Bills Keep Rolling in Dominant Win Over Last Year’s AFC #1 Seed

Sep 19, 2022; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) congratulates wide receiver Stefon Diggs (14) for catching a touchdown pass during the second half at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

NFL: Tennessee Titans at Buffalo Bills

Last week to kick off the NFL season, we watched the Buffalo Bills dominate the reigning Super Bowl Champion, LA Rams. To close out week two of the regular season, the Bills yet again were on primetime, and they did not disappoint. Led by monster games from Superstars Stefon Diggs and Josh Allen, the Bills dominated the Tennessee Titans 41-7. The offense wasn’t the only group with fireworks however, the defense was suffocating; making big play after big play and shutting down the Titans. Buffalo captured their first Monday Night Football win in Buffalo since 1994.

From the jump, the Bills’ offense was buzzing, as they marched down the field for an opening drive touchdown pass. The Bills have now scored an opening drive touchdown in seven straight games, which is the second longest streak by any team in the last 40 seasons. The touchdowns didn’t stop there though, as Stefon Diggs and Josh Allen teamed up to pick apart the Titans’ secondary. Allen ended his night passing 26-of-38, for 317 yards, four touchdowns and a 128.9 quarterback rating. On the receiving end, Stefon Diggs was unstoppable. Diggs had 12 catches, for 148 yards and three touchdowns. The most notable was a 46-yard dime from Allen that Diggs hauled in after torching his defender. Since he joined the Bills in 2020, Diggs and Allen have connected for 10 touchdowns in primetime games. That’s the most out of any quarterback-wide receiver duo in that span. It was Diggs’ first career game in which he recorded 10 catches, 100 receiving yards and multiple receiving touchdowns. It’s worth noting too, the Bills’ starters were pulled at the end of third quarter because of the blowout. 

Despite missing their best interior defensive lineman in Ed Oliver, the Bills defense was a brick wall. The rushing King, Derrick Henry, was completely shut down last night, despite a 2-yard redzone touchdown. Henry was held to a wild 25 rushing yards, on 13 carries and 1.9 yards per attempt. The Bills linebacking duo of Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano, were flying all over the field making plays in coverage and tackling Henry multiple times behind the line of scrimmage. The most impressive tackle on Henry had to come from rookie cornerback Christian Benford; who read the pitch play, got off his block, and blew up Henry by himself for a 5-yard loss. The gameplan from defensive coordinator, Leslie Frazier, seemed to be to force Henry to run side-to-side instead of straight forward with a full head of steam. The defensive line forced Henry to bounce outside and clogged things up in the middle and provided perfect execution of the gamelan. 

The pass defense shined as well last night, frustrating quarterback Ryan Tannehill. He finished the game going 11-for-20, for 117 yards, and two interceptions. One of those interceptions was by Matt Milano who stepped in front of the pass and took it 43-yards to the endzone for a touchdown. That pick-six put an exclamation point on the game. The Bills defense ended the game with eight tackles for loss, two sacks, eight passes defended, two interceptions, and two fumble recoveries. It was dominance on all levels and the Buffalo Bills look very scary. They are now 2-0 and beat both the reigning Super Bowl Champions, and the AFC’s number one seed 72-17 combined, in back-to-back weeks. The Bills are the first team since 2002 to start the season 2-0 with both wins against teams that won 12 or more games the season prior.