The Buffalo Bills put together their most complete game of the season and improved to 4-0 with a 30-23 victory over the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. This is the second game in a row the Bills have beaten a team that had a winning record going in, something they didn’t do at all last season. The Titans would go on to finish 9-7 and make the playoffs but they were 2-2 when they squared off against Buffalo last season and it was the lone win for the Bills against a 2019 playoff team. I’m not one to put the cart before the horse, but this is looking like a team that’s going to have a major impact on the playoff picture.
Even though they scored 30-points, what stood out for me in Week 4 was the performance of the Bills’ defense and the debut of cornerback Josh Norman. He was most likely the best CB in the game back in 2015, and a huge part of helping lead the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl that season. He cashed that in for what was the largest CB contract at the time when he signed with Washington in 2016. Norman had his moments with the team over four seasons but was cut in February 2020 which led to his signing with Buffalo in March. I didn’t hear a lot of buzz around the signing of the 32-year-old coming off his worst statistical season at the time, but I was excited to see the addition of a savvy veteran and tenacious competitor to arguably the league’s best secondary.
Unfortunately, Norman was placed on the short-term injured reserve list to start his Bills’ career on September 12th. He was activated off the IR for Sunday’s game in Vegas, but the plan was to ease him back into things. Well, you know what they say about best-laid plans. Starting CB Levi Wallace left the game with an ankle injury after only six defensive snaps and Norman was the next man up. It’s not an overstatement to say he was one of the biggest reasons why Buffalo won.
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Josh Allen had just snuck it across the goal-line to make it 23-16 to start the 4th quarter (after the referees decided to interpret the NFL’s bizarre catch rules to take a score off the board for John Brown), but rookie kicker Tyler Bass missed the extra point attempt so it was still just a 7-point game. With the ball back, Vegas was driving into Buffalo territory. On 1st & 10 at the Bills’ 35-yard line, a 2-yard gain turned into a 10-yard loss thanks to a poorly enforced illegal block in the back penalty. The Raiders commit a ton of penalties but this one was a weak call during a crucial juncture in the game. Two plays later, star tight end Darren Waller had gotten the Raiders down to the 32 but it was Norman who came in with the “Peanut Punch” on the tackle to knock the ball loose. He also had the awareness to get off the tackle and recover the loose ball before it went out of bounds, giving the Bills excellent starting field position. Devin Singletary would cash it in for the TD four plays later to go up 30-16.
Norman’s energy was infectious for the defense and the next two LV possessions ended in turnovers. One of those came on downs when the Bills stuffed a 4th & 1 attempt and the other on a sack-fumble by another offseason acquisition, defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson. With less than six minutes left in the game and a 14-point lead, the defense had all but clinched the road win. The Raiders managed to score a mostly meaningless TD but couldn’t recover the onside kick and the Bills ran out the clock to secure the victory.
This was the first time this season where I felt like the defense won it, but the offense played pretty damn well too. Allen cooled off slightly, “only” throwing for 288-yards and 2-TDs while running for one more. He found rookie receiver, Gabriel Davis, with a nice throw off a play-fake for the first score and zipped a laser to Cole Beasley, who got upended, for the second. Stefon Diggs continued his stellar season with 6-catches for 115-yards including a 49-yarder over the top of Raiders’ safety Erik Harris. They are still struggling to establish a solid ground game with an O-line that’s clearly built to pass-protect for Allen, but Singletary still managed 55-yards on 18-carries.
Performance Grade: A
With the Patriots losing to the Chiefs on Monday Night Football, Buffalo holds a 2-game lead in the AFC East for the first time in forever. If the Titans have their Covid-19 outbreak under control, the Bills head to Tennessee for a crucial AFC matchup between undefeated teams next week. It would have been nice to see how the Titans/Steelers game played out, if not for the postponement, and see one of the other remaining undefeated AFC take a loss. It’ll be an interesting game as the Titans have won their three games by a combined 6-points and Buffalo shut down their offense last season en route to a 14-7 win.