Well, well, well…
Don’t look now, but all of the sudden, the Buffalo Bills are national darlings.
It seemed like just yesterday, the upstart Bills were content to fly under the radar, picking up victories against what some in the media might call cupcake opponents. Buffalo entered its Thanksgiving Day game at Dallas as an overlooked 8-3 team which was presumably en route to a crash-landing back to earth at the hands of the Cowboys.
Except, by now, you know that didn’t happen. Instead, the Bills thumped the Cowboys 26-15, and had their Week 15 match up at Pittsburgh flexed to prime time.
Not a bad way to spend a holiday weekend.
Here’s a look at a few key figures that helped propel Buffalo to its ninth win of the season in Week 13:
79.1 percent
Bills quarterback Josh Allen turned in a gem in his first outing as Buffalo’s quarterback in front of a nationwide audience.
Allen threw for 231 yards and a touchdown on 19-of-24 passing for a career-high 79.1 percent completion rate. He ran for 43 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, putting his full game on display for the world to see.
Not only was Allen efficient, he played an extremely clean game. Allen, and the Buffalo offense, didn’t turn the ball over; he converted a fumbled snap into a first down run on a fourth in the second quarter.
110
As good as Allen was, Thursday’s victory could easily go down as The Cole Beasley Revenge Game.
In his return to Dallas, playing against his former team for the first time, the wideout hauled in six receptions for a season-high 110 yards and a touchdown. It marked the second consecutive game in which Beasley caught at least six passes and a touchdown. He had six receptions for 76 yards and a score in the Week 12 win over Denver.
Beasley has 55 receptions for 635 yards and five touchdowns on the season, and is on track to catch 73 balls for 846 yards and seven touchdowns; the yards and touchdowns would be career highs for eighth-year veteran out of SMU.
28
John Brown became the first Bills receiver in franchise history to throw a touchdown pass, when his 28-yard pass on a trick play in the second quarter found a wide-open Devin Singletary for a go-ahead score.
Brown is the first non-quarterback to throw a touchdown for Buffalo since Fred Jackson threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Lee Evans in a Week 10 loss to Tennessee in 2009.
Brown finished with four receptions for a season-low 26 yards, but his play as a passer is what he will be remembered for in the victory over the Cowboys.
Two
Rookie defensive lineman Ed Oliver recorded his first multi-sack game of his career, bringing down Dak Prescott twice in Thursday’s win. It also marked Oliver’s third straight game with a sack, after recording just one through Buffalo’s first nine games.
After struggling to see the field midway though the season, Oliver is surging down the stretch. He’s notched 28 tackles, four tackles for loss, seven quarterback hits and a forced fumble through 12 career games.
12
Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot to 71 yards on just 12 carries, which tied his fewest carries this season with a Week 5 loss to Green Bay. Elliott did have a season-high seven receptions for 66 yards in the loss.
+6.5
The Bills welcome in the AFC’s top-seeded Ravens to New Era Field in Week 14, a game in which Buffalo opened as 6.5-point underdog.
Baltimore (10-2) is 6-51 against the spread, but 4-1 in its last five. Buffalo (9-3) is 8-3-1 against the number, but 4-0-1 in its last five.
The over/ under is set for 43.5 The over is 3-2 in Baltimore’s last five games, while the over is 1-4 in Buffalo’s previous five.
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