A tale of two halves allowed for a beautiful finish by the Bills to open the 2024 NFL season
The Buffalo Bills exited Week 1 with a thrilling 34-28 home win over the upstart Arizona Cardinals. Faced with an uphill challenge in the form of a 17-3 deficit, the Bills would go on to score 21 unanswered points to take a lead they refused to surrender.
But the win didn’t come without harm, as nickel cornerback Taron Johnson was lost to injury only minutes into the season, and now quarterback Josh Allen will have to manage a left wrist injury. Fortunately, Allen was able to finish the day out, and undoubtedly enjoyed the final kneeldown to close out a hard-fought win.
As with any team in Week 1, there are plenty of things to work on. As the weeks wear on, it’s going to be imperative establishing a down-field threat, and it would be wise to get tight end Dalton Kincaid involved heavily as a receiver any way possible. Hopefully we see more of wide receiver Curtis Samuel in Week 2, after he finished Sunday with two catches (on two targets) for 15 yards.
Here below are six things we learned during the Bills’ Week 1 win over the Cardinals. It’s certain you have your own takeaways from today — so be sure to share them in the comment section!
Buffalo Bills remain built for adversity
At the outset of their home-opener, the Bills looked like anything other than ready for the NFL season to begin. Sloppy execution, ineffective play-calling, and self-inflicted penalty harm. Perhaps most concerning was Buffalo’s completely outwitted and outmatched defense, a unit that needed to compensate for the loss of nickel cornerback Taron Johnson who was injured in the opening minutes of play.
In the days following Buffalo’s victory, there will be plenty of questions asked about why it took the team an entire half to come alive, and many will find reason to fault the choice to rest starters for almost the entire preseason. Second-guessing those decisions will only serve to point fault, ignoring the more important matter of the Bills finding a way to win a game.
When the chips were down Buffalo trying to defend a 34-28 lead, quarterback Kyler Murry wound up for a Hail Murray play. This time, however, it fell harmlessly to the g round near the end zone. In coverage on that pivotal play were defensive back Ja’Marcus Ingram and safety Damar Hamlin. This time, the Bills held, and thanks to a couple of unlikely defensive heroes.
Time will tell how defensive coordinator Bobby Babich chooses to manage the loss of nickel cornerback Taron Johnson — and we don’t know how long that could be at this point. But who’s willing to doubt that the Bills will have a solid plan in place to offset another admittedly painful personnel loss?
Josh Allen 2.0 looks every bit as good as his previous form
Bills Mafia has heard it all offseason: Buffalo will go as far as Josh Allen takes the team. Buffalo’s son, Allen proved that such major offensive overhaul wasn’t going to faze him, and that his ascendance as one of the best NFL quarterbacks wasn’t solely built on the shoulders of Stefon Diggs.
Just as everyone predicted, Allen’s first passing touchdown of the season went on a pretty red zone pass to wide receiver Mack Hollins. For those of you playing along at home, that should foreshadow that we may have little idea about what to expect as it relates to game-day heroes each week. That’s great news, and if things continue to work it should keep NFL defenses guessing while playing more honest coverages.
Allen didn’t play turnover-free football, losing a fumble on curious indecision in the first half. He did not, however, throw an interception. On the day, Allen finished 18-of-23 for 232 yards with two touchdowns; adding nine rushes for 39 yards and two more touchdowns. All told, Allen finished with a passing rating of 137.7.
It didn’t take all that long for Allen to find his cape, but instead of playing rattled superhero ball, Allen chose a methodical approach that utilized punishing downfield decisions. He even took to the air en route to his second rushing score. Most everyone paying attention to the NFL focuses on stats. Because of that, Allen sees an overabundance of criticism about turnovers. Allen’s heart and effort do lead to mishaps, but without it the Bills are nowhere near the same team.
It’s fair to believe that if Josh Allen has a good day, things will go well for the Buffalo Bills in 2024.
Khalil Shakir is a Pinball Wizard
Khalil Shakir may be just what the doctor ordered for Josh Allen. Shakir’s efficiency as an oft-targeted wide receiver is a breath of fresh air following what became a head-scratching denouement from the mercurial Stefon Diggs. The way Shakir plays football is nothing short of electrifying. There has to be a trick, right?
