Stock report following the Buffalo Bills’ 24-17 Week 16 loss to the New England Patriots.
The Bills lost their chance to make the AFC East title interesting on Saturday, falling 24-17 to the New England Patriots.
While the Bills locker room will tell you there are no “moral victories” anymore for this team, it was still a solid showing in some aspects for the Bills. But still, Buffalo lost the game.
Here’s how the stock report for the Bills looks following their Week 16 loss to the Patriots:
Stock up
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
WR Cole Beasley
As it’s been all season for the Bills, outings are usually defined by Cole Beasley or John Brown in the passing game. One or the other, rarely, if ever at all, both of them. Brown did have a deep catch on the day, but overall, was relatively ineffective against the likes of Stephon Gilmore.
With that, Beasley did have a big game. After back-to-back quieter weeks, the slot receiver had a huge game, seven catches for 108 yards. It was his second 100-plus receiving yard game with the Bills this season. With 56 yards against the Jets in Week 17, Beasley will set a career-high number of receiving yards in a single season.
Buffalo Bills podcast following 24-17 loss to New England Patriots.
The Bills couldn’t get the job done against the New England Patriots. Poor execution on the offensive side, with an inability to extend drives, led to exhaustion and sloppy play on the defensive side of the ball. The Patriots experienced one of their better games of this back half of the season against Buffalo on both sides of the ball.
For the Bills, it’s not the end of the world, fortunately. While the idea that they were in the race for a home playoff game in Week 16 was enticing, they’re still in the postseason, and they still have a shot. The only ways that Buffalo would see the Patriots again is one of two situations.
First, both the Bills and whoever is the sixth seed win. Lowest remaining seed goes on to face Baltimore, and Buffalo would end up facing New England in the divisional round. Secondly, if both Buffalo or New England win out, and they meet in the AFC Championship.
That all sounds good and well, but one game at a time has to be the mentality, and right now, despite a meaningless Week 17 game against the Jets, Buffalo is slated to face either Houston or Kansas City come Wild Card Weekend.
Billswire podcast host ost Matt Johnson recaps the Bills-Patriots game and looks ahead to Wild Card weekend:
Buffalo Bills locker room says “no moral victories” in Week 16 loss to New England Patriots.
The Bills fell 24-17 to a good team in Week 16. That was the case against the New England Patriots, and the same against the Baltimore Ravens a few weeks ago.
In these games, the Bills have impressed nationally despite the outcome. But at the end of the day, Buffalo took the ‘L.’
Inside the Bills locker room, the mantra following their loss to the Patriots was the same as it was been a few weeks prior when losing a game. There are positives, but all that matters is the victory. If it’s not there, it’s a loss.
“Moral victories” has become a trigger word for this team.
“We played hard, but there are no moral victories. They made more plays than us,” safety Jordan Poyer said. “We knew we had to finish the game. (Tom Brady’s) the greatest quarterback to ever play the game and we knew they were going to come back and try and strike. Like I said, they just made more plays than we did today. I’m proud of our guys today, but in the end, there are no moral victories.”
That was the resounding feeling from Poyer’s teammates after this one, too.
Here’s who else felt similar following the Bills’ loss to the Patriots:
QB Josh Allen
“If you look at the type of teams we’ve played the last three weeks, they’re all playoff-type teams. So getting that experience against these defenses, teams we might be able to see again, it’s all valuable experience because playing games in December that mean something; not many people are doing that right now and we’re one of those teams. So it feels good to be in the situation that we’re in and the position that we’re in.
“But again, we didn’t do a good enough job today, we’re trying to win a football game. This one hurts for us obviously because we don’t want anybody to win the East during our game, that’s one that we’ll take to the heart. So we’ll learn from it.”
Head coach Sean McDermott
“Yeah, I mean listen, we’re here to win – number one. Having said that, we’ve gone on the road and played in tough environments before. We’ve played four quality opponents, the last four weeks, in big games. And our players have put it on the line and that’s all I can ask. And we have got to continue to learn from these experiences, as a young football team and continue to grow, so we get stronger and stronger. You know, in games like this in particular, as we move into the playoffs.”
