By Rich Kowalski / Billswire.usatoday.com
Well, they survived.
The Buffalo Bills, nearly as battered as their counterparts, got through a messy preseason game and won the coveted third preseason, 24-20 over the Detroit Lions.
If you’re sensing sarcasm, you’re onto something and probably feeling just as peeved as I am regarding the NFL’s stubborn take on the continuous vicious injury machine known as the preseason.
The Bills and the Lions didn’t provide much of an entertaining game on national television and instead provided injury clips that should be hand-delivered to whoever wants to start a campaign to end or at least cut in half the wretched August slate of games.
Antiquated exhibition games aside, each team had moments that may have moved the ticker for some players who were on the roster bubble but had their fair share of injury scares.
Detroit lost starting middle linebacker Jarrad Davis and starting center Frank Ragnow to injuries in the game. Each was the team’s first-round picks in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Buffalo saw starting left guard, Quinton Spain, carted off in the first half and saw a slew of other injuries that now appear to be minor. Surely, the Bills will take precautions with it comes to who they put out on the field in the team’s preseason finale in Orchard Park next Thursday night.
Let’s take a look at what and who gained some ground or fell off a bit in Friday’s sloppy game at Ford Field:
Stock up: QB Matt Barkley
Before diving into why Matt Barkley’s stock went up after Friday’s game…. Josh Allen is the Bills’ starting quarterback and will be going into Week 1.
While all eyes watching on Friday night were thinking about whether or not Josh Allen could take a step forward in what’s often the dress rehearsal of an NFL first half, Barkley decided to take a lot of the attention off of his counterpart’s mainly underwhelming performance.
Barkley continued his hot hand that caught fire in Charlotte last week and finished the game 12-of-14 for 142 yards. He added a touchdown pass again to offseason darling Duke Williams for the second-straight week.
The Bills have to be satisfied with what they have behind Allen, especially since Barkley wasn’t even a thought for the team until injuries forced Buffalo to call him and offer the free agent a contract last October.
Here’s a stat – in his last two games, Barkley is 20-of-24 for 252 yards and two touchdowns. It’s preseason but that security should help head coach Sean McDermott sleep at night.
Stock up: CB Levi Wallace
A surging star that no one drafted in 2018, including the Bills, has continued to impress and show that he does belong in the NFL and we’re all here for it.
If you don’t know the name Levi Wallace very well, you’re going to in 2019 as he has been churning out consistent performances opposite from Tre’Davious White dating back to early last season. The former-Alabama defensive back made a handful of plays in Detroit, including a great deflection to prevent a Lion score.
Wallace’s stock has gone up two weeks in a row but an injury scare made fans hold their breath a bit for the umpteenth time Friday. Thankfully, Wallace was OK, got back in to take a vicious stiff-arm from C.J. Anderson, and looks to be the newest keystone of Buffalo’s fierce pass defense.
Stock up: WR Duke Williams
After stumbling from the starting gate, wide receiver Duke Williams has slowly found his footing on the field for the Bills.
The former-CFL receiver scored in the second-straight week and showed chemistry with Barkley. He finished the game with three catches for 15 yards and a touchdown.
Buffalo seems to have their work cut out for them when it comes to widdling down the receiving core to what they want. Williams’ counterpart, Isaiah McKenzie found the endzone with what remained of the Bills’ first-string offense. You could say it’s a good problem to have when your options at receiver have been sparse of late.
Stock up: RT Cody Ford
In the first two preseason games of the year, Cody Ford looked raw. Moving from guard to tackle seemed inevitable for Ford and the Bills after the team selected the lineman from Oklahoma in the second round, however, it wasn’t a smooth transition to start.
Buffalo wants their mainly revamped offensive line not only to be a fortress in front of their franchise-quarterback-in-progress, Josh Allen, but a major part of their running game revitalization.
Ford looked confident in Detroit on Friday and absolutely pummeled a Detroit defender late in the second quarter to clear a path for fellow-rookie, Devin Singletary, as he snuck into the end zone.
Stock down: QB Josh Allen
Most consider the third preseason game of the summer to be the closest resemblance of regular-season football. If you’re going with that line of thinking, then Josh Allen did not have an incredibly noteworthy performance to stand by.
Allen played just one half and finished 3-for-6 passing with just 49 yards. He added 17 yards on the ground but failed to make the impact you’d hope for. His largest plays came from two passes thrown to free-agent signing, John Brown, who caught back-to-back passes of 18 and 17 yards. That’s about 71 percent of Allen’s total yardage.
Allen also attempted to play what most are calling “hero ball” a few times Friday, where he tries to make a play that has an incredibly low chance of succeeding. Wild throws across the body downfield won’t cut it in the regular season.
While it isn’t great to see Allen struggle to do much of anything, he and the Buffalo offense did punch it into the end zone two times, albeit on the ground. It’s a good thing this is just the preseason and the real football doesn’t start until Sept. 8, but Allen needs to work on his decision-making, which has been one his most-glaring flaws since first appearing on the NFL radar.
Stock down: Bills coaching
While the Bills may have won the game 24-20, the team as a whole, looked incredibly sloppy. Buffalo finished the game with double-digit penalties for the second-straight week, finishing with 11 against Carolina and 12 on Friday against Detroit.
If these issues are still plaguing the Bills in Week 1, the team might have some underlying issues that really need to be addressed.
Aside from the penalties, Buffalo’s offense came out with very little venom. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll turned back to a more conservative play sheet with monotonous run calls play after play. The team’s passing game didn’t surpass the rushing game in yardage until Matt Barkley came in for the second half.
Penalties and passing the ball will need to be squashed out soon if the Bills want to get off to a good start to the 2019 season on the road.
Stock down: Bills special teams
In today’s NFL, it’s easy to forget about the third facet of the game – special teams. The glitz and glam of an offense or defense are easier to focus on for the fan but special teams are how you leverage those other two talented parts of the game to put yourself in a position to win.
When the special teams struggle, a team becomes more vulnerable in many areas. Buffalo’s special teams Friday night looked disorganized and rough. Punter Cody Bojorquez was given priority in the punting competition due to a Cory Carter injury and really didn’t take advantage of it. His first two punts were errant and gave the Lions the ball near midfield. He eventually found his footing and provided some better punts later in the game but as a whole, Bojorquez didn’t cement his roster spot.
The Bills were also called for a variety of penalties on kick and punt returns and need to clean that up. You’d hope that these will subside once the roster goes down to 53 men but the coaching needs to be better.
Stock down: Preseason football
It’s been the thorn in the side for almost everyone who watches, covers, and plays the game of football and on Friday, preseason football continued to feel less and less like a good idea.
It started fairly quickly with Detriot’s starting middle linebacker, Jarrad Davis, being carted off the field with a leg injury. It then quickly moved to players on both sides of the field. Buffalo’s starting left guard, Quinton Spain, was then carted off the field with an ankle injury.
Lions starting center, Frank Ragnow, went down with a right leg injury shortly after Bills running back, Frank Gore, needed attention from the team’s trainers. Buffalo defensive backs Tre’Davious White and Levi Wallace were also forced to exit the game, the latter returning.
For the Bills, they’re thankful that all but one of their injuries appear to be minor whereas Detroit may have lost their first-round picks from 2017 and 2018 for a potentially extended amount of time.
As this continues, it now feels prudent to eliminate at least half of the preseason and pivot towards joint practices with other teams or even scrimmages in the name of player safety. No one wants players to be injured in games that don’t count and it’s time the NFL puts guidelines in place that help reduce the chances of injuries happening in meaningless football.