Buffalo’s win over Cincinnati was largely a defensive and special teams effort, but there were a couple of offensive plays that were critical to the win you may not have noticed.
Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown offers his perspective on the team. Here is his report:
Welcome to the Week 11 edition of Brownie Points. It’s been a minute since our last installment. After every win there are the highlight reel plays that everyone remembers that were critical to victory (See: Dan Carpenter, LeSean McCoy). But there are always a handful of plays that were just as important to the outcome that often go unrecognized. After each Bills win I’ll be highlighting the three plays that were important to the victory that you may not have noticed.
In addition I’ll be handing out Brownie points for those players responsible for making those plays. Here’s a look at the three plays that earned Brownie points for the Week 11 win at Cincinnati.
1 – Quick hitter
Kyle Williams turned in one of his better games of the season Sunday. One of his unnoticed, but important plays came on a 3rd-and-5 at the Cincinnati 14-yard line. Tyler Eifert had gotten enough separation on his inside out route, but Kyle Williams completely collapsed the pocket.
He lifted and turned Bengals left guard Clint Boling and drove him backwards into QB Andy Dalton, whose attempted pass was jarred loose from his hand as he threw and fell incomplete.
Down four (16-12), the Bengals had plenty of time to stage a drive. The third down stop however, made it Cincinnati’s fourth consecutive three-and-out possession with seven minutes left in the game.
2 – Taylor made scramble
Quarterback Tyrod Taylor once again did what he had to in order to buy time when dropping back to pass. Sometimes he found an open receiver. Other times he took off to run. One of his most crucial scrambles came on a 3rd-and-7 at the Cincinnati 41 early in the second half.
Taylor only got five yards, but getting the ball to the Bengals 36-yard line was critical because it was right at the target line for Dan Carpenter to attempt a 54-yard field goal. Without Taylor’s five-yard scramble, Carpenter doesn’t even get a look at a long distance kick to put the Bills ahead for good in the game.
3 – Gigantic jump cut
As impressive as LeSean McCoy’s jump cut was on his touchdown run, his understudy had one almost as important. Facing a 4th-and-1 at the Cincinnati 20 early in the fourth quarter up one (13-12), Buffalo trusted Mike Gillislee to pick up the first down.
The run up the middle was blocked well on the left side, but Seantrel Henderson was giving up penetration to Geno Atkins. Gillislee read the play perfectly and deftly sidestepped the penetration, ducked behind Richie Incognito, Ryan Groy and John Miller, who crashed down to the left and then spun off a linebacker to get not just the yard needed for the conversion, but five yards on the play.
Even though the drive did not result in a touchdown, it took valuable time off the clock and set Dan Carpenter up for a chip shot field goal to put Buffalo ahead by four, putting the Bengals in need of a touchdown to win the game.
Honorable mention
Preston Brown’s diving pass breakup in the end zone on Andy Dalton pass intended for Tyler Eifert.
Marcell Dareus’ tackle for no gain on Jeremy Hill on 2nd-and-goal from the one-yard line.
Jerome Felton’s block on LeSean McCoy’s 21-yard run.
So after win number five for the Bills here’s a look at the Brownie Points leaderboard with the candidates awarded points on a sliding scale (6, 4, 2) in terms of impact on the game.
Brownie Points Leaderboard
Player Points
LeSean McCoy 12
Mike Gillislee 6
Jerry Hughes 6
Colton Schmidt 6
Aaron Williams 6
Jerel Worthy 6
Preston Brown 6
Zach Brown 6
Charles Clay 4
Jerome Felton 4
Richie Incognito 4
Tyrod Taylor 4
Lorenzo Alexander 2
Ramon Humber 2
Jordan Mills 2
Kyle Williams 2
Eric Wood 2
Remember if you have a play that you think went unnoticed in the game be sure to tweet me your candidate for Brownie Points at @ChrisBrownBills with the hash tag #BrowniePoints. Until the next victory keep an eye out for the guys who make a difference in areas where not everyone is looking.