S Micah Hyde
“I understand what this team is about. I’m not learning anything new from all the games we’ve played already. You understand what type of football team you are. We wanted to go out here on the road against a great opponent and win the game. It’s as simple as that. We’re not here trying to learn about this team anymore. We’re out here trying to win.”
“It was a tight game late in December, playing a very good football team on the road. You have to understand it was going to be tight going into the fourth quarter. We knew that was going to happen. We don’t take pride in losing by seven though. We go out there and try to win every ball game we can. We made a lot of plays in this game but also gave up some things, so we go back and try to correct thing and get on to the next game.”
WR Cole Beasley
“They did a hell of a job, in the red zone in the last series. We made a lot of plays to get down there but we have to figure out a way to finish it off. That’s what good teams do and that’s what they did tonight. We played good enough to win we just didn’t finish it at the end. We have to take advantage of that. We to the 8-yard line we have to score right there. That’s just what it is, we finish that and we’re not talking about how efficient they were, we’re talking about how we played.”
OL Dion Dawkins
“To just win, whether it was the Patriots or the Jets it was that make the net game for us. We have our foot on the gas and we’re not taking it off. We just want to get a win every week and we like winning.”
WR John Brown
“We just have to finish strong. At the end of the day, we have to manage the clock and execute more efficiently.”
LB Lorenzo Alexander
“We played well to an extent, but you want to win the games. So there’s no moral victory or anyway we can spin it to make us feel better. I mean, the only thing I think is that we know we can play with those guys, whether we’re at home or away.
“We know we can come in here and win, we just have to execute.”
WR Andre Roberts
“They [the Patriots] played a better game than us. They finished the game and we didn’t. We had our opportunities. Give credit to them, they played an outstanding game. They finished the game and we couldn’t.”
DT Ed Oliver
“It was everything we expected but we have to execute better. Nothing we didn’t expect, we just have got to execute better. If it comes down [to meeting in the playoffs] we will be ready. I expected to win and I am disappointed that we didn’t. We have got to find a way.”
TE Lee Smith
“Hopefully we will be back in this locker room here in a few weeks, I don’t how the playoff picture looks or if even that is possibility but that would be fun. We will see. We just have to get back to work, which I know we will we have great leadership and a great group of dudes. You are right there are no moral victories but at the same time unfortunately I have lost a lot of games in this league but losing on this team is a little bittersweet compared to my teams in the past just based off of how this year is going.”
The Bills had their first chance to win the AFC East in 20 years on Saturday, but couldn’t seal the deal in New England.
The Buffalo Bills went to Foxborough and gave the New England Patriots an intense matchup that resulted in a 24-17 win for the home team. Both defenses played well in the cold New England night.
Buffalo made the game competitive, but they couldn’t seal the victory in the fourth quarter.
With the unfortunate loss against the Patriots, here’s how the Bills were graded against New England:
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Quarterback: C
Josh Allen started off the game terribly, completing just three passes before the end of the second quarter. At the end of the first half Allen found his footing and drove the offense down the field, and tied the game. That drive saw Allen hit a deep ball to Dawson Knox, and the touchdown came from finding Dion Dawkins in the back of the end zone on the final play of the first half with some trickery.
The second half Allen found more consistency, and again connected on the deep ball but this time to John Brown. Brown made a great move against Stephon Gilmore to create separation, and walked into the end zone with the ball was in hands.
Allen had an improved stat line from his first game against the Patriots, he completed 13 of his 26 passes for 208 yards and had two touchdowns. His biggest flaw though was his accuracy. He missed Cole Beasley twice, once in the middle field, and again on an out route where the ball was behind Beasley.
Five takeaways from the Buffalo Bills’ 24-17 loss to the New England Patriots.
The Bills had their chance late once again.
