Tag: Amari Cooper

3 keys to a Bills victory vs. the Lions in Week 15

3 keys to a Bills victory vs. the Lions in Week 15

The Buffalo Bills will play the Detroit Lions on the road at Ford Field in Week 15.

The Bills (10-3) are looking to bounce back from a loss to the Los Angeles Rams last week, while the Lions (12-1) are riding an 11-game win streak.

The Lions are favored by 2.5 points in Week 15. The two teams haven’t met since Thanksgiving Day in 2022 when the Bills won in dramatic fashion, 28-25.

The Lions are at the top of most power rankings ahead of Sunday. Buffalo will need to execute its game plan to pick up its eleventh win of the year.

With that, here are three keys to a Bills win in Week 15:

Attack the Lions’ man coverage

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The Lions are a defense that stays true to who they are. According to Pro Football Focus, they currently rank first in the NFL in man coverage rate (42.4%) and dead last in zone coverage rate (53.2%). And, they rank in the top three in defensive success rate while in man coverage. They will line up man-to-man and make opposing receivers win their matchups.

Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady has provided quarterback Josh Allen with simple looks to beat man coverage this year. If Allen can take advantage of the one-on-one matchups, it will be a long day for the Lions’ secondary. Look for Allen to lean on Amari Cooper against man, and if Keon Coleman (wrist) can play, he is usually a mismatch one-on-one with his athletic ability.

Better performance from the D-line

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The Bills’ defensive line had a rough outing against the Rams They couldn’t generate a pass rush and they were getting pushed around against the run. They will need to step up considering their opponent. The Lions have arguably the best offensive line in football when healthy. Penei Sewell is their best player, as his 88.5 overall PFF grade leads all tackles this year.

Buffalo defensive coordinator Bobby Babich called out the defense following their lackluster performance in Week 14, saying it was a “conglomeration of people not doing their jobs at a high level.”

Babich did note that he has to be better, but it will be interesting to see how the defense responds in a tough environment at Ford Field.

Get out to a fast start

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The Bills are 6-0 in home games this year, but just 4-3 on the road. And, it mostly boils down to the fact that they have put themselves in a hole early in away games. In five of the seven road games, the Bills fell behind early and had to claw back into the game. The only road games where they started fast were blowouts at the Miami Dolphins and Seattle Seahawks.

If the Bills can set the tone with some early stops on defense and scores on offense, it would be a huge momentum boost. Ford Field is a difficult environment to play in, and it would become much more difficult to play from behind.

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Bills’ offensive coordinator Joe Brady explains late QB sneak vs. Rams

Bills’ offensive coordinator Joe Brady explains late QB sneak vs. Rams

The Buffalo Bills lost to the Los Angeles Rams 42-44 on Sunday in Inglewood, CA.

The Rams came out swinging, competing in all three phases early to take a sizable lead.

Their offense never took their foot off the pedal, and while the Bills offense kept pace in a scoring shootout their defense and special teams were not able to get meaningful stops.

Near the end of the contest, some questionable playcalling caused a domino effect sequence that has raised game and clock management questions similar to the team’s loss to the Houston Texans earlier this season.

And it started with a failed quarterback sneak attempt at the goal line.

Head coach Sean McDermott would call a timeout after a failed QB sneak and before their last touchdown, which then led to an onside kick the Bills didn’t recover. The Buffalo defense was able to force a punt but needed to attempt a block to have the best chance, but there was no punt rush on the play.

“The highest percentage play at that point was just doing a QB sneak,” OC Joe Brady said about the play call. “At the same time, the cost of not getting it essentially, potentially, and kind of did cost us the game. So I have to do a better job in that situation. At the end of the day, we can’t burn a timeout there.”

Josh Allen rushing is as good a play as any in the red zone. After all, he has more rushing touchdowns at age 28 than some Hall of Fame running backs had in their entire careers. Still, on this attempt, the unsuccessful play proved costly.

“If we’re going to call it, we have to make sure that we know 100% that we can get it. I felt confident in it and felt confident in doing it. But that doesn’t make it right,” he said.

The sequence garnered a strong response from long-time Bills divisional nemesis and UGG spokesman turned FOX Sports analyst, Tom Brady.

“To me, take three shots throwing it—don’t use a timeout. Then you can kick it deep, use your three timeouts to still get the football with good time. That changes the entire complexity of the last 1:02 of the game. I did not like that one bit. That could’ve just cost them the game right there.”

