by Tony Fiorello
ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 01: Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills and head coach Sean McDermott make snow angels while being interviewed after the Bills defeated the the San Francisco 49ers, 35-10, at Highmark Stadium on December 01, 2024 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
Welcome to Week 14 of the 2024 NFL season. Here at Buffalo Sports Page we will attempt to inform and educate our readers about the Buffalo Bills’ upcoming opponent and what each team might do to emerge victorious.
The Bills’ 13th game of 2024 will take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California as they face the Los Angeles Rams. Here’s what you should know:
NEW ORLEANS, LA - DECEMBER 01: Jared Verse #8 of the Los Angeles Rams rushes the passer during an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints at Caesars Superdome on December 1, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
RAMS’ DEFENSE REBUILDING
Former Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, one of the greatest defensive minds the game has ever known, favored a 3-4 scheme that asked his front seven to control one gap and play matchup-zone coverage behind it. Yet his unit between 2017-19 was merely so-so, leading to him being replaced by former Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos outside linebackers coach Brandon Staley.
Since Staley’s hiring in 2020 the the Rams have based their scheme off quarters coverage, or as it’s more commonly known as, Cover Four, with each defensive back dividing the field into fourths with matchup principles to take away vertical concepts. This approach has been gaining in popularity in recent years throughout the NFL.
According to Smart Football’s Chris B. Brown, “It’s the most important defensive scheme of the past decade…. At first glance, Cover 4 looks like an anti-pass prevent tactic, with four secondary defenders playing deep. But therein lies its magic. The four defenders are actually playing a matchup zone concept, in which the safety reads the tight end or inside receiver. If an offensive player lined up inside releases on a short pass route or doesn’t release into the route, the safety can help double-team the outside receiver. If the inside receiver breaks straight downfield, it becomes more like man coverage. This variance keeps quarterbacks guessing and prevents defenses from being exploited by common pass plays like four verticals, which killed eight-man fronts. The real key to Cover 4, however, is that against the run both safeties become rush defenders (remember, the outside cornerbacks play deep). This allows defenses to play nine men in the box against the run – a hat-tip to the 46’s overwhelming force.”
This scheme – characterized by a four-man pass rush with many twists and stunts on the defensive line – can be excellent. Those games usually come from loaded fronts, with three linemen on one side of the formation and another on the opposite side. This helps create a lot of one-on-one opportunities when rushing opposing quarterbacks.
Staley’s success led to him getting the Los Angeles Chargers’ coaching job in 2021 and his successor, Raheem Morris, parlayed his run of good fortune into the head coaching position in Atlanta. Chris Shula, the grandson of Hall of Famer Don Shula, now runs this side of the ball.
Despite employing the league’s undisputed best defensive tackle in Aaron Donald, the Rams’ defense needed to rebuild in the worst way. Following their Super Bowl win three years ago, a salary cap crunch led to the team letting various veterans walk out the door and general manager Les Snead decided to go with a youth movement on this side of the ball.
Donald, a future Hall of Fame pass rusher on the level of names like Joe Greene, John Randle and Warren Sapp with his explosive quickness and strength, is now retired. Despite missing his obvious talent, L.A. has been able to replace his production not with one man, but by committee.
That committee includes rookies Jared Verse and Braden Fiske, second-year players Kobie Turner and Byron Young and nose tackle Bobby Brown III. Verse, a first-year draft pick, can convert speed to power and boasts quickness and good hand usage but is better out of a three-point stance rather than standing up while Fiske, who went in the second round, is a good athlete with solid strength and can play two gaps at once. Michael Hoecht is a nice backup who is reminiscent of former Patriots Rob Ninkovich and Kyle Van Noy and Omar Speights and Christian Rozeboom are the Rams’ inside linebackers.
At cornerback are Cobie Durant and Darious Williams, but both are better fits in the slot rather than on the boundary due to their lack of height, explosiveness and athleticism. Veterans Kameron Curl, John Johnson III (currently injured), Kamren Kinchens (who L.A. likes to use in big nickel packages), Jaylen McCollough (their dime defender) and the versatile Quentin Lake are the team’s primary safeties.
