Tag: Buffalo Bills vs. Los Angeles Rams

Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs happy with Ken Dorsey after Game 1

Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs happy with Ken Dorsey after Game 1″

The Buffalo Bills beat the Los Angeles Rams 31-10 in offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey’s first regular season contest with play-calling duties.

That included a 53-yard bomb from QB Josh Allen to WR Stefon Diggs in the fourth quarter for a TD in Buffalo’s final scoring drive of the day.

The second half didn’t start with such a sizable lead, however, as the teams were tied with 10 points apiece by halftime.

“I was actually happy at halftime,” Allen said to the media following the win. “Three turnovers and going in 10-10 — zero to zero — that gave us all the confidence in the world, our defense being able to back us up. We hurt ourselves a lot in that first half. There’s a lot to learn from. But that second half, that’s who we want to be, going out there and executing the way we expect to execute.”

In addition to racking up the lead on the scoreboard and holding the Rams to no points in the second half, the Bills also converted on nine of 10 third downs in the game to keep offensive drives moving.

And Allen was quick to recognize Dorsey

“I think Coach Dorsey called a heckuva game,” he added. “It’s his first live action. So I’m proud of him for handling those situations how he did. We were 90% on third down. That’s a recipe for success.”

So what was the difference in the offense between halves one and two? WR Stefon Diggs weighed in on just that, pointing to Dorsey’s coaching as the catalyst.

“He came in at halftime and he understood that we couldn’t ride the roller coaster, there was going to be ebbs and flows to the game,” Diggs said during his press session. “He did some great things when he came in the locker room and calmed us down and said stop shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Dorsey rolled out a diverse variety of personnel packages during the contest to successful results, as the Bills bested the defending Super Bowl champs in convincing fashion.

The vote of confidence from the team’s two offensive stars in their coordinator speaks volumes, as Diggs continued to affirm the coach.

“He didn’t look half bad today.”

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Bills’ Von Miller: ‘Everybody was hungry’ vs. Rams

#Bills’ Von Miller: ‘Everybody was hungry’ vs. #Rams:

Thursday night the Buffalo Bills beat the Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams in convincing fashion.

While the team’s offense delivered a 31-point final score, it was the Buffalo defense that notably held the defending title holders’ offense led by QB Matthew Stafford to only 10 points.

A leader on that defense, OLB Von Miller crossed over team lines during the offseason from the Rams to the Bills.

And it wasn’t long before Miller got his first sack on his previous team’s quarterback. In fact, it took only seven plays into the Rams first offensive drive for him to do just that.

The Buffalo defense would record three of their seven total sacks on the day in that first half of the game.

“I trusted my preparation,” Miller said while speaking to the press postgame. “I did everything I could possibly do to have success in this game. And today was fine. I didn’t feel like I had anything to worry about. I already thought about the things that could possibly happen on the field.”

A Super Bowl Champion with the Rams, Miller hopes to help bring a championship to Buffalo, releasing a heartfelt video to Bills fans before the game.

His hunger to win is shared by his defensive teammates, to whom he credited the effort on their side of the ball after the win.

“You can look in their eyes and you could tell that everybody was hungry, and everybody wanted this game,” Miller added. “Everybody expected success today, and went out there and took it one play at a time, and here we are.”

Since joining the Bills in free agency, Miller has made an impact on some of his Bills teammates, including second-year defensive edges Greg Rousseau, Boogie Basham, and A.J. Epenesa, who would combine for 3.5 of the team’s sacks and one of the Bills defense’s three interceptions to go with them.

“Our front four was just absolutely eating,” S Jordan Poyer said during the postgame press conference. He wasn’t alone in recognizing the defensive effort.

“I’m not on the defensive side, but I can see that energy,” WR Stefon Diggs said added during his own media availability.

The play by the pass rushers caught their head coach’s eye as well.

“Yeah, I loved it,” HC Sean McDermott said during his press session. “Gotta be able to get there with four. And we were able to do that tonight. So, I thought it was a great, great first game for those guys.”

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Josh Allen on stiff arm: ‘An example of what I’m willing to do to win a game’

Josh Allen on stiff arm: ‘An example of what I’m willing to do to win a game’

The last time the Rams played a game at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, things worked out pretty well for them, as they won Super Bowl LVI against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Their 2022 home opener to the regular season went very differently, as the champs fell to the Bills 31-10.

Bills QB Josh Allen delivered a signature offensive performance in the win, throwing for three touchdowns with 297 total passing yards and an 83% CMP%, also adding a fourth TD on the ground to go with 56 rush yards.

While getting it done on offense with his arm and his legs is nothing new for Allen, occasionally he’ll extend an arm to hold a defender at bay and to extend the play to try to gain more yardage.

At 6’5 and 237 lb, he’s a big boy and hard to tackle, and it’s not uncommon on his runs that a defender finds themself on the receiving end of a stiff arm.

The latest recipient of a Josh Allen stiff arm is Rams safety Nick Scott.

The Buffalo Bills QB dropped back to pass while staring down a third-and-7 during the team’s opening offensive drive, when he took off towards the sideline for the first down, finding himself in a one-on-one matchup with Scott who came to meet him and try and make a tackle — who in turn then found himself on the wrong end of an Allen stiff arm that shoved him down on the turf.

After the game, Allen spoke about the play and how it fired up his team.

