The Buffalo Bills didn’t get the last laugh against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 10, but some of their players did help themselves a lot in an individual sense.
For weeks now the Bills have had two players rising the statistical ranks in quarterback Josh Allen and wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Additionally, we’ve kept stringing wideout Cole Beasley along for the ride, too. He’s not far off, but we can only fit so many characters in our headlines, so… sorry, Cole.
But we will get things started off with the playmakers here.
After another solid outing against the Cards which included 10 catches and 93 yards on 11 targets, Diggs is atop the leaderboard. That’s right, he’s leading the NFL in receiving yards with 906. Despite his last-second grab, one of the players that Diggs currently edges out is the Cardinals’ DeAndre Hopkins, who resides in second place.
Here’s the top-five receiving yard leaders in the NFL after Week 10:
Helping Diggs land in the No. 1 spot is another top-flight finish for him. He also leads the NFL in catches with 73. In 2019 with the Vikings, Diggs had 63 catches… all season.
While not among NFL leaders in touchdown catches (Adam Thielen– 9), Diggs did also make his fourth touchdown catch of the season against the Cards as well.
Entering Week 10, Diggs didn’t do much rising the ranks at all. That’s because he already was leading the league in yards and receptions. His 102 targets is also first. Other stats Diggs sits near the top at include his 15 20-plus yard catches (1st), 39 catches for first downs (t-3rd), and 90.6 receiving yards per game (5th).
Onto his pass-catching counterpart, who actually led the Bills in receiving against the Cardinals with 11 catches, 109 yards and a touchdown of his own. Thanks to that, Beasley has a solid standing in the rankings as well, albeit not top-10 finishes… but still pretty good. His 642 receiving yards is good for 17th best in the NFL. If Beasley gets 192 yards over the course of the next six games, he’ll have a new career-best for him. The slot receiver has put up that number thanks to another, his 55 catches. That’s the 11th most of any receiver in the league.
Digging a bit deeper, Beasley is the top-dog if you include one curveball. According to Pro Football Focus, Beasley’s 53 receptions and 631 receiving yards out of the slot both lead the NFL.
While the pair of receivers are making out nicely because of the number of catches they have, that means one other thing.. The duo are benefitting from Allen as well…
… and some of his league-leading stats.
After his 32-for-49 passing game in Arizona for 284 yards, Allen’s up to 2,871 passing yards in 2020. That leads the NFL:
After Week 9 vs. the Seahawks, Allen had the third-most passing yards in the league, so unlike his No. 1 receiver, he did do some climbing against the Cards. Allen jumped both Russell Wilson and Matt Ryan in Week 10.
But, Allen did dip slightly in some other stats. His 21 touchdown passes are sixth-most, dropping him one spot, and his completion percentage is now at 68.4, dropping him from sixth to eighth. He did also jump up to seven interceptions, tied for sixth-most.
All in all, the Bills have a couple of players who have statistics one might not have dreamt of before the season started. We’ll check in next week after Buffalo’s bye to see how much the rest of the NFL has caught up to their totals.
Oh, and in terms of new career-bests… Allen needs 219 yards over the course of the next six games to establish his best…
He has surpassed that in eight of 10 games in 2020, for what it’s worth.
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