Los Angeles ended 2023 20th in total yards and passing yards given up, 12th against the run and 19th in points surrendered. They were also 24th in sacks and third last in takeaways. This year has been more of the same, as they’re 21st in points, 25th in total yards, 28th against the run and 15th versus the pass.
Inglewood, CA - September 22: Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay hugs quarterback Matthew Stafford #9 after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 27-24 to win a NFL football game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Sunday, September 22, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
GREATEST SHOW ON TURF, PART TWO
After Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Orlando Pace, Torry Holt and Issac Bruce roamed the Rams’ sidelines 20 years ago the team didn’t field a good offense again for a long time. That changed when Sean McVay took over in 2017 and he has created an offensive juggernaut in the City of Angels.
Prior to being hired by the Rams McVay spent 2010-13 working with Mike and Kyle Shanahan in Washington, and was also on the staffs of both Jon and Jay Gruden. The Shanahans were the most influential when it comes to McVay’s preference in the running game.
The McVay-Shanahan system relies on smaller, quicker linemen who can work in unison and push defenders towards the sideline on outside-zone running plays while leaving backside lanes for running backs. It has long been a staple of those coaches and countless tailbacks have had success in it – from Todd Gurley to Darrell Henderson and from Cam Akers to the current starter in Kyren Williams. Williams finished third in the league in rushing yards a year ago and tied for seventh in touchdowns on the ground despite missing five games and has continued to play at a high level in 2024. In front of him are offensive linemen Kevin Dotson, Alaric Jackson, Beaux Limmer, Steve Avila and Rob Havenstein (ex-Detroit Lion Jonah Jackson is also on the roster) and they have helped the Rams execute most of their runs out “11” personnel (one back, one tight end, three receivers) and “12” personnel (one back, two tight ends, two receivers). This year, while outside zone continues to be their foundational run the Ram have also mixed in more “duo” (a form of inside zone) and gap scheme concepts.
One tactic that McVay and company love to use in the running game is to pull their tight ends (also known as split-flow action) along with sending their wide receivers behind them on fake end-arounds before giving the ball to their tailbacks. This is used to create hesitation for opposing linebackers and safeties, and the Rams’ love for sending wideouts in motion has expanded greatly to give their receivers the ball on handoffs and screens, to become crack-back blockers on running plays and to identify coverages.
Passing-wise the Rams are aligned with the West Coast offense’s principles. A ball-control passing game that can eat up clock while stretching teams horizontally rather than vertically, this version of the system features mobile quarterbacks who can move within the pocket. It also will have its skill players line up anywhere on the line of scrimmage to try and get defenses to declare their coverages and will align wide receivers close to the offensive line to give them more space to operate and to block on running plays.
Their passing game makes excellent use of intertwining route combinations, especially ones involving posts, crossing patterns and flood concepts with option routes at the deep, short and intermediate levels. These are mostly executed out of “empty” shotgun formations with “bunch” and “stack” alignments by their receivers, with many of their run-action plays performed under center.
Due to inconsistencies in his game former first overall draft pick Jared Goff was shipped to the Detroit Lions in 2021 in exchange for ex-Pro Bowler Matthew Stafford, who remains one of the NFL’s most dangerous passers. Possessing one of pro football’s strongest arms and uncanny pocket mobility, he has also developed a mind and accuracy to match while leading L.A. to a Super Bowl victory three years ago. According to former MMQB/SI writer Andy Benoit, “Stafford continues to make the big-time, tight-window passes that he has always made – he’s especially deft throwing deep outside against Cover Two…. His bold throws are now also good decisions.”
The weapons that Stafford has at his disposal are wideouts Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua (who set the NFL record for catches and receiving yards by a first-year player in 2023) and Demarcus Robinson and tight end Tyler Higbee. Higbee is effective in the screen game and on wheel routes along the sideline opposite play-action bootlegs (also known as “leak” concepts), but he’s been injured for all of 2024 and has been replaced by Colby Parkinson.
