There were a lot of big plays made by the Buffalo Bills during their 34-10 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at Highmark Stadium.
It can be debated which one was the biggest, but a clear contender is the 25-yard completion from quarterback Josh Allen to tight end Dalton Kincaid on the penultimate play of the third quarter. Two plays later, the Bills were in the end zone again, and with a two-possession lead at that time, the game was pretty much in the bag.
鈥淛ust man to man, trusting him to go make a play,鈥 Allen said of Kincaid. 鈥淚 put a lot of air under it, and he ran under it, and made a play.鈥
Trust in Kincaid was reflected in the team鈥檚 snap counts. The second-year tight end played 40 of the team鈥檚 55 offensive snaps, 73%. It鈥檚 the second straight game Kincaid has played at least 73% of the offensive snaps. That comes after a run of four games in which he didn鈥檛 top 63%. Perhaps not coincidentally, Kincaid has nine catches for 103 yards during the Bills鈥 two-game win streak.
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Here are four more observations from the snap counts in the Bills鈥 Week 7 win:
1. It鈥檚 hard to read much into the wide receiver snaps. Curtis Samuel was hurt in the first quarter after playing just two snaps. He did not return to the game, so it鈥檚 hard to know how much that injury impacted the Bills鈥 original plan at the position. Would have Mack Hollins (41 snaps, 75%) played less? Would have Amari Cooper (19 snaps, 35%) played less? Not until all five receivers are healthy will that sort itself out.
鈥淚 didn't really know what to expect as far as the percentage of plays that I would actually play,鈥 Cooper said. 鈥淥bviously, I knew I wouldn't be able to play the whole game. 鈥 I didn't really start to learn the playbook until Wednesday. I do have an impressive memory, I think, but these playbooks, they have, sometimes hundreds of plays, so I knew I wouldn't be able to learn all of them. I just tried to learn as much as possible and you just try to be there for the team.鈥
2. The Bills rode Greg Rousseau. It鈥檚 fairly rare for a defensive lineman in Sean McDermott鈥檚 scheme to approach 80% of the snaps, but that鈥檚 what Rousseau did Sunday, playing 56 of 70 (77%). With an NFL-high six quarterback hits in the game, it鈥檚 easy to see why the coaching staff wanted to stick with what was working.
3. Injuries cut into Terrel Bernard鈥檚 playing time. The Bills鈥 linebacker is usually an every-down player, but he had to leave the game twice Sunday. The first time he was evaluated for a head injury and cleared to return, but the second time he did not play after suffering an ankle injury. As a result, Bernard played 54 defensive snaps (74%). His replacement, Baylon Spector, played 20 snaps (27%).
4. Reggie Gilliam was limited to special teams work. The Bills鈥 fullback rarely gets more than a handful of offensive snaps in any given game, but Sunday was the first time this season that he didn鈥檛 play one snap on offense. He did play 26 special teams snaps, which was 93% and tied with tight end Quintin Morris for the most on the team.
Stat of the game: 299-72
That was the yardage advantage enjoyed by the Bills in the second half. Buffalo outscored Tennessee 27-0 after halftime, helping the team rally from a deficit of 10 points to win for the second time this season (Week 1 against Arizona being the other). It鈥檚 the first time since the 2011 season that the Bills have done that in multiple games.
Player of the game: Keon Coleman
Let鈥檚 go with the rookie, who had 125 receiving yards on just four catches 鈥 the first 100-yard receiving game of the season for the team. Coleman鈥檚 yardage total was the most by a rookie receiver for the Bills since Sammy Watkins had 127 yards in Week 14 of the 2014 season.
Quote of the game
鈥淚t has a good feel to the game. It just felt different, the fans for some reason. I kind of got the warning throughout the week that the fans are very passionate. I have been a part of a lot of very passionate fan bases 鈥 I played for the Raiders, the Cowboys, the Browns, Alabama 鈥 but this one, it seems a little bit more heightened, so I guess that's a good thing.鈥 鈥 Amari Cooper on his first experience playing in front of Bills fans