While these statements all ring true, the Bills defense also had some explaining to do after failing to stop much less slow down the Rams offense.

DC Bobby Babich spoke about the grouping of issues that compounded throughout the game after his unit gave up a season-high 44 points.

“When you look at it and you really watch the tape, it’s, and I used this word earlier today, it’s a conglomeration, and I’m including myself, of people not doing their jobs at a high level,” he said. “The recipe to lose a football game is what we did yesterday, and it starts with me, first and foremost, what I did yesterday, and we just got to learn from it. Move on and not let it happen again.”

They’ll face a Lions team next week that has the No. 1 ranked scoring offense in the NFL, and Babich knows they will need to be at their best in the matchup.

“I believe our guys are up to the challenge, and they’re ready to respond.”

Why Bills’ Josh Allen still thinks he needed to play ‘better’ vs. Rams

Why Bills’ Josh Allen still thinks he needed to play ‘better’ vs. Rams

The Buffalo Bills headed West in NFL Week 14 to kick off a two-game road trip, and the first stop was in sunny Los Angeles, CA to take on the Rams at SoFi Stadium.

Buffalo had been on a winning streak since dropping two losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans earlier this season. However, their third loss of the year came on Sunday in Inglewood, 42-44.

Allen, who is in the midst of an MVP-worthy campaign, had another big day with the Buffalo offense as he went 22/37 with 342 passing yards and 82 rushing yards to go with 6 total TDs while becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to throw and rush for three touchdowns in the air and three on the ground.

The Bills defense, however, gave up 44 points.

And while Allen dazzled in the second half to give Buffalo a shot, the defense simply could not get enough stops or limit the Rams offensive scoring enough to make the game winnable.

Even still, his focus after the game was on his responsibility as the offensive leader.

“Hate losing,” Allen said. “If you lose by two or lose by 100, it doesn’t matter, you are still losing. Offensively, we have to find ways to score before and after the half. We didn’t do our part.”

The two teams exchanged blows on offense for four quarters, with Allen and company fighting to keep Buffalo in the game and coming back to bring the score within two points in the final minutes before the Rams recovered a failed onsides kick to run the clock out.

“I have to make one more play than they do. It was a total team loss in three phases. We didn’t play up to our standards,” Allen noted.

“I don’t know how well we did on third down or completion percentage, I don’t know any of that. I just know it wasn’t good enough to win a football game. I just got to find more completions, got to be better for our guys.”

Nonetheless, the QB’s performance was nothing short of historical.

“Incredible,” said Bills head coach Sean McDermott to the media. “Incredible. We’ve got to do a better job around him. If you look at the game, it’s line of scrimmage and being able to run the ball with our running backs. It’s line of scrimmage on defense, it’s special teams giving up big plays.”

In a clash of the league’s top clubs, each with Super Bowl aspirations this season, the Bills will next face one of their biggest tests yet in the Detroit Lions.

“Sometimes this can be as hard as it is, a good reminder of what you need to do every week in this league and how we have to adjust as a football team,” McDermott added. “Next week is a challenging game as well – they’re all challenging – against a really good football team on the road so we have our work cut out for us this week.”

Sean McDermott discusses celebrating in snow after Bills’ win vs. 49ers

Sean McDermott discusses celebrating in snow after Bills’ win vs. 49ers

In a 35-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers at home in Orchard Park, HC Sean McDermott’s record coming out of the bye week remained perfect and the Buffalo Bills looked the part of a playoff contender.

The team won its fifth straight AFC East crown as only the eighth team in NFL history to clinch a division title with five games still remaining in the regular season.

The club has scored 30 or more points in six straight games and won seven straight since total since early season back-to-back losses against Baltimore and Houston.

The Bills have punched their ticket to the postseason, and head coach Sean McDermott was feeling celebratory while being interviewed on the field after the victory by ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter.

When quarterback Josh Allen surprised him by trotting up and saying “coach of the year” into the microphone, McDermott replied, “I want to see an angel, a snow angel. C’mon. Let’s go.”

Allen happily obliged him, sharing a wholesome moment with his coach.

“He’s the one who got me to do it,” The QB said to the press postgame. “I was just trying to give him some flowers. He was live on TV and anytime coach asks you to do something you do it. I’m a good soldier. I’m not the biggest snow angel fan because you get cold down there. My toes are freezing right now. I’m just trying to get in the shower, but it was fun.”