Kupp, who accomplished the rare feat of leading the NFL in receptions, yards and touchdowns in 2021, is particularly great out of the slot, especially on corner routes out of their previously mentioned flood concepts. His quick feet, elite separation skills at the top of his pass patterns and understanding of coverages help him defeat man concepts, and Los Angeles also likes to use Kupp and company in what are known as “high/low” plays – with one receiver being the low man on short routes to influence defensive backs to cheat down low and take him away while creating open space for Kupp on deep dig routes in the vacated “high” area.
Due to injuries at wide receiver and on their offensive line in the first half of the season the Rams started off winning just once in their first five games but have since had victories in five of their last seven. As such they're just 20th in points, 18th in total yards, 26th in rushing and 11th in passing.
ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 01: Brock Purdy #13 of the San Francisco 49ers is sacked by Greg Rousseau #50 of the Buffalo Bills in the second quarter of a game at Highmark Stadium on December 01, 2024 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
BUFFALO’S DEFENSE USUALLY ELITE, BUT UNDERGOING CHANGES IN 2024
For most of head coach Sean McDermott’s time in Buffalo, the Bills’ defense has been one of the league’s best. Points allowed (fourth in the NFL in that category in 2023), total yards per game allowed (ninth), passing yards given up (seventh), rushing yards surrendered (15th), takeaways (third), interceptions (tied for fourth) and sacks (fourth, tied for second-most in their history with the 2014 team) have generally been the categories that the Bills have excelled at over the years, with last season’s sack total being the best in the McDermott era.
2024, however, will be a year of transition for the Bills on defense. Due to age and salary cap complications, out the door are longtime veterans such as Shaq Lawson, Jordan Poyer and Tyrel Dodson (Miami Dolphins), Tre’Davious White (Baltimore Ravens), Leonard Floyd (San Francisco 49ers, who had 10.5 sacks a year ago – the most of any Bill since Lorenzo Alexander in 2016), Linval Joseph (Dallas Cowboys), Tim Settle (Houston Texans), Kaylon “Poona” Ford (Los Angeles Chargers) and Dane Jackson (Carolina Panthers).
Including names from the past such as Kyle Williams, Jerry Hughes, Mario Addison, Star Lotulelei, Carlos “Boogie” Basham and Harrison Phillips, that’s a lot of turnover over the last eight years – none more so than this past offseason. The answer, according to McDermott, general manager Brandon Beane and new defensive coordinator Bobby Babich (who will get the opportunity to call plays this season) is youth and cheap veterans to provide cost-effective depth.
Some of those younger players – albeit young veterans since they are in their fourth and fifth professional seasons, respectively – who have been asked to take on a greater role include Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa, who can line up both on the edge and go inside in passing situations. Da’Quan Jones, perhaps their best run-stuffing lineman, is back healthy after tearing a pectoral muscle against Jacksonville last October and is effective on T-T stunts with Ed Oliver, an excellent gap penetrator. Rousseau is in the midst of a breakout campaign while Oliver has struggled at times.
They are backed up by versatile free agent pickups Austin Johnson (who comes from the Chargers after stints with Tennessee and the Giants), Dawuane Smoot (Jacksonville) and Casey Toohill (Washington) along with rookies DeWayne Carter and Javon Solomon. Toohill is a core special teamer who reminds some of a more athletic Trent Murphy due to his length, height and movement skills while Solomon has been compared to a younger Elvis Dumervil with his lack of height yet long arms and strength and explosiveness off the edge. Smoot, however, is out with an injury, leading the Bills to bring back two familiar faces in Jordan Phillips and Quinton Jefferson.
Over the years Buffalo has been inconsistent in two areas – creating a consistent pass rush (last year not withstanding) and, from time to time, stopping the run. These issues are mainly caused by poor tackling (their missed and broken tackle percentage has been among the highest in the NFL over the years), a lack of gap integrity and speed. They also gave up 4.6 yards a carry on inside runs last year, 30th in the NFL. 2024 has been more of the same – against Seattle Buffalo held them to just 32 yards rushing and one yard in the first half, the second-fewest ground total they’ve surrendered in a first half this century (-11 in Week 17 versus Indianapolis in 2010) but yielded 153 yards rushing to San Francisco last week.