This time, the cards didn’t fall the right way for Buffalo. In their Week 16 visit to Gillette Stadium against the New England Patriots, the Bills kept things interesting as usual this season, but fell in the end, 24-17.
Here are five takeaways from the Bills’ loss to the Patriots:
Jordan Poyer #21 of the Buffalo Bills. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Getty Images)
Patriots’ backs unstoppable
Throughout this one, the story was what came out of the Patriots’ backfield. No matter what it was, the Bills couldn’t stop it.
The lone bright spot for the Bills was an early turnover, but even then, the bad was set. On a dump-off pass from Tom Brady to Rex Burkhead, the back gained a lot of ground. Jordan Poyer helped the Bills escape damage by forcing a fumble which was recovered by Micah Hyde to end the Patriots’ opening drive, but that set the tone.
The oft-bad Sony Michel this season for the Patriots had 21 carries for 96 yards in this one. Burkhead led the patriots with plenty of work in the screen game, catching four ball for a team-high 77 yards receding. James White also had 24 receiving yards on another four catches.
The Bills have been inconsistent in this area through the season and the Patriots exploited it.
Stock report following Buffalo Bills’ 17-10 Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Bills topped the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-10 in Week 15 to secure a spot in the postseason dance. Buffalo sits at the No. 5 seed, the AFC’s first Wild Card spot, with a 10-4 overall record.
To get there, the Bills beat the team right behind them at the No. 6 seed and in front of a national audience.
With that audience in mind, here’s Bills Wire’s weekly stock report following the Bills’ win over the Steelers on Sunday Night Football:
Stock up
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
QB Josh Allen
In no way did Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen have a great overall game. He rarely does. Allen finished the game 13-for-25 passing for only 139 yards in the air with a passing score and interception. His interception went off a receiver’s hands. On the ground, Allen added another 28 yards and a rushing score.
But when it mattered most, Allen was there to increase his stock. On Buffalo’s game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, Allen was 2-for-4 passing, which included a 40-yard strike to John Brown down the sideline and a 14-yard touchdown to tight end Tyler Kroft to put his team ahead. Allen is not a complete product, but he’s tied with Seattle’s Russell Wilson for the NFL lead in game-winning drives this year. They both have five. This is a good thing.
The Bills are playoff bound after their victory of the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was a victory where the Bills relied on their stout defense.
Buffalo, you can party like it’s 1999 because the Bills are sitting at 10-4, clinching just their second playoff appearance this century.
The game was an ugly, hard fought battle that saw seven turnovers between themselves and the Pittsburgh Steelers, a game which the Bills won 17-10.
Ultimately, Buffalo’s offense made more plays down the stretch that gave them the victory. It wasn’t a stellar performance from Josh Allen and company though.
With that, here’s how the Bills graded out in this week’s report card following their win over the Steelers:
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Quarterback: C
Josh Allen had a tough game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he completed just 52 percent of his passes for 139 yards. He struggled throughout the game, missing some wide open receivers, his interception was a perfect example of these errant throws. Allen had a clean pocket, and threw a pass to the outstretched arms of receiver Cole Beasley, that bounced off the hands of Beasley and into arms of the Steelers defensive back. The interception doesn’t fall on the shoulders of Allen alone, but a better pass could have been caught by Beasley.
The quarterback did have his moments of brilliance, mainly coming in the fourth quarter with the game on the line. He hit a massive 40-yard strike to John Brown that help set up the game winning touchdown. Speaking of the game winning touchdown, he found tight end Tyler Kroft on third down, sealing the victory for Buffalo.
Allen also had 28 yards on the ground, and one rushing touchdown that opened the scoring for Buffalo.
Buffalo Bills opponent information on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. Credit: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
The Bills find themselves in a wonderful predicament, but could be all for naught if they can’t find a win over the next three weeks. The 9-4 Buffalo Bills meet the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football, their first appearance in that primetime slot in some time. Major playoff implications are at stake here, as a Bills loss can knock them back a spot in the Wild Card Race, though still in by a hair.