“Just trying to make a play for the team, just doing what I can do to try to get first down,” Allen said to the media. “That’s it. You know, guys appreciate that. I play hard. I want to win games no matter how I can do it. That’s just, I guess, an example of what I’m willing to do to win a game and just try to get a first down and allow us to keep moving the ball. It’s just all in the heat of the moment and I think guys appreciate that.”

After the game, Bills running back Devin Singletary confirmed something that could be seen in some angles of the stiff arm play- Which is Allen smiling and laughing while putting the outsized Scott on the ground.

“Of course,” Singletary said to Spectrum News 1 Buffalo reporter Jon Scott when asked if it provided the team with a jolt. “And while he’s doing it he’s laughing, so that’s going to turn you up even more. Yes, he’s laughing as he’s doing it, I’m watching him laugh as he’s doing it.”

Needless to say the Rams sideline may not have enjoyed it as much as the Bills as Allen and Scott came crashing into their area.

“They weren’t too happy about it, but it is what it is, they got to deal with it,” the RB said with a smile.

Allen is aggressive at the quarterback position in his playmaking abilities and in his desire to win games and advance offensive drives when carrying the ball. That can sometimes include trucking guys on the opposite side of the ball by laying an extended hand on them.

“I like winning. Whatever I’m asked to do, I’m willing to do,” Allen said of his running. “And again, limiting the hits, obviously sliding getting out of bounds. The utmost importance there, the best ability is availability. But again, when I’m called upon to do something for my team, I’m willing to do it.”

A native of Firebaugh, CA outside of Fresno, Allen had his family present watching from one of the SoFi stadium fieldside suites. The performance on one of the NFL’s newest and grandest fields made quite an impression.

“There have been a lot of great moments,” his father Joel said, via Sam Farmer and the Los Angeles Times. “But this is epic.”

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Jim Kelly: ‘The first time I’ve ever really, really been excited about a QB’

Hall of Fame Bills quarterback Jim Kelly on Josh Allen.

You like Josh Allen after three games. Your friends do, too. Of course, the Bills have to be over the moon themselves. 

But what about the guy who left shoes so big to fill that nobody in over two decades has come close to filling them?

Like many, Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly has waited a long time for a quarterback to suit up for the Bills that has reached his tier of play when he was on the team. Now, Allen isn’t there yet… we’re three games into a good start to a season.

But even Kelly can’t help himself already after watching Allen guide the Bills offense through three games of the 2020 season. 

“This is the first time I’ve ever really, really been excited about a quarterback on our team. We’ve had some, and it was always, ‘We’ll see. We’ll see. … Yeah, he’s got the potential, but we’ll see.’” Kelly said over the weekend via the LA Times. “With Josh, I think he’s proven to everybody he can play. Now he just has to stay healthy.”

Kelly also made note of something that not every quarterback has. Every career path is different, but another quarterback drafted in 2018 with Allen was Josh Rosen. He’s bounced around the NFL and is already on his third team. In that same time frame, Allen’s been very, very settled by comparison. The Bills quarterback has never been anything else other than… a Bills quarterback in his career. Kelly mentioned how important that is. 

“Being in the same system a number of years is going to help,” Kelly added. “I was always blessed, and I know (Dan) Marino was too, and John (Elway), that we had the same system. That’s one of the things I talk to Tom Brady about — I’m very good friends with him — is that consistency, being in the same system all the time, and you don’t have to think when you’re going up to the line. It automatically comes natural.”

Not only has Allen’s start to the season impressed Kelly, it’s even surpassed some of his numbers.

Allen became the first-ever Bill with consecutive four-touchdown games. Furthermore, as of Sunday’s win, he has the most touchdowns of any Bills QB through the first three games of the season, according to the team:

In addition, Allen is now the only player in NFL history to put up 1,000 pass yards, 10 throwing touchdowns and two rushing scores in the first three games of a season. But in typical Bills fashion since Buffalo’s head coaching duties were taken over by Sean McDermott, Allen still made sure to point out his team was not perfect en route to a 3-0 record. They were very close to being 2-1 and Allen recognized that following his team’s 35-32 win over the Rams in Week 3. 

“Going up 28-3 as a team we’ve got to be better, we gotta make sure we’re keeping our foot on the pedal and we got to put that game away,” Allen said during the postgame video conference. “I’m very happy with how resilient this team was, but I’m also a little mad at myself for allowing us to dip like we did.”

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Reaction: What national media said about Bills’ comeback vs. Rams

National reaction to Buffalo Bills, Josh Allen comeback win in Week 3 vs. Los Angeles Rams.

The Buffalo Bills beat the Los Angeles Rams 35-32, improving to 3-0 on the season. The score line alone reads nicely, but factoring in a major comeback after an ugly collapse? Even better. 

It was a win that has earned nation-wide buzz similar to when Buffalo defeated the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day last season. Week 3’s victory made a strong impression on many. 

Here’s what some of the top national media outlets, analysts and others had to say on social media about the Bills’ win over the Rams: 

Albert Breer, MMQB

Kevin Connors, ESPN

Josh Norman, Bills (injured) cornerback

Skip Bayless, FOX Sports

Jeff Darlington, ESPN

Corbin Bryant, Former Bills DE

PFT Commenter, Barstool Sports

Bomani Jones, ESPN

Bleacher Report

Warren Sharp, Sharp Football

Matt Miller, Bleacher Report

CBS Sports

Andrew Cuomo, New York Governor

Mike Freeman, CBS Sports

The Checkdown

Jim Kelly, Hall of Famer

Adam Schein, CBS Sports Network

 

CBS Sports HQ

 

Lexi Kroft, Wife of Tyler Kroft

 

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