Another issue was the Bills giving up tying or go-ahead drives in the final two minutes in four of their six losses last year – meaning they struggled to close out games.
Beyond improving against the run, the Bills had also lacked an elite pass rusher off the edge who could command double teams on a consistent basis since Mario Williams was employed 10 years ago. With that in mind, two years ago Beane signed future Hall of Famer Von Miller. But Miller suffered a torn ACL after putting up eight sacks in 11 games and missed the first four games of last season while recovering on the PUP list. He’s healthy now and was on a snap count as he shook off the rust (although by his own admission he shouldn’t have played in 2023) but has provided flashes of his old All-Pro ability and speed with four sacks in eight games and multiple pressures.
Schematically the Bills’ defense mostly relies on basic zones after the snap (they’re usually among the top units in the NFL in usage of coverages with two high safeties such as Cover Two, Four and Six, although they used more man coverage against Kansas City a few weeks ago) but before the snap it is complex – safety rotations to disguise their intentions keep opposing quarterbacks guessing and selective pressure looks at the line of scrimmage and coverage exchanges are the team’s calling cards.
Those blitz looks usually happen in the A-gaps with the smaller, but smart, speedy and athletic Matt Milano and Terrell Bernard (who replaced the departed Tremaine Edmunds last year) to confuse opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks, but Buffalo rarely sends five or more pass rushers – their favorite blitz tactic besides A-gappers are four-man zone exchanges. Bernard has become a good blitzer and coverage ‘backer – his 6.5 sacks in 2023 were the most by an off-the-ball linebacker in Bills annals and he became the first NFL player since Seth Joyner in 1991 with six sacks, three picks and three fumble recoveries in a season. He is also adept at being used as a quarterback spy.
For the second straight year, Milano suffered a major injury – this time a torn bicep – but is now back and presumably healthy. While he was out, backup Dorian Williams picked up the slack. The Bills struggled to defend the run well last year because of a lack of experience by Williams – he displayed flashes of quickness and burst but was slow to key and diagnose at the line of scrimmage. He also took many false steps and needed to process better while in coverage, but is athletic, long and fluid, and has improved with more experience game by game.
Additional depth comes from Baylon Spector and rookie Joe Andreessen. Andreessen, a University at Buffalo product who hails from nearby Lancaster, showed excellent diagnostic skills at the line of scrimmage in the preseason while also displaying strong hands, a quick downhill trigger that allows him to shoot gaps well and some speed and range. It helps that the rookie played in a similar role as Milano while in college.
The Bills mainly utilize nickel personnel, as evidenced by Buffalo using five defensive backs between 90 and 100 percent of their snaps since 2020. They used more dime personnel after Milano’s injury last year with three safeties to help offset his loss in pass coverage, and that setup featured Micah Hyde and ex-Ram Taylor Rapp on the back end and Poyer near the line of scrimmage.
The Bills’ safety position is now manned by Rapp (who is better playing near the line of scrimmage), the rangy and physical but inconsistent Damar Hamlin, veteran pickup Kareem Jackson (who brings physicality and smarts and can play in the box or on the back end), Hyde, former Minnesota Vikings first round draft pick Lewis Cine and rookie Cole Bishop, who is an underrated and cerebral athlete. Hyde, who recently came back out of retirement, Jackson and Cine are all on the practice squad.
At the boundary cornerback spots replacing White and Jackson are Christian Benford and Rasul Douglas, and they are backed up by the tall and physical Ja’Marcus Ingram and Kaiir Elam, who has underwhelmed so far as a pro. Douglas, an ex-Green Bay Packer and Philadelphia Eagle, has great size and length, is versatile and a gambler – he can take chances because he understands route combinations very well (he led the NFL in takeaways last year with six after he was acquired). Slot corner Taron Johnson remains elite – especially in in the quickness and tackling departments – and he’s backed up by tweener Cam Lewis.
