The Buffalo Bills’ 2015 season opener against Indianapolis, and Tyrod Taylor’s debut as an NFL starting quarterback, couldn’t have gone much better than it did on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Bills played a solid all-around game in all three phases, building up a 17-0 lead at halftime, then taking the opening drive of the second half for a touchdown to open up a 24-0 lead. The Bills pretty much went into cruise control after that, playing it conservatively on offense and going into a semi-prevent defense for most of the rest of the game, holding on for a 27-14 victory. The impressive thing about the win is that it was a total “team” victory. No one player did anything spectacular, yet when the Bills jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, they seemed in control of the contest the rest of the way.
Taylor did what his coaches expected of him – he made plays with his arm and his legs, protected the ball (no turnovers or sacks), and although his numbers were average (14 of 19 for 195 yards and a touchdown), led the offense on three impressive touchdown drives. His lone TD throw was the most exciting play of the game, a 51 yard strike to Percy Harvin. New feature back LeSean McCoy didn’t have a great game, but contributed 87 total yards rushing and receiving to the effort, while rookie Karlos Williams added 51 yards rushing, including a 26 yard scoring run. In all the Bills rushed for 147 yards, and their play selection was true to coach Rex Ryan’s formula – 36 runs and the 19 pass attempts. The other touchdown came from Boobie Dixon on a one yard run. The Bills’ defense was as good as advertised. They contained the Colts’ young stud QB, Andrew Luck, for most of the game, and picked off 2 of his passes, with Ronald Darby and Aaron Williams getting the picks. They sacked Luck twice, with the sacks coming not from their vaunted front line, but from linebacker Nigel Bradham and nickel back Nickell Robey.
Buffalo now heads into part two of the enormous challenge the NFL schedule-makers put in front of them, meeting the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots next week, right after having to face the AFC runnerup Colts. It will take an even more concerted effort, from all phases of the team, to pull off another win.