Grading the Buffalo Bills in their 34-10 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at Highmark Stadium …
Running game
C+It was mostly tough sledding against a Tennessee defense that features behemoths T’Vondre Sweat and Jeffery Simmons in the middle, but the Bills did manage to score a pair of rushing touchdowns. James Cook got the first one from 11 yards out to open the scoring, and Ray Davis closed it with a 16-yard run. Davis led the Bills with just 41 yards on five carries – an impressive effort, considering he was questionable for the game with a calf injury. Cook’s 11-yard scoring run was his longest of the game, as he was largely bottled up after that, finishing with 32 yards on 12 carries. Any gamblers out there who took the over on Josh Allen rushing yards were sorely disappointed. He had a season-low 1 rushing yard on just three carries.
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Passing game
A Allen might have been held in check on the ground, but the Titans had no such luck doing that through the air, as he torched them for a season-high 323 passing yards and two touchdowns, going 21 of 33 and compiling a 116.1 passer rating. What’s more impressive is that Allen was just 4 of 11 for 65 yards at halftime, so he really turned things on after the break. Rookie Keon Coleman had 125 yards receiving, the first 100-yard game of the season for a Buffalo receiver. Allen was sacked only once. It was the quarterback’s first 300-yard game this year.
Run defense
B The run defense was involved in the biggest momentum swing of the game. On back-to-back plays in the third quarter, linebacker Terrel Bernard and defensive tackle DeWayne Carter took turns stuffing Titans running back Tony Pollard on third-and-1 and fourth-and-2, forcing a key turnover on downs. It was a major turnaround for the Titans after Pollard had gained 71 yards on 14 carries in the first half. Greg Rousseau also made a key play on that defensive series, stopping Pollard for just a 1-yard gain on first down. Dawuane Smoot made a couple nice plays against the run in the first half, including a stop of Pollard for no gain on a second-down run in the first quarter. Dorian Williams led the defense with 10 tackles. Bernard recovered a botched Tennessee snap for a takeaway in the second quarter.
Pass defense
A Mason Rudolph is going to need the ice tub Monday. Rudolph was sacked just three times, but he was hit a whopping 11 times as the Bills’ pass rush was able to tee off, especially in the second half. Rousseau led the way with six quarterback hits – a single-game high in the NFL this season. Cornerback Taron Johnson had a pass defensed to get off field on third down on Tennessee’s opening drive. It was one of five passes defensed, with A.J. Epenesa, Damar Hamlin (interception), Christian Benford and Rasul Douglas tallying the others. Epenesa had a big sack that forced a fumble. Although the Bills weren’t able to recover, it resulted in a 20-yard loss, and the Titans ended up having to punt.
Special teams
B Brandon Codrington’s acquisition has been a somewhat under-the-radar move, but it shouldn’t be overlooked. The rookie looks poised beyond his years in navigating the tricky winds inside Highmark Stadium. Codrington returned five punts for 56 yards (11.2 yards per attempt), and the Bills’ average drive start was their 34-yard line. His only kick return, on which he broke at least three tackles, went 27 yards and gave the team some life, helping set up a touchdown just three plays later. It was a tough day for Bills punter Sam Martin, who averaged just 33.8 net yards on five attempts and placed just one of those inside Tennessee’s 20-yard line. One of Martin’s punts looked to have pretty good hang time, but the Bills’ gunners couldn’t get down the field in time to make a play on the ball, and it bounced into the end zone for a touchback.
Coaching
B Sean McDermott started the game with an interesting decision, opting to take the ball after winning the coin toss instead of deferring to the second half as usual. McDermott explained after the game that he anticipated the wind picking up as the game went on, so he wanted to have it first. That decision was open to second guesses after the Bills went three-and-out on their first three drives – the first time all season that’s happened. Defensively, the Bills also gave up an early third-and-10 conversion that helped Tennessee to a field goal on its first drive. Johnson was also penalized for unnecessary roughness to keep the Titans’ second drive alive, which eventually resulted in a touchdown and a 10-0 lead. The Bills’ slow starts are troubling, but credit the coaching staff for making the necessary adjustments that allowed for 34 straight points to close out the win. This isn’t a Titans report card, but let’s point out that Tennessee coach Brian Callahan did the Bills a favor by settling for a 25-yard field goal on fourth-and-2 in the first quarter, then making a total abomination of the clock before halftime. It seems in some cases, NFL teams would be better off hiring a 12-year-old who plays Madden to run the clock for them.