Despite injuries, the Bills’ defense has worked to the tune of 24 takeaways (tied for second), sixth in points allowed, eighth against the pass, 11th in total yards allowed and 18th against the run.
ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 01: Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills dives for a touchdown in the third quarter of a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Highmark Stadium on December 01, 2024 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
BILLS’ UPPER-ECHELON OFFENSE ALSO RETOOLING IN 2024
For four consecutive seasons, the Bills boasted one of the NFL’s elite offenses for the first time since the K-Gun was running roughshod over the league more than 30 years ago. Led by quarterback Josh Allen’s improved processing skills, ball placement, patience within the pocket and touch on passes and a cadre of gifted pass-catchers, they allowed Buffalo to become one of the most feared attacks in pro football (last year Allen was fourth in passing yards and tied for fifth in passing touchdowns while tying for third in rushing scores – leading the league in total yards and touchdowns in the process).
In 2023 the Bills were sixth in scoring, fourth in total yards, seventh in rushing and eighth in passing. They were also fifth in red zone efficiency, yet their offense performed poorly over a six-game stretch where they averaged just 20.5 points per game. It resulted in then-offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey getting the boot in favor of quarterbacks coach and former Carolina Panthers play-caller Joe Brady.
Like their defensive counterparts, the Bills are going through changes on this side of the ball because of age, the salary cap and a new coordinator. With Brady taking over the role full-time, the biggest philosophical question on offense for Buffalo will be how to retain elements of what made them so good in the first place while adding in new and fresh concepts.
Between 2018 and last year, Buffalo’s offense was an Erhardt-Perkins system brought in from New England by then-coordinator Brian Daboll. It was built upon concepts involving option and crossing routes from the slot, downfield routes from the outside, run-pass options (especially in the red zone), designed quarterback runs to take advantage of Allen’s mobility and alignments that create favorable matchups and some trick plays with jet/orbit motion and sweeps. It was mostly out of “11” personnel groupings (one back, one tight end and three wide receivers) and “10” personnel (one back, no tight ends, four receivers) – and would also go no-huddle from time to time to limit the opposition’s defensive calls.
The Bills’ multi-receiver sets were traditionally their offensive calling card. In 2020 they used four wide receivers or more 155 times – the second-most in the NFL at the time – and they utilized someone in motion on 43 percent of their offensive snaps, a huge increase from their 25 percent rate in 2019. Daboll, now the head coach of the New York Giants, also called for a passing play on 64 percent of their first downs, according to ESPN Stats and Information (no team with a winning record in the prior 20 years did it more than Buffalo) and that rate continued in 2021 and ’22 with “11” personnel used on nearly three-quarters of their plays.
Daboll’s successor, Ken Dorsey, got away from some of those concepts and tried to rely on the talent at his disposal winning one-on-one matchups instead of having the scheme help them get open. Once Brady was promoted, the Bills returned to them. He also included more under-center formations and play-action (which can still stand to increase after being a top-four team in run-fakes in 2020 and ’21), pre-snap shifts, motions and designed passes to running backs and route combinations with defined reads for Allen so he can play within timing and structure.
Brady got his start in the NFL working for the New Orleans Saints and then-coach Sean Payton. Payton himself came from a melting pot of a background including stints running the Erhardt-Perkins scheme for Bill Parcells in Dallas and learning the West Coast offense from Jim Fassel in New York with the Giants and from Jon Gruden during their one-year stint together in Philadelphia in 1997, so Brady will bring a similar approach to the table while likely keeping some things the same in Buffalo.
Their biggest transaction on offense in the spring was trading the aging Stefon Diggs to Houston. Diggs, while never a burner on the outside, was an exceptional route runner who specialized in making contested catches and operated well out of bunch and stack formations – leading him to re-write many of the Bills’ single season receiving records.
In addition to Diggs, Buffalo has let veterans Gabriel Davis, John Brown, Cole Beasley, Isaiah McKenzie, Jamison Crowder, Trent Sherfield and Deonte Harty walk over the years. Many of them were productive, but nothing can last forever – hence the overhaul of the Bills’ wide receiver room in 2024.