McDermott made good on a halftime challenge made by backup tight end Zach Davidson.

“We were coming down the tunnel at halftime and Zach Davidson tapped me on the hip and said ‘Hey, if we win this game you got to do a snow angel.’ I said ‘Alright, you got it,'” The coach shared. “I guess I followed through on my promise.”

By clinching their division the Bills are now guaranteed a home game in the playoffs in Buffalo, though with McDermott and the team’s record coming off a bye week, another one might be in store, as could more home games in the postseason.

The players and coaching staff will next turn their focus to road matchups against the Rams and Lions, in pursuit of the No. 1 AFC playoff seed and first-round bye.

With the heartbreak, the Bills and their fans have experienced at home in the divisional round of the playoffs the last two seasons, McDermott knows all too well what a bye and a win to advance back to the AFC Championship would mean.

“I think this is this place that is starting to become a place around the NFL now that people come and they see this and they’re going, ‘I want to be a part of this.'”

Bills’ Josh Allen breaks down crazy touchdown with Amari Cooper

Bills’ Josh Allen breaks down crazy touchdown with Amari Cooper

The Buffalo Bills beat the San Francisco 49ers 35-10 on the nationally televised Sunday Night Football stage to improve to 10-2.

On a snowy night in Orchard Park, QB Josh Allen and the offense didn’t miss a beat, as he made good on making history in the game.

He even did something no quarterback in history has done before, scoring a receiving touchdown on a pass he originally threw.


Receiver Amari Cooper hauled in a one-handed catch while multiple Niners defenders wrapped around him when he pitched the ball back to Allen.

The QB put on his Superman cape and ran toward the left pylon before laying out to extend and get the ball in for the score as he flew through the air and landed sliding in the snow out of bounds.

“It’s got to be up there. I wish he got credited for something there, an assist or a passing touchdown,” Allen said of Cooper. “I just kind of chased the ball to be there and we made eye contact. … It was dope.”

Cooper noted he made the heads-up play instinctually in a think-fast moment. He saw Allen nearby and thought he wanted the ball.

“I was wondering what he was doing over there,” Cooper said. “I figured he was over there because he wanted the ball, so I gave it to him.”

It was a historical day for the Bills as they won their fifth straight AFC East crown becoming one of the only clubs ever to do so with five games remaining in the regular season.

Allen made more history as well passing Hall of Famer and Bills legend Jim Kelly’s franchise record of 244 total touchdowns with 247 of his own at only age 28.

He would finish 13 of 17 for 148 yards and two touchdowns passing to go with three rushes for 18 yards and a score, and zero catches for 7 yards with a TD.

He is organically making a strong case for MVP candidacy along the way, though his focus is on continuing to pursue and hopefully surpass Kansas City (11-1) for the AFC’s top seed come playoff time.

“It’s a good feeling. This one feels a little bit different this early in the season,” Allen said. “It’s going to be fun, I mean, to go out there and play free and play relaxed and play loose. I think that could be a dangerous team.”

He’ll have plenty of opportunities to do just that with road games against the Rams and Lions up next, followed by home games against the Patriots and Jets before a final road matchup with New England.

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Josh Allen threw a touchdown pass to himself on ridiculous Bills’ lateral play

Yes, really!

Josh Allen joined a very prestigious club during the Buffalo Bills’ Week 13 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. Late in the third quarter, Allen became just the fourth NFL player in history to record a receiving touchdown on a pass he threw. Yes, really!

On Sunday night, the Bills put on a clinic in the snow against the 49ers, with the game being blown open thanks to some trickery between Allen and Amari Cooper. On first and goal, with the Bills leading 21-3 in the third quarter, Allen threw a quick slant pass to Cooper, who was bottled up by a 49ers defenseman. However, before the play was called dead, Cooper lateraled the ball back to Allen and the quarterback ran right into the end zone for the touchdown.

It’s already a ridiculous play — one which only happens thanks to the quick thinking of Cooper — and even more so thanks to the fact that Allen is credited with throwing the ball to himself for the score!

It’s truly a shame the NFL doesn’t have scoring like baseball or hockey, as Cooper really should have gotten an assist on this play on the scoresheet. But still, what a truly awesome play!

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Josh Allen throws touchdown pass to Josh Allen with assist from Amari Cooper as Bills roll

Josh Allen threw a TD pass to himself with help from Amari Cooper

The Buffalo Bills were having fun in the snow Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers.

