The Buffalo Bills worked like heck to give the game away against the Los Angeles Chargers. There were ten penalties that included both a negated touchdown and a negated turnover. Josh Allen had a passer rating of 54.0. And who could forget the five turnovers? Somehow, the Chargers were almost entirely unable to translate those gifts into points. That’s launched a debate online. Was the Bills defense that good? Or were the Chargers offense the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked?
Drive Enders
Second drive
We start with the second drive, as the Chargers’ first drive was their only touchdown. That’s a wild end to a sentence when their team had five turnovers to try to get some scores in. After a seven yard gain on first down, a fantastic read by Greg Rousseau created a loss of six. Soapbox alert: TFLs are just as good as sacks and should be treated as such. On 3rd & 9, the Chargers buy Justin Herbert just enough time to get a throw in to a wide open Oronde Gadsden. The pass is a bit high but Gadsden gets his hands on it and drops it. The Bills’ defensive front had a decent rep, but let’s face it the defense was beat here.
This drive ended due to a combination of good play (Rousseau) and luck (Gadsden).
Fifth drive
The third drive ended with a field goal so that’s not really a stop. The fourth ended with a missed field goal. Yes it’s a stop, but a special teams stop.
This drive is a little bit of both as well. Completely failing to get even a chip on Landon Jackson is on the Chargers. The lineman wasn’t occupied elsewhere and puts up a nominal hand that does nothing to slow Jackson down and block the pass. Jackson still times it up and deserves credit, but it’s a mixed bag.
Similarly, on the next play the Chargers end up confused and fail to block well at all. The blocking scheme can’t account for everyone even if they were up to the task. But that’s a feather in the cap for Jim Leonhard and the Bills. It’s a great play call to quickly fill what looked like running lanes and swarm to the ball for a stop after a mere yard.
On the sack, that’s pretty much all Rousseau’s technique and the Bills doing what they need to do so Herbert has no escape.
Eighth drive
We jump to the eights as drive six was ended by the clock expiring at the half. The seventh drive was a field goal so therefore not truly stopped.
This drive ended because of two incomplete passes on second and third down. On first down, the Chargers gained five on a run play that would have set them up nicely to choose their second down play from anywhere in the playbook. But then they got a false start to go back to 2nd & 10, which is where we pick up. On the second down play, the credit is nearly entirely on Davison Igbinosun who is in the right spot to break up the pass.
On third down, it’s pressure from Deone Walker after a stunt on the line breaks him loose. Dee Alford also reads the play and gets the pass break up. Despite having his arm clipped, Herbert had the ball in the right area and it’s possible it’s caught if Alford isn’t on top of it.
Ninth drive
The Chargers were in field goal range and facing a third and manageable. Justin Herbert wanted seven and gambled that C.J. Gardner-Johnson couldn’t close on the ball fast enough. He lost.
Tenth drive
The second to last drive of the game for the Chargers was a turnover on downs. Yet again we can’t say one way or the other if the Bills’ defense or Chargers’ offense was the true reason for the stall. You can replay the video above if you need, but the bottom line is more of the same of what we’ve seen before. And that leads me too…
The Final Straw
The Bills defensive front deserves a ton of credit. Routinely disruptive and winning their one-on-one battles, a lot of positive plays come down to them wreaking havoc. That said, the Chargers’ offensive line was routinely off kilter and didn’t do the team any favors. Despite both these things, more than one drive ended because the ball hitting the target’s hands apparently wasn’t good enough.
None of this is exactly unusual in the NFL, but the result is the same. We should definitely applaud the Bills defensive for an outstanding effort. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be cautious about anointing them though. A stronger opponent with better preparation and execution will likely threaten to score more than 16 points.