Tag: Tyler Kroft

10 most-expensive Bills against 2020 salary cap

The Buffalo Bills top-10 salary cap hits entering the 2020 season.

The Buffalo Bills face a favorable salary cap situation entering the 2020 offseason. The team is projected to have approximately $89 million in cap space ahead of the free agency period, according to figures from Spotrac.

Buffalo has plenty of room to make a splash signing or two, if they wish. However, with several major contributors still playing on their rookie deals, the Bills may be cautious with how they spend their money this offseason.

For now, let’s take a look at the top-10 players who are eating up the most cap space for the 2020 Bills:

1. Mitch Morse

2020 cap hit: $11.625

Buffalo Bills center Mitch Morse. Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

The center signed a four-year, $44.5 million contract last offseason. Mitch Morse was the team’s marquee signing last year, brought in to help stabilize and revamp a porous offensive line in 2018.

2. Star Lotulelei

2020 cap hit: $10.1 million

Bills defensive tackle Star Lotulelei. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth)

Star Lotulelei was another piece of the Carolina-to-Buffalo pipeline. He signed a five-year, $50 million contract in the 2018 offseason. His familiarity with head coach Sean McDermott’s defensive scheme was a plus when the Bills were looking to strengthen their front-four on defense.

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2019 Buffalo Bills superlatives

2019 Buffalo Bills awards and superlatives.

Buffalo’s 2019 campaign was quite a successful one. The team won 10 games for the first time in two decades. The Bills buttoned up a playoff berth with three weeks remaining in the season.

For this group, it was a full-team effort to achieve their accomplishments, but a few of those players stood out above the rest.

With that, here are the Bills’ superlatives and awards for what was the 2019 NFL season:

Offensive MVP: John Brown

Buffalo Bills wide receiver John Brown  (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

There were quite a few signature John Brown touchdown dances this year. Brown was easily the best free agent signing for the team this year. The veteran wide receiver gave quarterback Josh Allen a semblance of a No. 1 receiver, and it paid off for the team. Brown set career highs in receptions (72) and receiving yards (1,060). “Smoke” had been known for his speed, but his precise route-running was welcomed addition for the Bills aerial attack.

While Brown and Cole Beasley, another offseason addition prior to 2019, did have successes in their first seasons with the team, the Bills shouldn’t be shy about continuing to add around Allen once again.

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Stock up, stock down following the Bills’ loss to the Jets

Stock report following the Buffalo Bills’ Week 17 loss to the New York Jets.

The Bills fell in their final regularly scheduled game of the 2019 season against the Jets, 13-6.

In terms of stock reporting, it was a different one considering plenty of old faces were in the lineup. The game played out like a preseason contest with plenty of backups for the Bills.

Here’s how some of those players saw their stock move following the Bills’ loss to the Jets:

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Duke Williams. Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Stock up

WR Duke Williams

The one that everyone wanted to see happen, happened. Receiver Duke Williams started for the Bills and played a heck of a game with his opportunity.

His overall stat line was shaky with 12 targets and only six catches, but a few of them were off target. Of note, one was certainly a drop on third down which he would’ve liked back. All in all, Williams had 108 yards receiving in a game with a backup quarterback tossing him the ball against a solid defense that was playing their starters. Promising signs.

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By the numbers: 6 key stats from Bills’ playoff-clinching win over Steelers

Six stats to know from the Buffalo Bills’ Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Style points? Who needs ’em. Weak schedule? So what. Streaky quarterback play? No argument here.

Say whatever you like, nitpick all you want; the Buffalo Bills are postseason bound. This team wins ugly, sure, but it wins. 

Buffalo was on-brand Sunday night, outslugging the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-10 in a defensive standoff at Heinz Field to punch their ticket to the postseason on Sunday Night Football.

Here’s a look at how they got there with six key stats from the win:

Five

It’s been a common theme throughout the season for the Bills: it starts and ends with defense.