The Payton offense is built through having big, physical targets who can get open over the middle of the field, especially on deep in-cuts, or “dig” routes. Payton has employed such players in those roles before like Marques Colston, Jimmy Graham, Michael Thomas and Courtland Sutton, and the drafting of rookie Keon Coleman from Florida State fits the bill for Brady. Coleman, whose game evoked comparisons to Colston, Brandon Marshall and Anquan Boldin coming out of college, brings size and physicality to the boundary ‘X’ position with good body control and strong hands to make contested catches and has some run after the catch ability. He does need to work on his speed, quickness and ability to beat press coverage, but in time he may improve in those areas (Coleman is questionable this week due to a wrist injury).
While not a burner at the position (like free agent pickup Mack Hollins, who has similar skills), Coleman will be accentuated by speed in the form of Curtis Samuel, a poor-man’s Mecole Hardman who can line up both in the slot and outside the numbers and take handoffs. That speed was needed since Buffalo was just 28th in the NFL in plays of 20 yards or more last season according to Trumedia, and shifty third-year pass-catcher Khalil Shakir returns to man the slot with his quickness, sure hands and savviness to get open versus zone coverage.
This group had been struggling to beat man coverage in recent games, and while Brady has used more motion and bunch alignments to help in this regard Buffalo was lacking a true replacement for Diggs. Enter five-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper, who was acquired from the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a third-round draft pick in 2025. Cooper, who is making less than a million dollars this season, fits what the Bills need both financially and on the field – boasting size, speed, excellent route-running and vertical ability and is deadly on in-breaking patterns over the middle.
Tight end Dawson Knox is joined by second-year man Dalton Kincaid, and their diverse skillsets should allow the Bills to throw curveballs at opponents with multiple tight end sets. Kincaid lived up to the hype with 73 receptions a year ago, the most of any Bills rookie and surpassed Pete Metzelaars for the most catches by a Bills tight end in one season. He also became the fourth rookie tight end since 1960 with 70 or more catches in a year but is out this week with a knee injury.
The Bills’ offensive line is composed of Dion Dawkins, David Edwards, Connor McGovern (taking over at center for the departed Mitch Morse), O’Cyrus Torrence and Spencer Brown. This crew – which last year became the first unit to start every game in a regular season for Buffalo since 1989 – along with fullback Reggie Gilliam has mainly executed outside zone runs along with zone-reads, pin-and-pull concepts, traps (especially with Dawkins as the puller), counters, split inside zone/duo and sprint draw plays sprinkled in for running back James Cook. Cook, who had a breakout season in his first campaign as the starter, is backed up by physical rookie Ray Davis and ex-Jet Ty Johnson provides valuable depth with his receiving skills.
The starting front five had been iffy in providing push in the running game and in pass protection over the last couple of years but has become a strength. In the past, most of the team’s rushing production came from Allen’s legs and few came from their backs – the Bills’ rushing attempts per game in 2022, 18.2, was last in the NFL but that number jumped to the highest in the NFL after Brady was promoted. Additionally Allen was taken down just 24 times overall in 17 regular season outings, the best mark in pro football, and the team has continued to allow sacks at the league’s lowest rate.
Buffalo has also carried over their trend of using an extra offensive lineman to help in the running game. Now that Edwards has moved into the starting lineup, that extra guy is Alec Anderson, and through 12 games the Bills have had the highest rate of offensive snaps with six linemen on the field – with most of them being called runs, and they’re second in the NFL in yards per carry and yards per play with six linemen.
Another area the Bills needed to clean up is protecting the ball. Over the last two years they were one the league’s sloppiest teams – Allen had 14 interceptions and 13 fumbles in 2022 and Allen led the NFL with 18 interceptions last year. This year Allen has cut down on his interception total significantly – a sign of progress in this regard (Allen became the third signal caller in NFL history to start a season with 10 touchdowns and no picks through his team’s first seven games).
