Report Card: Josh Allen's heroics lead to high marks for Bills' offense in comeback victory
Buffalo News sports reporter Jay Skurski grades the Buffalo Bills after their 39-34 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
buffalonews.com
Grading the Buffalo Bills in their 39-34 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Highmark Stadium …
Running game: A
The Bills used their cheat code Sunday, as quarterback Josh Allen rushed nine times for 78 yards. Included in that were two of the biggest plays of the game – his 40-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter that cut the Bills’ deficit to three points at the time, and his 17-yard scramble on third-and-15 with just about a minute left that allowed the offense to run out the clock. When Allen goes into beast mode like that on the ground, he is borderline impossible to defend.
Running back James Cook had 80 rushing yards on 18 carries, but he lost a costly fumble near the goal line. Cook has had some spectacular games this season, but this wasn’t one of them. Ty Johnson should have had a long touchdown run in the first quarter, but lost his footing on the snowy turf.
In large part because of Allen’s brilliance, the Bills rushed for 183 yards as a team, guaranteeing they’ll enter Week 15 with the No. 1-ranked rushing offense in the league.
Passing game: A
Allen became the first player in NFL history with three seasons of 20-plus passing touchdowns and 10-plus rushing touchdowns. He finished 22 of 28 for 251 yards and three touchdowns – a quarterback rating of 139.7 – in outplaying his Bengals counterpart, Joe Burrow, who was also excellent.
The Bengals had a reputation of being terrible defending tight ends, and that was well deserved. All three of Buffalo’s players at the position – Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox and Jackson Hawes – scored, with Knox catching a two-point conversion, and the other two reaching the end zone.
It was a quiet game for the wide receivers. Gabe Davis led the group with two catches for 21 yards. Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir each finished with two catches for 16 yards, while Brandin Cooks was not targeted, although he did draw a defensive pass interference penalty.
Safety Cole Bishop and the rest of the Bills' defense limited the Bengals to just 62 rushing yards Sunday.
Derek Gee, Buffalo News
Run defense: A
The Bengals finished with a scant 19 rushing attempts for 62 yards. There was an element of “Why run, when you can throw?” to that total, but the Bills' defense didn’t allow a run of 10 yards.
Middle linebacker Shaq Thompson ended the first quarter with a great stop on Chase Brown for a loss of 3 yards. Thompson, starting again in place of the injured Terrel Bernard, finished with six tackles.
The Bills’ only other tackle for loss came on a sack, but the run defense did make two tackles for no gain. Rookie defensive tackle T.J. Sanders had one of them, while Cole Bishop and Deone Walker combined for the other.
Of the Bengals’ 19 rushing attempts, 11 of them were held to 3 or fewer yards. That is a pretty strong effort for a unit that has struggled at times this season.
“They had one run that went for, like, 8 yards or something, and then after that, we kind of got into them a little bit,” Bills defensive tackle Jordan Phillips said.
Pass defense: C
Burrow threw for four touchdowns, so it is hard to give this group a better grade than this. Of course, two interceptions means it is hard to give it a worse grade, either. Christian Benford’s leaping pick-six in the fourth quarter will go on not just the season highlight reel, but is one of the best plays made in Highmark Stadium in recent memory.
The Bills defended seven passes, with rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston leading the way with two. Benford also had the Bills’ only sack of the game on a well-called cornerback blitz. Other than that, the pass rush struggled, at times, to generate enough pressure without the injured Joey Bosa.
Special teams: B
You can’t take anything for granted on a slippery field. The special teams got the job done. After missing an extra point in consecutive games, kicker Matt Prater had no issues against the Bengals, hitting a 26-yard field goal and four extra points. The Bills did not punt in the game.
Shakir had one return for 9 yards. The Bills’ kick returners, Ray Davis and Johnson, finished with six returns for 130 yards – an average of just 21.7 yards per attempt. The Bengals did a good job bottling them up in the return game, especially after that unit has looked dangerous lately for the Bills.
The defensive kickoff return unit didn’t have a great afternoon, allowing a 35-yard return by Charlie Jones. The Bengals’ average drive start after kickoffs was their 34-yard line, which is pretty good field position for Burrow.
Coaching: B
It is a glass-half-full, glass-half-empty situation for the defense, right now. On one hand, the coaches deserve credit for the in-game adjustments. On the other, the slow starts to games are troubling. The third-down issues absolutely have to be addressed.
Credit offensive coordinator Joe Brady for going right at the Bengals’ weakness of covering tight ends. The Bills exploited that wonderfully. Brady stuck with the running game, even when it wasn’t opening holes the way it did last week. The end result was a much-needed victory. It wasn’t perfect, but it was gutsy. That has been written often this season. As McDermott said after the game, the Bills aren’t where they need to be, but the team finds a way late in the season. Buffalo is now 24-3 in December or January in the regular season, dating to the start of the 2020 season.
