Bills vs Cardinals Recap
The Bills season started a little bumpy against the Cardinals on Sunday before completing consecutive scoring drives to end the first half and begin the second half on their way to a 34-28 comeback win. The Bills’ defensive struggles started on the first drive, in which Kyler Murray led the offense on a 13-play touchdown drive, eating up half the clock and going 3-3 on third down. The defense lost Taron Johnson for the game on the 7th play of the series and received the misfortune of a bogus unnecessary roughness penalty on Ja'Marcus Ingram that led to an Arizona first down and eventual touchdown instead of a field goal try. The Bills responded on the ensuing kickoff when rookie Brandon Codrington fielded the bouncing ball at his two-yard line and sprinted 53 yards before getting knocked out of bounds. The excitement was quickly subdued with a Josh Allen fumble at the Cardinals’ 30, ending a drive that looked destined for points and handing the ball back to the Cardinals’ offense.
The Cardinals’ offense appeared unstoppable throughout the first half, led by an efficient Murray, who utilized his legs to break containment on multiple scrambles while mixing in timely runs from James Conner. As mentioned in the preview of this matchup, Greg Dorch and Trey McBride were Murray’s favorite targets on Sunday and were wide open in the first half, keeping the chains moving on all three scoring drives and building a 17-3 lead. Losing Taron Johnson early impacted this as the Bills’ defense struggled to match up with the shifty slot receiver and the size of McBride. However, the Bills made some vital halftime adjustments that held the Cardinal’s offense to 80 yards in the second half, forcing two punts, a fumble, and a turnover on downs. Greg Rousseau and Von Miller were getting good pressure on Murray throughout the second half, with the linebacker duo of Dorian Williams and Terrel Bernard settling in to hamper the Cardinals’s ground game. I was concerned heading into the matchup that highly touted rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. would come out and torch the Bills’ secondary in his first regular season game. I was wrong. Whether by defensive scheme or poor offensive playcalling, Harrison was held to 1 catch for 4 yards on only three targets. Murray finished the day 21-31 for 162 yards and a touchdown. Chalk this up as a win to the secondary.
Overall, I was impressed with Josh Allen and the Bills’ offense. The turnover on the first drive was a discouraging start, especially seeing that Allen had Curtis Samuel open in the middle of the field before taking the hit that led to the fumble. They eventually got comfortable as a unit and scored on five of their next six drives with 21 unanswered points to end the first half and start the second. Allen was able to spread it around and never had one of the throws that made me scratch my head and wonder what he was thinking. Hopefully, as the season progresses, Allen can cut back on some of the running and utilize the players around him. The offense runs through Josh Allen, but this may be the most talent he has had around him since becoming the Bills’ quarterback. Putting up 34 points in week one with an overhauled offense and overcoming some in-game adversity will help the group build confidence moving forward this season.
Before discussing what I liked and didn’t like about the game, I want to point out a new page I added for the season that I will be updating with the Bills’ stats leaders in different categories. Thank you for visiting the page and continuing to read my thoughts on how the team is doing throughout the year.
5 Things I liked
“Everybody eats.” Allen completed passes to nine different players. Five pass catchers were playing in their first regular-season game in a Bills uniform. This is encouraging to start the season, and I expect it will only continue to improve. Allen finished the day 18-23 for 232 yards and two passing TDs. It was the 4th time in his career that he finished a game with at least two passing TDs and two rushing TDs, tied with Steve Young for the most in NFL history.
Greg Rousseau. Welcome to the DPOY conversation (betting odds went from +10000 to +6000 as of this morning). 6 tackles, 3 sacks, and a forced fumble that led to the go-ahead scoring drive. We heard about Rousseau’s play throughout training camp, and he showed up in game 1.
Reserves stepping up. Ja’Marcus Ingram and Cam Lewis stepped up in Taron Johnson’s absence and made some big plays in the second half. Lewis seemed to settle down in the second half with some nice plays in the running game. Ingram rebounded from a shaky start to the game and ended it with the pass breakup on 4th down to seal the Cardinals’ fate.
Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman. Shakir caught all 3 of his targets for 42 yards and showed his yards-after-catch ability on his 11-yard catch and run score. Coleman showed sure hands and the ability to make contested plays. His highlight 28-yard catch on the sideline showcased why the Bills and Allen are so high on his abilities in this offense.
James Cook. 103 all-purpose yards and caught all 3 of his targets, including a 25-yard catch and run on 3rd and 11 to keep the Bills scoring drive alive to start the second half. Cook seems to be picking up where he ended last season.
5 Things I didn’t like
Penalties. The Bills committed too many penalties, especially the offensive line. They improved in the second half but had 9 for 65 yards in the game. This needs to be cleaned up.
Third-down defense. The Cardinals were 7-13 on third down. They improved in the second half, going 2-6, but the Bills will struggle against better opponents if this continues.
Interior D-Line play. I had Ed Oliver as a player to watch heading into this matchup, and I didn’t notice him during the game Sunday. DaQuan Jones was quiet but came up with a clutch pass breakup late in the fourth quarter after the Cardinals got the game back to within 3. The interior of the defensive line needs to generate pressure consistently.
Kick-off unit. The kick return touchdown was a gluttony of missed tackles and poor coverage as a unit. To follow this up with a kick out of bounds was alarming. I understand that you want to avoid another long return, but giving the opposing team the ball at the 40 when they are down 6 is not a recipe for success. Tyler Bass had a strong game kicking FGs and extra points, but they need to work on kickoffs, especially when into the wind.
Injuries. The Bills lost Taron Johnson for the game early on with a forearm injury. Josh Allen injured his non-throwing hand on his second rushing touchdown and will be re-evaluated today. It’s a short week, so seeing if these affect their availability for Thursday night’s game will be interesting.
Next Up: Buffalo at Miami - Thursday, 8:15 PM