This is easily the biggest Bills-Steelers match up in some time, so let’s get into their history, statistics and more:
The Bills and Steelers first met on Oct. 11, 1970, in Pittsburgh, with the Steelers winning 23-10.
They met in the 1974 postseason, with Pittsburgh taking a 32-14 win in that game.
The Bills won five straight games against Pittsburgh, from Nov. 9, 1986 to their 1992 AFC Divisional Round Game on Jan. 9, 1993.
Buffalo and Pittsburgh also met in the 1995 AFC Divisional Playoff Game, with the Steelers winning 40-21.
The Bills have not defeated the Steelers in the 21st Century, with their last victory over them on Oct. 10, 1999, in a 24-21 victory.
Buffalo had an opportunity to make the post-season in the 2004-05 season. In a “win and your in” scenario. The Bills starters failed to defeat the Steelers backups, who were 14-1 heading into the final game of the season. Pittsburgh beat Buffalo 29-24, in Buffalo.
Their most recent encounter was a 27-20 win for Pittsburgh, in Buffalo.
Pittsburgh leads the all-time series, 16-9, including playoffs.
2019 So Far
In what has been a challenging year for the Steelers, including their fallout with Antonio Brown, losing Le’Veon Bell, and Ben Roethlisberger succumbing to season-ending injury in Week 2, somehow, the Steelers are still in the playoff picture, and have some favorable circumstances going for them. This season has been a massive testament to Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s ability to lead men on a football field, and is certainly a candidate for Coach of the Year.
Pittsburgh began the season with a blowout loss to the Patriots in the opening Sunday Night Football game for 2019. A 33-3 loss on primetime was no way to start the season, especially with many questioning how Pittsburgh would be effected by the losses of Bell and Brown. From there on, two more losses, a close one against Seattle, 26-28, their last game with Big Ben under center for this year, as well as a 20-24 loss to the 49ers. All three quality teams, and playoff teams at that, right now, in Week 15. Not too shabby for a team of backups despite the losses.
They earned their first win on Monday Night Football in Week 4 against the Bengals, a dominant win against a team that only has one win to it’s credit so far this season. This is also when the Steelers traded for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, a trade that turned around their defense.
However, since that Bengals win, Pittsburgh has only lost twice. To the Baltimore Ravens, a 23-26 loss in overtime, and to the Cleveland Browns in Week 11, a 21-7 loss that ended in a chaotic situation.
Pittsburgh has defeated the Chargers, Dolphins, Colts, Rams, Bengals again, Browns and Cardinals, and face a relatively favorable schedule these last three weeks. They hold criteria over a few teams that are breathing down their neck, and a win over the Bills would nearly secure their playoff aspirations.
Currently, Pittsburgh is the 29th ranked offense, with 3,771 yards of total offense. They are 31st in passing, with 2,541 pass yards and 25th in rushing with 1,230 yards on the ground.
It’s truly impressive how successful that Pittsburgh has been, especially with their personnel under center. Three quarterbacks have taken snaps for the Steelers in 2019. Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, and most recently and successfully, Devlin Hodges. The Bills had four last season and their season was not a success.
Rudolph’s tenure as starting QB was enough for him to be at 31st in the NFL in passing yards with 1,636 passing yards, 12 passing touchdowns and nine interceptions. He had a 5-3 record as a starter. In three starts, Hodges is 3-0, and 39th in passing yards with 682 passing yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Roethlisberger had 351 passing yards, zero touchdowns and one interception in his tenure.
It hasn’t been a great year for last year’s emerging rush sensation, James Conner. Conner was a certified stud in 2018, filling in seamlessly for the boycotting Bell. This year has been drastically different, with injuries. James Conner is currently ranked 44th in the NFL amongst rushers, leading Pittsburgh with 390 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Benny Snell is next up in rushing leaders for Pittsburgh with 320 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. Snell is ranked 49th in rushing.
