The Bills flew west to take on the Rams and the Bills rolled to another win! Even Tyrod Taylor lining up behind the guard couldn’t stop the Bills and for now the good times are still going.
Here are my 3 Takeaways from Bills/Rams:
- Buffalo Ground Game is on Point
The Bills since firing Greg Roman have really fallen in love with LeSean McCoy, and for good reason. McCoy had 18 carries for 150 yards and forced five missed tackles. This is his second game this year over 100 yards, he even had a 53 yard run to set up the Mike Gillislee touchdown. The Bills are riding in style when McCoy plays like this and it’s a great sign to see him get in space and make plays.
- Buffalo Defense is Clicking with Unlikely Playmakers
The Bills lost Mario Williams in free agency and then lost Shaq Lawson and Reggie Ragland to injuries. That is not a problem based on the way they’ve been playing during the 3 game win streak. Lorenzo Alexander is having a career year for himself and with his 7 tackle, 3 sack performance on Sunday it’s no surprise why. Adolphus Washington had his best day in his young career with 3 tackles and a sack. Zach Brown again was around the ball carrier adding 6 total tackles to his stat line on his impressive season. Alexander and Hughes are a nice pass rushing duo and when you realize that these aren’t household names but you know that when Dareus and Lawson return this defense could be better than expected and even better than anticipated.
- One is an accident, Two is a trend, Three is a Winning Streak
Rex Ryan joked with the media after the game saying: “You guys know me, I’m just an average coach. I never win three straight games.” It’s funny now, but after an 0-2 start it wasn’t. But everything has come together, the offense is putting together drives, the defense is holding its own, and the Bills have strung together wins. This is an encouraging sign given that the next 4 games are home vs. the 49ers, at Miami, home vs. the Patriots, and at Seattle on a Monday night then the bye week. The Bills have 4 more winnable games but if the team performs like they are now, the bye week could be the most relaxing week the team has had in years.
Extra Point: Clock Management
The Bills clock management is still an issue for me. The Bills got the Ball back with 1:56 left in the 2nd quarter, with 3 timeouts. They ran 3 plays for 5, 9, and 9 yards respectively, using 55 seconds before calling their 1st timeout. With 1:01 remaining the next 3 plays ran were an incomplete pass (:57 remaining), 17 yard pass to Robert Woods, then a 5 yard sack, before calling the 2nd timeout with :24 remaining. The Bills then gained big chunks of yards on the next 3 plays to get to the 5 yard line and calling their final timeout with :3 seconds remaining to then kick a field goal. This 2 minute offense needs to clean things up immensely because this should have been 7 points and not 3. In the grand scheme it didn’t come back to hurt Buffalo but they aren’t going to be playing inept offenses like the Rams all season.
