By Mike Migliore / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills did enough to improve to 6-2 for the first time since 1993 with a 24-9 win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday at New Era Field. It would be both easy and pretty accurate to say that not much happened in this game.
Not counting drives to kneel out the clock, each team had fewer than 10 drives and the game was wrapped up in under three hours. With that said, what did happen in this game was important for a Bills’ team that is now just a game behind the New England Patriots in the AFC East standings.
The Bills were hot early, scoring on each of their first three possessions. The offense then disappeared while Washington lingered around until the fourth quarter. Adrian Peterson had himself a big first half in another troubling performance for the Buffalo run defense, the Bills managed to hold the Redskins out of the end zone and finally put the game away in the fourth quarter when Devin Singletary capped an eight-play drive with a two-yard touchdown run to put the Bills up 15 with 2:21 to play.
Singletary was the star of this game for Buffalo as he started over Frank Gore and made the most of his opportunity with 95 rushing yards and 45 receiving yards. The Bills relied on their ground game in this one as both Singletary and Gore had over 10 carries, while Josh Allen attempted only 20 passes.
It was by no means a perfect day for the Bills, but they were never really threatened after jumping out to a 17-3 lead. While Washington got to within eight points, the Bills defense tightened in the fourth quarter and the offense put together a drive to close out the game, getting Buffalo on the right track after losing at home by 18 to Philadelphia last week.
The Bills have a good look at getting to 7-2 next Sunday when they travel to Cleveland to face a free-falling Browns team, which is now 2-6 after a road loss in Denver.
Here are four things we learned as the Bills got back in the win column Sunday against the Redskins:
Devin Singletary is a No. 1 running back
The Bills finally passed the torch from Frank Gore to Devin Singletary on Sunday as Singletary got the start and made a huge difference right away for the Buffalo offense.
It was only a matter of time before Singletary took over as the Bills’ lead running back. It appeared the Bills might be headed in this direction during the preseason when Singletary shined and the front office decided they could part with LeSean McCoy. Still, the majority of touches went to Gore, even when Singletary was averaging more than nine yards per carry during the first two weeks of the season. Singletary then disappeared from the Buffalo lineup for three games as he was dealing with a hamstring injury. The Bills eased him back into the lineup slowly in his first two games back against Miami and Philadelphia.
After not carrying the ball at all in the first half last week, Singletary exploded in the second half on an electrifying 28-yard catch and run touchdown that was the Bills’ only score in the second half of their loss to the Eagles. It was clear that Singletary needed to have a bigger opportunity in the Buffalo offense going forward as perhaps Buffalo’s best and most explosive playmaker on offense.
Sean McDermott and Brian Daboll gave Singletary his chance on Sunday and it paid dividends.
Singletary started the game in the backfield for Buffalo and took the handoff on each of the Bills’ first two plays from scrimmage. While he rotated with Gore throughout the first two quarters, Singletary finished the half with nine touches for 99 yards. Included in those nine touches was a 17-yard run on the opening drive and a 49-yard completion on a screen pass from Allen on the second drive.
When the second half opened, the Bills went back to Singletary as he received carries on the first four plays of the third quarter. A 17-yard Singletary run moved the Bills into Redskins’ territory before the drive stalled and the Bills turned the ball over on downs when Gore was stuffed for no gain on fourth and 1 at the Washington 24.
Late in the fourth quarter, it was Singletary who helped put the game away with four straight runs from the Washington 14 after a big third-down conversion on a 23-yard Josh Allen to John Brown pass. Singletary found the end zone with 2:21 to go as he bounced a run outside to the left and found plenty of open space to scamper over the goal line.
Singletary took 66 percent of the snaps on offense in this game, compared to 34% for Gore. He finished the game with 20 rushes for 95 yards and three receptions for 45 yards. After the way the game unfolded last Sunday, many fans were asking for Singletary to see the field more and take the majority of the touches from Gore. The coaching staff obviously felt the same way and made Singletary the focus of the gameplan. Meanwhile, it was a rough day for Gore as his 11 carries produced just 15 yards. Several of his runs came on short-yardage situations that did not go well.
It’s clear going forward that Singletary should continue to be the Bills’ top back and receive the majority of the touches. The Bills have been hurting for more explosiveness on offense and Singletary is one of the few guys who can help in that regard. The rookie running back has proven that the Bills can run their ground attack through him. He should be the no. 1 running back going forward.
The Bills finally should decide on a right tackle
Another position where the Bills should make a decision on who their top guy would be is right tackle. Ty Nsekhe took all 62 snaps as the Bills’ starting right tackle on Sunday. He did not rotate with Cody Ford, which had been the case in every game prior to Sunday’s. Ford did not take a single snap on Sunday against Washington.
