Buffalo falls to Washington, 21-16, in the Bills 3rd preseason game on Friday night.
The Buffalo Bills kept the crowd on its feet in the final seconds of the preseason game against Washington Redskins on Friday night in Landover, MD.
The Redskins intercepted an E.J. Manuel pass in the end zone on the last play of the game to preserve the 21-16 victory. Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
Preseason records: Buffalo (1-2), Washington (2-1)
In a nutshell:
With most of Buffalo’s starters on defense not participating and only a couple of series of work for the Bills starting offense, Washington took advantage Friday night at FedEx Field. Kirk Cousins led three straight scoring drives in the second quarter turning an early 6-0 Buffalo lead into a 21-6 advantage with touchdown passes to Ryan Grant, Jordan Reed and Pierre Garcon.
The Bills put together a field goal drive at the end of the half led by EJ Manuel and Jonathan Williams ran for a 37-yard touchdown to cut the lead to five in the third quarter. But that’s as close as Buffalo would get in a 21-16 final.
Buffalo did stage a last ditch drive with under two minutes remaining, but EJ Manuel’s fourth down throw to the end zone on the game’s final play was intercepted as time expired.
Despite sitting many of their starters, the Bills did not escape the game without injury. Chris Gragg and Jonathan Dowling left with knee injuries and Jonathan Williams suffered a rib injury after he was body slammed to the ground in the second half.
How it went down:
-Buffalo put points on the board first with just under nine minutes left in the first quarter when Dan Carpenter put a 28-yard field goal through to finish a six-play 21-yard drive. The short field was made possible by an interception by Corey White at the Washington 31.
-The Bills added another field goal when Dan Carpenter was true from 52 yards out for a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter.
-With eight minutes left in the half, Washington with their starters still in the game, scored on a 38-yard catch and run by Ryan Grant against Buffalo’s second string to for a 7-6 Washington lead. It was a four-play 70-yard drive.
-Washington would score again on their next possession. Kirk Cousins found TE Jordan Reed in a mismatch situation and hit him for a 20-yard scoring play with two minutes left in the half (14-6).
-A third straight scoring drive by Washington came after a fumble by Nick O’Leary. Kirk Cousins found Pierre Garcon, who made a great toe drag to get both feet down, for a nine-yard touchdown catch (21-6) with 38 seconds left in the half.
-EJ Manuel orchestrated a last second scoring drive in the first half thanks largely to his 18-yard scramble and an 18-yard completion to Boom Herron. It set up a 52-yard field goal by Carpenter with two seconds in the half to pull Buffalo to within 12 (21-9).
-Jonathan Williams burst through a hole up the middle and kept his balance through a couple of potential tacklers to reach the end zone on a 37-yard touchdown run to close the gap to five (21-16) with 11 minutes left in the third quarter.
Subplots:
-Head coach Rex Ryan chose to sit a good number of his starters for the game. Satisfied with his team’s play on both sides of the ball in the first two preseason games he decided to prioritize team health over exposure in another preseason contest.
-Corey White made a difficult play in the first quarter. He deflected a pass intended for Rashad Ross, and the ball popped in the air and even though White fell to the ground on the play, the ball fell to him for the interception.
-Lorenzo Alexander was very effective as a pass rusher against Washington RT Morgan Moses in the first half. He had a couple of quarterback pressures, a sack that was flagged for being a low hit and drew an illegal hands to the face penalty.
-Chris Gragg was pin-wheeled after a short reception over the middle in the second quarter and suffered a knee injury. He did not return to the game.
-A 38-yard catch and run for a touchdown by Washington’s Ryan Grant ended Buffalo’s shutout streak at 83 minutes and seven seconds.
-Manny Lawson and David Hawthorne teamed up for a sack of Kirk Cousins in the second quarter.
-Dan Carpenter hit a pair of 50-plus yard field goals in the second quarter. Both came from 52 yards out.
-CB Jonathan Dowling suffered a left knee injury in the first half covering a punt and did not return to the game.
-EJ Manuel played the rest of the game after Tyrod Taylor left midway through the first quarter. He finished the night 21-39 passing for 162 yards with an interception on the last play of the game. He also had 38 yards rushing.
-Buffalo’s shutout streak on defense ended at 83 minutes and seven seconds when Ryan Grant scored on a 38-yard touchdown pass for Washington in the second quarter. The shutout streak stretched back to the final minute of the preseason opener against the Colts.
-Walt Powell had a 38-yard punt return in the third quarter followed by a 16-yard effort in the fourth quarter.
Inactives:
QB Cardale Jones, WR Kolby Listenbee, CB Nickell Robey-Coleman, S Aaron Williams, CB Stephon Gilmore, RB LeSean McCoy, CB Ronald Darby, RB Mike Gillislee, LB Preston Brown, LB Jerry Hughes, LB Reggie Ragland, OT Cordy Glenn, WR Marcus Easley, TE Charles Clay, WR Marquise Goodwin, OLB Shaq Lawson, DT Kyle Williams, DT Marcell Dareus.
Up next: The Bills travel to Detroit to close out the preseason with the Lions on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 7:30 pm.