Buffalo’s five takeaways established a new season high, after picking off Devlin Hodges four times and recovering a fumble off a botched wild cat rushing attempt. The Bills are now plus-five in turnover differential on the season and their 21 takeaways has them tied for ninth in the league. New England leads the league in both turnover differential (+24) and takeaways (36).

715

What would be prove to be Tyler Kroft’s game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter Sunday came 715 days after his last touchdown – on Dec. 31, 2017– against the Baltimore Ravens as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals.

That game, as you likely recall, helped Buffalo end a 17-year playoff drought, as the Bengals stunned the Ravens 31-27 to end Baltimore’s season and send Buffalo to the postseason.

Sunday’s 14-yard score was Kroft’s first as a Bill and the ninth of his NFL career. It was his second score against the Steelers, both of which came at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

1,007

John Brown snapped a three-game streak of failing to reach 50 yards receiving in style Sunday night.

Brown hauled in seven passes for 99 yards – including a season-long 40-yard reception in the fourth quarter to set up the game-winning score. Over his past three games combined, Brown had 91 total receiving yards.

Brown eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark on the season in the victory, and now sits at 1,007 yards and five touchdowns on 71 receptions. He is the first Bills receiver to surpass 1,000 yards in a single season since Sammy Watkins had 1,047 yards in 2015.

Nine

It was a lukewarm performance in the passing game for Josh Allen Sunday, as he threw for a season-low 139 yards, a touchdown and an interception on 13-of-25 passing.

While Allen was relatively unproductive through the air, he kept pace on the ground, notching his ninth rushing touchdown on the year. His nine rushing touchdowns ranks 8th in the league among all players and first among quarterbacks. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Houston’s Deshaun Watson each have seven rushing touchdowns.

Four

Sitting at 10-4, the Bills have clinched a playoff berth. To date, Buffalo has shown itself to be steady and resilient, going 4-0 following a loss.
In the four games following a loss, the Bills have outscored opponents 92-46 and have held their opponents to 10 or fewer points three times.

+6.5

There isn’t a tougher game on Buffalo’s regular season schedule than a late-December date with New England at Gillette Stadium thi supcoming Sunday.

That’s exactly what the Bills are up against this week, as they take on the division-leading Patriots with Buffalo’s slim AFC East title hopes on the line.
The Bills opened up as a 6.5-point underdog against a Patriot team who has won the last six games in the match-up; Buffalo’s last win in New England came in 2016, when the Bills shut out the Jacoby Brissett-led Patriots 16-0 in Week 4.

The Bills (10-4) are 9-4-1 against the spread, while the Patriots (11-3) are just 8-6 against the number.

Buffalo is 6-0-1 ATS on the road; New England is 1-6 ATS at home.
The over/ under is set for 38.5.

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What we learned from Bills’ playoff-clinching win over Steelers

What we learned, Buffalo Bills vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL Week 15

Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey. (AP Photo/Don Wright)

The ride that the Buffalo Bills have taken their fans on through the 2019 season will continue into January as the 10-4 Bills punched their ticket to the postseason Sunday with a 17-10 win in Pittsburgh on Sunday Night Football against the Steelers.

It’s been an amazing journey for the Bills, who were 6-10 a year ago. While the Bills made the postseason two years ago, fans in Buffalo have become accustomed to mediocre seasons where the team finds itself staring up at other AFC teams in the Wild Card race. The Bills have been perpetually “In The Hunt,” the graphic that pops up every December detailing teams trying to sneak into the playoffs at the very end. This season, the Bills are not lost in the “In The Hunt” shuffle and their fans don’t have to scoreboard watch and hope for collapses from teams in front of them.

The 2019 season has been uncharted territory for many Bills fans. The Bills have won 10 games for the first time since 1999. By clinching a playoff berth in Week 15, it marks the earliest the Bills have punched their postseason ticket since clinching in Week 14 in 1991. If the Bills win their final two games, they’ll have a 12-win season for the first time since 1993.

