Bills vs 49ers Recap

The Buffalo Bills defeated the San Francisco 49ers 35-10 on a snowy Sunday night to clinch their fifth straight AFC East crown. Buffalo is the first team to clinch a division this season and the earliest (5 weeks remaining) to do so since the 2009 Indianapolis Colts.

San Francisco opened the scoring with a 33-yard Jake Moody field goal after their nine-play drive stalled in the red zone. Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason easily marched down the field, striking fear into Bills fans that this could be a long night with the heavy snow that started right before kick-off. The Bills responded with a 13-play, 70-yard drive, benefitting from a costly penalty that kept the drive going, to cap it off with a 5-yard Ray Davis touchdown. This would be the first of three straight touchdown drives for the Bills.

The Niners continued their ground-and-pound game with much success on their second drive and benefitted from a questionable Bills’ penalty that negated a Damar Hamlin interception. The following play, McCaffrey came up lame, favoring his leg, and dropped for a five-yard loss (now confirmed to be a PCL sprain landing him on IR). The drive stalled out after this and led to another Moody field goal attempt that came up short, giving the Bills the ball at their 35-yard line. One play later, James Cook took the ball to the house for the longest touchdown of his career. With the score 14-3 and missing their best player, San Francisco was on the ropes.

The Bills would score another touchdown to cap off a 9-play, 97-yard drive and benefit from another San Francisco field goal to take a 21-3 lead into halftime. Three second-half turnovers for the Niners, with two more Buffalo touchdowns mixed in, led to the Buffalo starters being pulled with over twelve minutes remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter. The Bills went on to win 35-10, their seventh consecutive win and sixth straight game at 30+ points. Sean McDermott is now 8-0 coming off a bye week in his career.

Bills vs 49ers Sunday, December 1, 2024

5 Things I Liked

  • The return of Matt Milano was something all Bills fans have been waiting to see. I was happy to see him back on the field and starting. I was not expecting him to play 77% of the defensive snaps. That surprised me and is a good indicator of where he’s at physically and mentally. I was expecting a ramp-up period, but the only snaps he wasn’t on the field were when the Bills D used their dime package. Milano finished with five total tackles, three solo.

  • The Bills rushing attack. I know that the offenses had an advantage in those weather conditions. However, it doesn’t take away from the impressive production the Bills had in the ground game. They put up a season-high 220 rushing yards on 38 carries (including four kneel-downs for -3 yards). Cook, Davis, and Ty Johnson accounted for 198 of those yards and two of the three touchdowns. The Bills have not had a running game like this since Josh Allen became quarterback. This is a massive advantage for a dangerous offense that has proven it is not one-dimensional.

  • Joe Brady called the best game of his career. The offense started slow, but once they found their footing on the second drive, they put on a clinic from a playcalling and execution standpoint. Buffalo had three straight touchdown drives in the first half to put the game out of reach, including the back-breaking 9-play, 97-yard drive before halftime. The use of Alec Anderson in the jumbo packages and the blocking of Mack Hollins, Dawson Knox, and Quintin Morris in the run game were great personnel decisions that allowed the offense to sustain drives and open up the passing game. Hollins, Knox, and Morris accounted for 50% of the receiving yards and one touchdown on four catches in the game. The Bills finished the game 6-12 on third down, 1-1 on fourth down, and 4-4 when they got in the red zone. Kudos all around to the offense.

  • Ball security was critical in this game. The Bills did a great job on offense at protecting the ball and their quarterback. The running backs did an exceptional job securing the football as they approached contact to avoid the flailing arms of defenders trying to punch the ball out. Buffalo finished the game plus three on turnovers, resulting in seven points.

  • Battle of the Trenches won. In my preview, I mentioned the importance of winning the battles on the defensive and offensive lines. The offensive line only gave up two quarterback pressures and didn’t allow a sack in a game for the fourth time this season. On the year, the Bills lead the league with 13 sacks surrendered to opposing defenses. On defense, Buffalo finished the game with two sacks, bringing them to 29 on the season and having at least one in every game. Greg Rousseau had another dominating performance, finishing the game with 4 solo tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, and a fumble recovery.

5 Things I Didn’t Like

It was tough to find things about this performance that I didn’t like. The run defense in this game isn’t a concern to me due to the playing conditions that both teams were under. It was a challenging field for defenders to cut and react on, and in the end, the Bills held San Francisco to 10 points while giving up 153 yards on the ground. The kickoff coverage was a slight concern, but again, the field conditions assisted with the difficulties they had covering Deebo Samuel and helped him rack up 208 yards on six returns, one for 60 yards. That drive ended in a fumble with zero points. One of the Bills’ 3 turnovers on the day was forced on a kick return. In games like this, I don’t like to be nitpicky for the sake of finding things not to like. The Bills were not perfect, but they played solid, mistake-free football.

Critical Plays From the Game

Taylor Rapp made two touchdown-saving plays that changed the momentum of the game. After the Bills went up 7-3, San Francisco started their next drive with 3 consecutive first downs picked up on the ground by McCaffrey. The third run went for 18 yards, and a shoestring tackle by Rapp just outside the 30 prevented a walk-in touchdown. Instead, the drive stalled, and San Francisco missed their first field goal in the game.

It looked like the Niners would cut into the Bills’ lead on their first drive of the second half. A 60-yard kick return from Deebo Samuel had them inside the Bills’ 40-yard line. Five plays later, Kyle Juszczyk appeared to be walking into the end zone before a peanut punch from Rapp knocked the ball free at the goal line and was scooped up by Christian Benford, keeping the Bills' lead at 21-3.

Stat(s) of the Game

BillsBanter Group Chat Quote of the Game

All jokes aside it would be great to pound one in here and send Josh Allen back to Cali at halftime. Get him the hell out of there...Nice!”
— Coach right before and after the Mack Hollins TD

Postgame Quote of the Game

Postgame Perspective

The Bills are a very good football team, showing the league that they can win in various ways in all types of weather conditions. With five weeks left before the playoffs, the Bills must keep their foot on the pedal and challenge the Chiefs for the number one seed in the AFC. If the Bills continue getting their players healthy and play mistake-free, complimentary football, they will be the one seed come playoff time. Go Bills!

Up Next: Buffalo at Los Angeles Rams - Sunday, December 8th 4:25 PM

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