He was active despite being questionable heading into the game with an elbow injury. Perhaps the Bills were airing on the side of caution with his injury, but it was notable to see Nsekhe take every snap.
There were no glaring mistakes by Nsekhe among his 62 snaps on Sunday. He played well taking on the full share of duties at right tackle. His most impressive play came on Buffalo’s first drive of the third quarter. On a first and 10 at midfield, Nsekhe led the way for Singletary as he ran off right tackle. Nsekhe got out to the second level and took out Josh Norman with a textbook block to free up Singletary down the right sideline for a 17-yard gain.
It had to feel good for Nsekhe to get the opportunity to take all of the snaps against his former team. Nsekhe spent four seasons in Washington before signing a two-year deal with Buffalo in the offseason. While he played well when given an opportunity with the Redskins, he was never used as a full-time starter. The Bills were mostly lauded for the move as one of the best unheralded signings of the offseason.
Making Nsekhe the full-time starter at right tackle should help to solidify the line. While Dion Dawkins has played well at left tackle, Ford has had some struggles over on the right side. The coaching staff had been rotating him and Nsekhe through the first seven games of the season.
It remains to be seen how the snaps will play out at right tackle once Ford is back to full health. The Bills invested heavily in both Nsekhe and Ford, considering the money spent on Nsekhe (two-years, $14.5 million) and the draft capital spent on Ford (the Bills traded their second and fifth round picks to the Raiders to pick him 38th overall). Ford will need to be an important part of the Bills’ plans going forward. Many feel he’ll be a better guard in the NFL than a tackle, but right now the coaching staff likes the play they’re getting from Jon Feliciano at right guard. We may not have an answer on Ford’s long-term position with the team until next season.
Buffalo’s run defense is searching for answers
Last week, the Philadelphia Eagles ran all over the Bills’ defense for 218 yards. Through one half on Sunday against Washington, it looked like we were heading for another 200-yard day on the ground by a Bills’ opponent.
There is no shame in being run over by Adrian Peterson, one of the best running backs ever to play this game. But this isn’t the same Peterson from his Minnesota days a decade ago. On Sunday, the 34-year-old Peterson looked like he was in his mid-20s again as he tore through the Bills for 101 rushing yards in the first half.
It was the second week in a row where run defense was a major concern for Buffalo. Unlike last week, however, the Bills were ultimately not defeated by an opponent’s ground game. Buffalo’s defense adjusted in the second half, holding Peterson to just seven rushing yards on eight carries. Buffalo held Washington out of the end zone, the first time all season an opponent failed to score a touchdown in a game against the Bills.
It was a remarkable turnaround on defense for the Bills in the second half. The Bills did not make any major personnel changes to their defense in the second half that could be pointed to as the reason for the turnaround. The Bills simply played more disciplined with their run fits in the second half as opposed to the first half. There were a few runs in the first half where the Bills overpursued on defense and Peterson was able to cut upfield and find space to run. Star Lotulelei, who’s job it is to plug up the middle of the opposing rushing attack, got caught a few times and had a couple Peterson runs go right past him. Peterson had four runs go for 17 yards or more in the second quarter, including one for 28 yards. The second half was a much different story.
The Bills’ run defense greatly improved in the second half and stayed much more disciplined, not allowing the space for Peterson to run through. Peterson did not have a run longer than four yards in the second half and Washington had just 18 rushing yards total. The Bills largely relied on the duo of Lotulelei and Jordan Phillips at defensive tackle in the second half. They also worked in Vincent Taylor, who was promoted to the active roster from the practice squad this week. The former sixth round pick of the Dolphins played nine snaps on Sunday and made three tackles, including a screen pass he snuffed out for a loss.
Meanwhile, first round pick Ed Oliver was left out of the starting lineup and demoted to the second team in the defensive tackle rotation. Oliver played just 18 snaps in this game, mostly in passing situations.
It was clear after Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia that the coaching staff was going to make some changes to correct the problems the run defense had with Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders. Kyle Peko was waived to make room for Taylor and Oliver was taken out of the starting lineup in favor of Phillips.
Sean McDermott said after the game that Phillips has earned the right to be a starter on this Bills’ defense. He’s not wrong. Phillips picked up his sixth sack of the season on Sunday, tying him for the league lead among defensive tackles. Phillips also registered three tackles on Sunday, including two tackles for a loss. Phillips now has nine tackles for a loss on the season. More snaps for Phillips and newcomer Taylor, a 6-foot-3, 211 pound defensive tackle who had 15 solo tackles in eight games for Miami last year, may go a long way to correcting some of the issues the Bills have had on run defense.