Pittsburgh’s highest ranked receiver in yardage, is James Washington, who is currently ranked 50th in the NFL. He has accrued 611 yards receiving on the year, Next in line, Ju-Ju Smith Schuster, who is ranked 63rd in receiving yards, with 524 yards. Schuster has dealt with injuries all year, and has not been able to handle the workload of being a No. 1 WR with Brown leaving, and it has harmed him statistically.
One aspect that is keeping the Steelers alive and well in the playoff race is their defense, which is star studded. They are the fifth ranked defense in the NFL, allowing 4,042 yards of offense against them. Pittsburgh is also the fifth ranked passing defense, allowing 2,727 yards by air, and they are eighth in rush defense with 1,315 yards allowed.
Their defense is led by talents of T.J. Watt, Joe Haden, Bud Dupree, Cameron Hayward, Fitzpatrick, and many others.
It hasn’t been bad, but it hasn’t been perfect for Bills tight end Dawson Knox during his rookie season.
It hasn’t been bad, but it hasn’t been perfect for Bills tight end Dawson Knox during his rookie season.
Knox has had some issues with drops, but when he does grab the ball, they’ve been exciting plays. His effort after the Bengals earlier this year is still in contention for the catch of the season for the Bills.
While Knox, and everyone else wants him to cut the drops out, those drops have inadvertently made him believe Buffalo is a good place for him to be.
After struggles, Knox has bounced back. He gives credit for his bounce-back efforts to his teammates around him, he told NYUP.com this week. Last week against the Ravens, there was a drop. Later in the game, there was a great catch. Knox mentioned everyone but himself as to why he was resilient.
“Having guys like (Cole Beasley), Lee Smith, Tyler Kroft – I feel like it’s a really special place to be here,” Knox said.
Following the Bills’ loss to the Ravens, Beasley told reporters he got in Knox’s ear and told him to keep his head up, his team will need him later. Beasley was right, and Knox delivered.
The teammate-building efforts in the Bills locker room is something you can’t teach a player. Picking each other up is a trait the Bills front office of general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott have coveted in players. In this case, it’s paid off. Even offensive coordinator Brian Daboll thinks so, as he reflected on Knox’s play earlier this week.
“It’s not always going to be perfect. You’re going to have to fight through some things, whether it’s a young player or old player. And Dawson in this case – he’s a strong-minded guy,” Daboll said. “I have a lot of confidence in him. Just play the next play.”
With three games left, Knox has 26 catches for 344 yards with two scores this year. He’s a raw rookie prospect who hadn’t scored a touchdown since high school. All things considered, those are some decent numbers then. The Bills will hope Knox continually improves on his numbers over the years, but they can also count on Knox learning the proper way to be a teammate years down the road thanks to the current crop of Bills vets.
Buffalo Bills snap counts vs. the Baltimore Ravens, NFL Week 14.
The Bills hung tough with the Baltimore Ravens before falling 24-17 in the end.
It was a lackluster game from the offense until late and the defense led the way for Buffalo.
Who took charge in both that good and bad of the game? Here’s a full depth chart breakdown via snap counts for the Bills against the Ravens in Week 14:
Buffalo Bills running back Devin Singletary. (AP Photo/John Munson)
Offense
Notes:
With Ty Nsekhe out, rookie Cody Ford played every offensive snap for the third-straight game at right tackle, and the entire offensive line played every snap in what was a tough game for the unit.
RB Frank Gore played in a season-low 19 percent of snaps, he had four carries for six yards. Rookie RB Devin Singletary saw a career-high 81 percent of snaps and had 89 yards rushing.
After playing in a season-high 42 percent of snaps last week, WR Robert Foster dipped down to 25 percent vs. the Ravens. WR Isaiah McKenzie played in 45 percent of snaps last week, after playing in 74 and 77 percent in Weeks 11 and 12. He was back to 72 percent of snaps vs. the Ravens.
WRs Cole Beasley and John Brown both played in 97 percent of snaps. While often the 1-2 punch, Brown typically plays in a few more snaps for the Bills each game.