Speaking of 1993, Sunday’s win was Buffalo’s first in Western Pennsylvania since the 1993 divisional playoffs, a game which featured Frank Reich and Neil O’Donnell. It’s the franchise’s first regular season win in Pittsburgh since the O.J. Simpson-led Bills defeated the eventual Super Bowl champion Steelers in 1975.

There were monumental implications from a game that saw the Bills slug it out with Devlin Hodges and the Steelers in a tough matchup that went right down to the final throw. Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense struggled mostly for three quarters, but put together their drive of the season in the fourth quarter to take the lead. Hodges and the Steelers had three chances to drive and tie the game, but failed each time. Jordan Poyer and Levi Wallace had interceptions in the end zone to shut the door on the Steelers twice in the final two minutes.

With their playoff spot now clinched, the Bills can turn their attention to trying to steal the AFC East from the division’s long-time overlords, the New England Patriots. The Bills travel to Foxborough on Saturday afternoon with a chance to tie the Patriots in the standings. The Bills would then need to win against the Jets in Week 17 and hope the Patriots are stunned by Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Dolphins to win the division for the first time since 1995.

Here are four things we learned from the Bills’ huge Sunday night win in the Steel City:

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Report card: Bills outlast Steelers, 17-10

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.

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PODCAST: Bills clinch playoff berth; can they still win AFC East?

In a defensive outing between both teams, the Buffalo Bills offense did just enough to put them over the edge of victory to send them back to the post season for the second time in three years. It was a testament to coaching, discipline, and a …

In a defensive outing between both teams, the Buffalo Bills offense did just enough to put them over the edge of victory to send them back to the post season for the second time in three years. It was a testament to coaching, discipline, and a winning culture that Sean McDermott has established in Buffalo.

The Bills sit at 10-4, are officially in, and could very easily loosen up a bit, but there is still another opportunity at stake, and that is to win the AFC East title for the first time in over 20 years. The chances are slim, but it is still a very reasonable feat, as they head to Foxborough to play the New England Patriots next Saturday. The Bills need to win out, and the Patriots need to lose not only to the Bills, but the Miami Dolphins in Week 17 as well.

Buffalo and Pittsburgh brought their hard nosed defenses to the table last night for Sunday Night Football, and both teams excelled in stopping drives, forcing punts and turnovers, and keeping the game close for their offenses. It was the Bills, fortunately, that made it all happen, behind Josh Allen, John Brown, and even tight end Tyler Kroft.

It was a great win for a team, in the national spotlight, that proved many doubters wrong in the process.

Podcast host Matt Johnson recaps the big Week 15 win, and a look ahead.

 

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Bills snap counts: Depth chart breakdown vs. Browns

Buffalo Bills snap counts vs. Cleveland Browns in Week 10, 2019.

Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox. Credit: Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

The Bills fell is another gross game against the Cleveland Browns in Week 10, 19-16.

Buffalo falls to 6-3 on the year and with the loss and news around the league, the loss looks like a big one.

Who played the biggest and smallest roles in Buffalo’s defeat?

Here’s a full depth chart break down via snap counts for the Bills vs. the Browns in Week 10:

Offense

Notes:

  • The rotation at right tackle resumed with a health Cody Ford (elbow) in the lineup. Veteran Ty Nsekhe played in 61 percent of snaps while the rookie saw 41 percent.
  • Tight end Lee Smith took two penalties in only 18 snaps played vs. the Browns.
  • Rookie running back Devin Singletary was the No. 1 in terms of snap counts playing in 67 percent of snaps as opposed to Frank Gore’s 33 percent, but Singletary only have eight carries in the game.
  • Rookie tight end Dawson Knox played more snaps than veteran Tyler Kroft for the second-straight week, 58 percent to 43 percent.
  • In terms of snap counts, Isaiah McKenzie saw another big role for the Bills. He played in 66 percent of snaps last week, second-most amongst his position. Against the Browns, he played in 54 percent, trailing Cole Beasley’s 67 percent and John Brown’s 93 percent.
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