Thanks to the subtle way Shakir seemingly uses a running back’s mentality in traffic, defenders are often rendered flat-footed in trying to wrap him up short of the line to gain. Shakir finished with three catches on three targets for 42 yards and one incredibly resourceful and acrobatic touchdown twist. Moves like Shakir made at the end zone are becoming staples to his red zone repertoire.
Keon Coleman vs. Marvin Harrison Jr.
Lots of discussions leading up to today’s game wondered how the Bills would match up against rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. It’s fair to say Harrison will be ready to put this game behind him, looking forward to better days. Harrison dropped his first target, and finished the afternoon catching one pass on three targets for four yards.
Keon Coleman found better fortune in his first regular-season game. Coleman was a handful early for Cardinals defenders, and claimed a pair of flags for aggressive defense trying to compensate for a proficient basketball background of Coleman. Coleman ended up catching four passes on five targets for 51 yards — including a long of 28 yards. It was an encouraging performance from a rookie One Bills Drive certainly expects to see big things from in 2024.
Special teams starts strong, then does everything possible to give Cardinals life
Through the first half of play, it wasn’t completely absurd claiming that the Bills’ kick units were a clear highlight. Buffalo’s trade for rookie kick returner Brandon Codrington even paid almost immediate dividends thanks to a long kickoff return early in action.
Their solid play continued through the third quarter, but kicker Tyler Bass and the kick coverage unit were cursed with a foreboding wind to close out play. That proved fatal on one key kickoff where Bass failed to get the kick into the end zone. Ninety-six yards later, Buffalo’s coverage unit was left gassed and unable to keep Arizona’s return man from claiming six points in his team’s favor. It had been 145 games since the last return touchdown by the Cardinals.
It’s one game, and Bass made his biggest tries count every time. That said, we all know the wind is a factor inside Highmark Stadium on even with the nicest of weather forecasts. Lake Ontario suffers no one. It’ll be interesting to see how special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley attacks this concern moving forward, especially if he’s not guaranteed a kickoff touchback at every touch by Bass. That situation made things worse than needed when Bass felt he had to line-drive a boot down the turf, only for it to go out of bounds and flagged in favor of the Cardinals. Plenty to work on for a unit still trying to navigate a reformulated NFL kickoff.
Greg Rousseau becoming a nightmare for quarterbacks
We’d all heard the comments, the criticism, and the appeals for defensive end Greg Rousseau to blossom into the difference maker he was drafted to be for Buffalo. His position is one that notoriously takes time to adapt to in the NFL, and we may now be witnessing the fruits of that labor. Off a dominant preseason performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers where many cautioned about perspective, Rousseau shot out of the gate against the Cardinals. Rousseau’s Week 1 was remarkable, with him claiming six solo tackles and three sacks for a loss of 11 yards; adding a forced fumble to his ledger. That effort could put him in discussion for AFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Shout outs!
- Already mentioned above, defensive back Ja’Marcus Ingram deserves a standing round of applause for his efforts at nickel cornerback. Ingram’s physical brand of defense saved the day on the Cardinals final deep pass — which fell incomplete to the turf with Damar Hamlin in support on fourth down.
- Edge rusher Von Miller looked like his old self, the player the Bills brought in to affect games late. Miller claimed his first sack since injuring his ACL two seasons ago, and tallied two tackles.
- Wide receiver Mack Hollins got the touchdown party started this season, scoring the team’s first meaningful six with Josh Allen on the other end of the rope. Hollins could be a huge factor for the Bills in 2024, and I’ve been prone to claiming his involvement may be larger than most are willing to predict.
- Left tackle Dion Dawkins got an early start to his Shnowplow service, absolutely annihilating a Cardinals defender to clear a path for Shakir to find the end zone.
- Kick returner Brandon Codrington looked decisive and fast in traffic on kickoff returns. With me, Codrington finds favor as a fleet-footed North-South runner.
- Safety Damar Hamlin finished with four total tackles (2 solo) on an afternoon where he didn’t look out of place as a starter, and didn’t put his team in harm’s way in one of the game’s clearest deciding moments. Hamlin’s earned his opportunity to start for this team.
- Similarly, linebacker Dorian Williams held his own in his first action replacing linebacker Matt Milano.
- For those of you counting, kicker Tyler Bass made every point attempt.
- Hats off to the Cardinals for a tremendous game plan in the first half. Thankfully, the Bills’ second-half response was even better.