The thing is, Oliver was a top-10 pick for a reason and the Bills will need to utilize that skill set sooner rather than later. Oliver is not known as a run-stopping defensive tackle. He is a guy who can help generate pass rush up the middle with his extraordinary athleticism. He has yet to really show that yet to start his NFL career. You would have to think that skill will show up in time. Being used situationally, perhaps paired with Taylor, could help him.
The Bills’ run defense will be tested again next week by Nick Chubb and the Cleveland Browns. Chubb has rushed for over 100 yards three times so far this season and is averaging 5.2 yards per attempt. His 100.4 rushing yards per game are second most in the entire NFL.
Short yardage offense needs work
Despite a bit of a lull in the third quarter and early fourth quarter, the Bills’ offense was mostly fine on Sunday. Buffalo scored on each of their first three drives, including a touchdown catch by Cole Beasley and a fourth-and-goal quarterback sneak touchdown by Josh Allen.
Devin Singletary was the star with 95 yards rushing and 45 yards receiving. Allen was not asked to throw the ball much, but was mostly efficient. Allen was 14 of 20 for 160 yards and the touchdown to Beasley. He also avoided throwing an interception for the third straight game, but nearly lost a fumble.
There was one major area of concern for the Bills’ offense on Sunday: short yardage. The Bills had a tough time converting near the goal line and on a couple of third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 plays. With a quarterback that is 6-foot-5, converting on short yardage should not be an issue most of the time. Allen scored on his fourth-and-goal attempt in the second quarter. The problem in this game is that the Bills tried to pound Frank Gore ahead for the yard they needed in these situations.
The Bills and offense coordinator Brian Daboll tried to do what so many teams do in short yardage situations: Go to a heavy set and bring everyone in tight to power ahead for one yard. There’s a problem with this strategy, though: Everyone in the stadium knows what you’re trying to do and it’s easy for the defense to plug up the middle to counter this play. When offenses bring everyone in tight and put multiple tight ends on the field, there’s almost no threat of a pass. The defense can key in on jamming the middle and preventing the pile from being moved forward. This is what happened to the Bills on Sunday.
Perhaps the Bills were spooked by what happened on their second drive of the game. The Bills drove to the Washington 2, but instead of pounding the ball in on first and goal, they tried a pass. Allen did not pull the trigger on a throw to Gore in the flat, nor did he try to throw the ball away. Instead he was sacked by Montez Sweat for a six-yard loss. The problems escalated from there as Daboll called a flip pass for Isaiah McKenzie that was defended perfectly and resulted in an eight-yard loss.
The next time the Bills got to first and goal, they tried to run Gore up the middle on three straight plays. Each time, the Bills went to a heavy set and each time, Washington was ready. All three runs went for no gain. The Bills finally turned to Allen to get them over the goal line and he did, though not without a struggle.
On the first drive of the third quarter, the Bills again found themselves in a short-yardage situation. On fourth and 1 from the 24, McDermott kept the offense on the field. The play call, however, was another run up the middle to Gore. Again, the Redskins stopped it as Landon Collins got through and tripped up Gore at the line of scrimmage.
The Bills made a mess of a short-yardage situation one more time in the fourth quarter. Leading 17-9, they faced a third-and-1 from their own 31 with 8:41 to play. The play call was once again another run up the middle by Gore. Again, Washington stopped it as Shaun Dion Hamilton made the tackle for a three-yard loss that brought out some boos from the New Era Field crowd.
The Bills really made these short yardage situations difficult for themselves. Bringing everyone in tight increases the chances of the defense being able to jam a run to the middle.
The Bills did not push the Redskins back on these short-yardage runs. They were successful however on three quarterback sneaks by Allen in this game. Allen converted twice on third-and-1 sneaks in addition to his touchdown on fourth and goal. With Allen’s size, the best plan of attack on these plays is simply to have him fall forward for a yard. The Bills were overthinking by calling the runs to Gore in the other instances.
Earlier in the season, Gore blasted through for short-yardage touchdowns against the Giants and Bengals. But teams have geared up to stop that since. New England neutralized Gore on short-yardage runs near the goal line in Week 4. A third-and-goal stop of Gore in the fourth quarter of that game ended up making a huge different in a six-point Bills’ loss.
Hopefully we’ll see Daboll move away from Gore runs in heavy formation going forward. We saw the Bills make corrections to their run defense after struggling last week. We might see them make a change on offense in short yardage situations next week in Cleveland.