While punter Sam Martin and kicker Tyler Bass have been excellent in the past, Bass has been a bit shaky lately. When Martin was named the NFL’s Special Teams Player of the Month in December – the first Bills punter to do so since Brian Moorman in November 2006 – and Bass collected the same honor earlier in the year, it was the first time both Bills specialists have won the award in one season. But Bass’ field goal percentage took a dip in 2023 and he hasn’t been great in 2024. To improve he will need to get over whatever mental block is impeding him, but he did hit a franchise-record 61-yard field goal to beat Miami a few weeks ago and is eight-for-eight on field goals in the last minute of the fourth quarter or overtime in his career.
Through 12 weeks Buffalo is second in scoring, 10th in total yards, 17th in passing yards and 11th in rushing. They’re also eighth on third down, tops in turnover differential, second in point differential and fourth in red zone efficiency, and have scored 30 points or more in six straight games.
McDermott and Brady also cost themselves a win against the Texans while trying to throw three successive times within their own three-yard line with less than a minute to go and no timeouts. With Houston having all three of their timeouts, three straight runs would have forced Houston to burn them to get the ball back – meaning they wouldn’t have had one to use to stop the clock to set up a game-winning field goal, which happened.
According to ESPN, the Bills became the only team in the last 45 years to be tied or winning in the last minute of the game, inside their own five-yard line and threw three straight passes. They’ll need to learn from that miscue going forward.
ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 01: James Cook #4 of the Buffalo Bills looks on during the first quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Highmark Stadium on December 01, 2024 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)
12 STATS TO MUSE OVER
· The Bills have compiled a road winning percentage of .674 (31-15) since 2019.
· Since 2020 Buffalo has the best home record in the NFL – 38-9 including playoffs. They’ve also had 16 home wins of 24 points or more since 2020, the most in the NFL in that span.
· The Bills have nine straight home wins, the second-longest streak in team annals behind a 15-game stretch between 1990-91.
· Allen is seven scores away from surpassing Thurman Thomas for first all-time in Bills annals in rushing touchdowns. He’s also become the team’s all-time leader in total scores, overtaking Jim Kelly for that mark, and is the first player ever with a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in one game.
· According to Trumedia, the Bills faced man coverage on 32.7 percent of their snaps last year – the most in the NFL. However, heavy usage of man coverage isn’t foreign to the Bills’ offense. It’s been a staple against them over the last five years (48 percent in 2019, first, 35 percent in ’20, fifth, 33.3 percent in ’21, fourth and 29.3 percent in ’22, fifth), and it’s been no different in 2024 as they have gone against man coverage on one of the highest figures in the NFL.
· Miller is the first defensive player in league history to sign two contracts worth at least $100 million. He is also vying to be the second player to win a Super Bowl with three different teams (Matt Millen was the first) and has moved past Derrick Thomas for 17th on the all-time sack list. One-half of a sack will tie him with Rickey Jackson for 16th.
· The Bills clinched the AFC East for a fifth straight season, their longest streak ever. They also became the fourth team since league realignment in 2002 to win their division with five games or more left, joining the 2009 Colts, ’07 Patriots and ’04 Eagles/
· According to OptaSTATS, the Bills are the only team in the Super Bowl era to go 20-plus straight years without a division title and then win five straight immediately after.
· Buffalo is also 10-2 for the first time since 1991 and has won five games where they’ve scored at least 30 points and their opponent was held to 10 or less. No one else has even three such performances.
· The Bills have had six straight seasons of at least 10 wins, tying the sixth-longest streak in NFL history.
· Buffalo ran 56 offensive plays against San Francisco – their first six were out of the shotgun, while 38 of their next 50 came from under center. According to NextGenStats, that was on 64 percent of their plays – the Bills’ highest in a game in five years. Their 205 yards rushing from under center were the most of any team in a game in two years.
· Cook has 11 rushing touchdowns, which makes him the second player in team annals with more than 10 scores on the ground through a player’s first 11 games of a season along with O.J. Simpson in 1975, when he had 13.
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