this coming game, and we will, too. But we put a lot into every game. If we don’t, we’re doing ourselves a disservice.
“So, we owe that every week to ourselves and to our fans.”