When Marv Levy coached the Buffalo Bills in their 1990s Super Bowl years, he used to regularly say “it’s hard to win a game in the National Football League, regardless who the opponent is.” After two straight historically bad performances, the Buffalo Bills needed to find a way to not just win, but try to at least compete with a quality opponent. Their game in Arizona on Sunday, a thrilling 19-16 overtime win, was a real roller coaster ride. The team competed hard, made some big plays, had a couple impressive drives and for the first time in 3 weeks, played a competitive game on defense. There were some collossal mistakes also, like Fred Jackson fumbling on the first play of the game, coach Chan Gailey having Brad Smith throw out of the wildcat formation when the team had a chance to put the game away with their running game, and backup tight end Lee Smith taking a bonehead penalty to kill an important late-game drive. All in all, it was an ugly win, but at the same time it was one of those consummate “team” wins, where the club gets contributions from a lot of players on the roster, overcomes adversity in a hostile environment and squeaks out a victory, in this case maybe a season-saving one.
There were some bad moments for the Bills, for sure. Ryan Fitzpatrick was off-target, again, on some throws that could’ve resulted in big plays. There was Jackson’s fumble and Smith’s unnecessary roughness penalty, and some shanked punts by rookie Shawn Powell. On defense, there was the constant failure to contain Kevin Kolb, the Cardinals’ QB, who scrambled for big gains throughout the game. There also were some blown coverages, where the Bills left the NFL’s best receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, completely uncovered, including on a late-game drive that should’ve lost the game, as Cardinal kicker Jay Feely missed a short field goal (after booting a career-best 61 yarder to tie the game). But to their credit, the Bills didn’t come unhinged when faced with adversity, as they have in all their previous losses this year. They got an overall good effort on defense, with an effective pass rush that recorded 5 sacks and even scored points, on a safety when Chris Kelsay sacked Kolb in the end zone. Nick Barnett and Mario Williams each had 2 sacks, Kelvin Sheppard led the team in tackles and the whole defensive unit just looked a lot more active than they had in the second halves of the last 2 games. The most active player was safety Jairus Byrd, who had 2 big interceptions, including one in overtime that set up Rian Lindell’s winning field goal. It appeared that Byrd was finally being used in the role in which he’s most effective, making plays on the ball in the passing game, while also doing a great job in run support. He may be the Bills’ best all-around player on defense right now, with Kyle Williams not far behind.
There were good things on offense also. C.J. Spiller had a great game, scoring the first touchdown and ripping off a 33-yard run on the team’s other TD drive. Spiller is the closest thing this franchise has had to O.J. Simpson, with his combination of speed and elusiveness. That second touchdown drive was a thing of beauty, with the Bills’ top playmakers all making plays – Spiller with his long run, Stevie Johnson with an impressive run and catch, and Fred Jackson finishing the drive with a one yard touchdown run. The banged-up offensive line did a good job also. If Fitzpatrick ever gets his footwork problems resolved and starts throwing accurate passes consistently, this can be a dangerous unit. The Bills now need to build on the momentum of this win, and parlay it into another one against Tennessee at home next week. If they can accomplish that, they’ll head into their bye week with a winning record and playoff hopes still intact, despite losing 2 of the worst efforts in franchise history against New England and San Francisco. It’s still a real possibility, since the results of Sunday’s games left all 4 AFC East teams tied for the division lead with 3-3 records.