Already up 21-3 in the third quarter, Josh Allen threw a short pass to Amari Cooper. The wide receiver was being held up by SF defenders and saw his quarterback in front of him.

Cooper pitched a lateral back to Allen, who finished the play by hitting the pylon for the score.

The scoring had Josh Allen throwing a touchdown pass to himself. Yes, he threw a TD pass to himself. The box score shows Allen with zero receptions for seven yards and a TD.

After the PAT, it was 28-3 and the 49ers couldn’t get out of the snow fast enough. They had already lost Christian McCaffrey to a knee injury.

1st & Goal at SF 7
(5:58 – 3rd) A.Anderson reported in as eligible. J.Allen pass short left to A.Cooper to SF 9 for -2 yards. Lateral to J.Allen for 9 yards, TOUCHDOWN. T.Bass extra point is GOOD, Center-R.Ferguson, Holder-S.Martin.

Allen is the one of the few quarterbacks in NFL history to get a receiving touchdown on a pass he threw. Marcus Mariota was the last person to do it in 2018. Btad Johnson did it, too.

Bills’ Josh Allen, Amari Cooper link up for wild touchdown vs. 49ers (video)

Bills’ Josh Allen, Amari Cooper link up for wild touchdown vs. 49ers (video)

Now that was some touchdown.

The Bills got a ridiculous score from quarterback Josh Allen once again against the 49ers in Week 13. This time, receiver Amari Cooper played a big role.

In the red zone, Allen hit Cooper with a quick pass. It was a bit behind Cooper but he hauled it in despite the weather.

Cooper was then grabbed by several 49ers defenders but did not go down. The wideout noticed Allen nearby in the moment.

Cooper lateraled the ball to Allen, who went on to score. What a play. The touchdown put the Bills up 28-3 in the third quarter.

Check it out below:

ESPN NFL insider: Will the Bills extend WR Amari Cooper?

ESPN NFL insider: Will the Bills extend WR Amari Cooper?

The Buffalo Bills were in need of a wide receiver and landed Amari Cooper.

In a deal with the Cleveland Browns, Cooper headed to Buffalo in a 2024 NFL trade deadline move.

However, the 30-year-old is set to be a free agent at the end of the 2024 season. Could he be back with the Bills again?

ESPN NFL analyst Jeremy Fowler has weighed in… but like Cooper, Fowler needs time as well.

Fowler noted that the team probably needs more time to decide if they like Cooper enough. However, Fowler mentioned that Buffalo does a good job in keeping players in town if the Bills want them.

In just three games played so far, Cooper has seven catches, 124 yards and a touchdown.

Fowler’s full breakdown can be found below:

As is the case with most newly acquired players via trade, Cooper and the Bills need to see how the relationship develops on the field before making major decisions about the future. Cooper has the high-end offense — and quarterback — to catalyze his market for March. Buffalo is one of the more proactive teams in extending key players, so it wouldn’t surprise to see the Bills make a contract offer if Cooper is thriving.

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Bills’ Amari Cooper made comment Buffalo will love post-Chiefs win

Bills’ Amari Cooper made comment Buffalo will love post-Chiefs win

The Buffalo Bills haven’t gotten huge numbers from wide receiver Amari Cooper since he was acquired but he is making big plays.

That was evident in the team’s 30-21 win against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11.

Cooper only caught two passes but one was massive. It was a one-handed snag on the sideline which setup an eventual touchdown run from James Cook.

His catch caught attention from cameras after the game and the recently-added receiver made a comment about his new hometown that the people of Buffalo will love.

After the victory, Cooper commented on how playing for the Bills just feel different… in the most positive of ways.

“This is the first time, in a long time, I’ve felt joy from winning,” Cooper said. “Buffalo is a different kind of place.”

That’s some passion from the former fourth-overall draft pick of the Oakland Raiders, who has also played for the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, and not to mention: The University of Alabama in college.

After hearing the comment, even head coach Sean McDermott felt a type of uplifted way.

“That speaks to our culture and the environment we have here in Buffalo more than anything,” McDermott said via video conference.

Cooper is on an expiring contract at the end of the 2024 season after Buffalo landed him from Cleveland at the NFL trade deadline.

A contract renewal might be an option after his recent thoughts.

Cooper’s full reply can be found in the clip below: