The Buffalo Bills crept closer to clinching another playoff berth with a 23-20 win over the Browns, staying at least a game behind the Patriots in the AFC East.
The Buffalo Bills are one step closer to clinching their seventh straight playoff berth after beating the Cleveland Browns 23-20 on Sunday afternoon.
The Bills are now 11-4 and keep pace with the Patriots in the AFC East. In terms of the AFC Wild Card, they end the day still in the sixth seed after the Los Angeles Chargers’ win over Dallas.
It was a game that was closer than it had to be, but they still came out with the victory. Here are the positives and negatives from Buffalo’s Week 16 win.
Positives:
Bills rushing offense: The Bills entered the week as the number one rushing team in the NFL. Against the Browns, they once again lived up to the billing with 164 yards and three rushing touchdowns. For the game, they averaged 5.7 yards per carry.
James Cook: The rushing offense as a whole was strong, but James Cook deserves a call out of his own. With 117 yards on Sunday, Cook passed Travis Henry and Hall of Famers O.J. Simpson and Thurman Thomas to move into third place on the team’s single season rushing yards list. He’s only behind Simpson’s 1973 and 1975 seasons.
He also moved into a tie for second in Bills history for the most 100-yard rushing games with 9. The Bills are now 8-1 when he hits that mark.
Lastly, his 117 yards also put him in first place in the NFL in rushing yards entering play on Monday.
Greg Rousseau’s End of Game: Sunday was an up and down day for Greg Rousseau. Early in the game he let Shedeur Sanders get out of a clear sack. In the fourth quarter, however, he made sure to bring him down on a 4th and 2, setting the Bills up deep in the Cleveland zone with five minutes to play.
Then, on the final Browns drive of the game, Rousseau added another half sack and forced Sanders into a rushed throw that ended up being called for intentional grounding.
They Won: It was another game where the Bills played down to their competition. But, unlike the games against Atlanta and Miami, at least Buffalo came out with the win.
Negatives:
Michael Badgley's Debut: Badgley joined the Bills earlier in the week to replace injured kicker Matt Prater. In his first game, he missed an extra point and had a kickoff fail to reach the landing zone. Not the best first impression, but he did make a 41-yard field goal in the third quarter.
Bills Run Defense: Another week where the Bills run defense looked like a group of third stringers in the fourth preseason game. The Browns came in averaging a fourth-worst 92.4 yards per game rushing. They finished with 160 yards, the most they’ve had in a game this season. It was also the seventh time this season the Bills have allowed 150 or more rushing yards. They are 5-2 in those games.
Bills Missed Tackles: If the Bills are going to make a deep playoff run, they have to figure out their tackling. The number of missed tackles against the Browns on Sunday allowed third and longs to be converted and sacks to be avoided. One drive alone saw three missed tackles that led directly to Cleveland points.
Josh Allen Injury Scare: At the end of the first half, all of Western New York and Bills fans everywhere held their breath. With less than a minute to go Allen fell down scrambling around and seemed to hurt his ankle. He would head to the locker room early to get X-rays on his foot. Luckily, though, the X-rays were negative, and he was cleared to return to start the third quarter.
Second Half Offense: The Bills ended the first half with three touchdowns and 20 points. They would score three the rest of the game. Allen, after hurting his foot in the first half, looked off with his throws and receivers continued to fail to get open. And, on the chance that a receiver did get open, they couldn’t come down with the ball. Once again, the passing game left the field with more questions than answers.