By Nick Wojton / Billswirelusatoday.com
The Detroit Lions can now join the Buffalo Bills.
Not only are both teams now 5-9, they’ve both been eliminated from the playoffs as the visitors entered New Era Field clinching onto slim playoff hopes which are now gone after a 14-13 Buffalo win.
With that, here are five takeaways from the Bills win over the Lions:
Golladay has a…day… vs. Tre’Davious White
Unfortunately it looks like a potential first Pro Bowl nod for Buffalo’s No. 1 cornerback will have to wait. White has struggled in his past three games and it’s only gotten progressively worse. After allowing a touchdown last week and a 37-yard reception leading to the game-winning score, Lions No. 1 wideout Kenny Golladay had a career day against White.
Golladay did make one big grab on Levi Wallace, pulling an interception out of his hands, but most of his seven catch, 146-yard game came with White in coverage. Of his notably tough plays, White allowed a 31-yard grab over the middle and then down the right sideline, Golladay beat him for 40 yards. The frustrations could be building for White, as he took an obvious holding penalty as well. It negated a penalty called for holding on Kyle Williams. White has some issues to sort out. The play of Buffalo’s defensive line isn’t helping the secondary, either. No sacks for the second-straight week.
Allen has some touch
This is not a drill: Allen played well against the Lions and it had nothing to do with his legs. Well, kind of. Allen had an impressive rushing touchdown in the game, however, even then it showed his progression as a passer. The rookie went through his progressions a lot better than he previously has. Starting with that score, Allen waited before taking off. He went through several progressions and then took off, beating an oncoming pass rusher with a juke and then using his speed to get to the pylon first.
On plays Allen did actually pull the trigger, he stood in the pocket with poise and let it rip deep. Allen did so on a 28-yard pass to Robert Foster early, then did so on his 42-yard touchdown pass to Foster as he cut across the middle of the field. Deonte Thompson also almost hauled in a deep pass from Allen patently waiting in the pocket. Allen finished the day only 13-for-26 passing for 204 yards, but his patience, combined with some drops, was encouraging.
Depth tested once again
The Bills haven’t been hurt very often this season by the injury bug. Apparently it visited Orchard Park last week and then stuck around for the Lions game on Sunday. Last week against the Jets, LeSean McCoy, Chris Ivory, Jordan Mils, Isaiah McKenzie, and Robert Foster went down with injuries. Then Matt Milano was lost for the season.
On Sunday against the Lions, one position in particular was hurt. Surprisingly, McCoy and Ivory both missed the game. Then in the first half, Marcus Murphy, making his first-career start at running back, went down with a hand injury. That put running back Keith Ford in the spotlight. Then of course, he went down. Even fullback Pat DiMarco was shaken up on a special teams down and dual-threat playmaker in McKenzie went down briefly.
The Bills likely won’t need to add anyone as it appeared that both Ivory and McCoy were close to returning this week, but that position took a complete beating somehow. Healthy or not, the unit still struggled a bit as Ford and Murphy only combined for 81 rushing yards. The offensive line still needs fixing this offseason.
Another big one for Foster
It’s easy to say this now, but Robert Foster is an NFL wide receiver and what a good story it is. Foster struggled in college with several injuries holding him back during his five years at Alabama. It made him go undrafted at the 2018 NFL Draft and that’s how the Bills got him.
He surprisingly made the 53-man roster out of training camp, but only had two catches for 30 yards in his first six-game stint, both coming in the same game. Since his return after being cut, he is on fire. Foster notched his third-career 100-yard receiving game and now has hit that in back-to-back games. On the season, Foster could also legitimately finish the year as Buffalo’s leading receiver as he has 468 receving yards to Zay Jones’ 481. Against Detroit, Foster had four catches on five targets for 108 receiving yards with a touchdown. On the down side of things, Jones only had one catch for 11 yards on six targets.
Special teams settles down but… Hauschka?
The Bills’ special teams unit has been brutal in recent weeks allowing blocks, big returns and several missed kicks. Against the Lions, things went well. The Lions missed an extra point and there were no huge blemishes on Buffalo’s track record. Special teams coordinator Danny Crossman should still be on the hot seat, though.
But there was an interesting situation that did brew for kicker Stephen Hauschka. He kicked two extra points, but on two longer opportunities, the Bills opted to not kick when they could have with a usually healthy Hauschka. The longer of the two was from 53 yards and the Bills instead punted from Detroit’s 36. Weird. The other was close to extra-point range but the Bills went for it on fourth-and-two. Was Hauschka not healthy enough to make distance kicks? If so, why was he still active and no one else was signed? A coaching decision gaff if that’s the case.