By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Bills won a potentially important early-season AFC meeting with against the Titans in Week 5, 14-7. Come playoff time, we’ll truly see how important this one could be.
Here are five takeaways from the win:
Duke Williams tossed right in the deep end
The Bills waited until the very last minute to activate wideout Duke Williams. Josh Allen’s injury status likely played a part there, but despite being activated and signed late, Williams played a big role in his Bills debut, and from the get go.
According to The Athletic, in the Bills’ first-15 plays on offense, Williams played in 13 of them. Williams didn’t exactly have a huge workload, but he was finding open space for catches as his stat line suggests. Williams had four catches for 29 yards and scored what went down as the game-winning score. Allen showed an early trust in him.
On the flip, there’s another element here. Zay Jones’ role was diminished. In those same 15 plays, he played none of them. His opportunities with the Bills might be up, as he was not targeted once in the game.
Jordan Phillips leads way for defense
Run game on offense invisible
The Titans have a good defense, so it wasn’t shocking to see, but the Bills’ running game was invisible in this one. In the fourth quarter when Buffalo was milking the clock, it did show up. Frank Gore had runs of 11 yards and 19 yards on their final offensive drive.
Those helped his numbers fluff to 60 yards on 14 carries, but that was a rare sight in the game. Buffalo’s offense was one-dimensional, and did just enough to win, but one has to wonder if it weren’t for Titans kicker Cairo Santos, what would this game have been? The Bills would have been behind, and the Titans’ run defense would’ve been praised a lot more. Instead, their kicker was 0-for-4.
On the plus side, Josh Allen, who had 10 runs for 27 yards, learned how to slide, it appears.
Josh Allen does just enough
It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t spectacular. But Josh Allen did just enough for the Bills in this one. Overall, Allen was 23-for-32 passing for 219 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Allen was solid in the red zone, finding blocking tight end Lee Smith for a surprise touchdown catch and Duke Williams’ first-career score down the middle of the Titans defense. His interception was a bit forced, but it wasn’t as ugly as the ones he had earlier in the year and there were times he took the safe route out of tough situations by just throwing the ball away.
On the ground, Allen took off plenty of times in this one, only mustering 27 yards. His most pivotal run on third-and-3 was a perfectly designed run to help the Bills end the game in the final frame late. Allen came out throwing early once again, showing his concussion wasn’t phasing him.
Injury bug has arrived
Heading into the game, the Bills did have the bigger injury list compared to the Titans, but now it just got a whole lot bigger.
Unfortunately, five starters went down for the Bills in this one. First on the offensive line, center Mitch Morse and Cody Ford exited early. They were dealing with ankle and head injuries, respectively. Neither returned. Josh Allen appeared to have taken a shot on his hand, but the quarterback didn’t miss any time.
On defense, four injuries at some point occurred. Trent Murphy (head) and Matt Milano (hamstring) both exited and did not return. Then it continued late as rookie defensive tackle Ed Oliver and safety Jordan Poyer both went down. But good news, they returned.
And more good news, no one wants an injury bug, but it’s a good time for it. The Bills have their bye in Week 6 next week.