Buffalo Bills beat Minnesota Vikings 23-6: Instant Reactions

Survive and advance is a phrase you hear quite often in the playoffs. Turns out, it can count for regular-season matchups, too. It wasn't always smooth, but the Buffalo Bills were able to wear down the vaunted Minnesota Vikings defense to win 20-6 on Monday Night Football.

The win moves Buffalo to 7-1 on the season, keeping them atop the AFC and AFC East standings. 

It was a game that started as a what happens when the NFL's best offense goes against the NFL's best defense. Turns out, when the best defense has, arguably, the worst offense in the league, the league's best defense just needs to make enough plays to get the job done.

The game started with an early interception by Josh Allen on a great play by Minnesota DB Byron Murphy, but he settled from there. Well, as much as he could. They finally broke through late in the second quarter, and then it felt like the game was in hand despite the score being close throughout.

Here are the positives and negatives from Monday's win.

Greg Rousseau - The shining season for Rousseau continued on Monday night. He had a fumble recovery, multiple QB pressures and hits, and a sack. His 8 sacks have him tied for second in the NFL

Bills Defense steps up - We knew what Minnesota’s defense would be, but Buffalo’s defense went toe-to-toe against the Vikings' offense. They held Minnesota to just 178 yards and forced three turnovers, including back-to-back drives ending with an interception in the third quarter.

When the Vikings finally pulled Carson Wentz late in the 4th, Buffalo had held Minnesota to just 120 total yards.

3rd-down defense - It was the best 3rd-down defensive performance I remember seeing in years. The Bills held Minnesota to 0-for-8 on 3rd down. Minnesota was also 0-for-2 on 4th down.

Christian Benford - The quarterback play for the Vikings wasn’t good, but that doesn’t take away from the game Benford had. He shadowed one of the best receivers in football, Justin Jefferson, all night and shut him down. Jefferson finished with 2 catches for 39 yards on 10 targets, though one of his catches came when Benford wasn’t even on the field.

A quick shout to Davison Igbinosun, who was on Jefferson in the fourth quarter as well.

Keliki Latu - When you get your first career touchdown catch, you deserve to be here. 

Surviving - Going into the night, everyone knew this would be the toughest test of the year for the NFL’s top offense. Pair that with the starting left side of the offensive line being out, and it could’ve been a disaster for Buffalo. It was rough at times, but the Bills broke through when needed and left with the win.

Time of Possession - the score was close, but the game really wasn’t. Buffalo held control of the game throughout. By the end of it, they had the ball for 42:32 compared to Minnesota’s 17:28

James Cook - It was the hardest 100-yard game of his career, and he earned every yard and the touchdown. Cook ran the ball 31 times for 107 yards and a score.

Tyler Bass’ perfect season - After going 3-for-3 on Monday, Bass has now made 24 straight field goals, extending his franchise record for consecutive field goals made.

Penalties - If there’s one area of the team that remains a problem, it’s penalties. Not just the number of them, but the timing of them. Of course, you never want to take a penalty, but Buffalo had three separate offensive drives stall because of penalties—one intentional grounding and two false starts.

To make it even worse, the Bills were called for a false start on a 54-yard field goal attempt by Tyler Bass. The kick, which made it through the uprights, would’ve put Buffalo up by 10. Instead, they were forced to punt. Oh, and they had a false start on that punt play too, which ended up as a touchback.

The Bills finished 8 penalties for 62 yards.

Two-minute defense - It’s something the Bills continue to struggle with: end-of-half defense. This week, after scoring a touchdown with 44 seconds left in the first half, the defense allowed Minnesota to drive downfield and get a field goal, cutting Buffalo’s lead to 10-6 at the time. 

Tommy Doman Jr. - It was the most activity he’s had all season, but the rookie punter struggled for a good portion of the game. Of his 5 punts, two went for touchbacks, and he averaged just 45.6 yards. 

Dawson Knox - A critical drop cost the Bills four points. He also had a few missed blocks leading to big losses and Allen getting hit. It just continued a season to forget for the long-time tight end.

Josh Allen's protection - It was rough most of the night. Allen was left scrambling more often than not with two backups having to play against Minnesota's defense. He ended up sacked four times for 29 yards.