Now that the dust has settled from Monday night’s game let’s reflect on a few things. Despite the Bills 34-31 loss, it was still a great game to watch, but also frustrating at the same time. The Bills fell to 4-2 on the season, but they remain in first place in the AFC East and dropped a bit in the weekly power rankings. I saw a lot of positives on both sides of the ball, but the biggest red flag was that the Bills defense could not get out of third and fourth down conversions, which is very frustrating. We can all agree that this loss was a heartbreaker and a game that the Bills definitely should have won. Buffalo has a bye week coming off of this loss. After the bye, the Bills will return to Orchard Park to take on AFC East rival the Miami Dolphins. Here are my takeaways:
- Josh Allen is the best quarterback in the AFC. Monday night Allen was 35/47, 353 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. Despite the fourth-down mistake, Josh Allen still played a great game and put the Bills in a position to win the game. He was terrific the entire game.
- The Bills needed to score in the fourth quarter. Derrick Henry led the Titans in rushing for 143 yards and three touchdowns. Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill was also hard to stop as he was 18/29, for 216 yards and one rushing touchdown. The fourth quarter belonged to the Titans, and AJ Brown put the Bills secondary in their place as he led the Titans in receiving for 91 yards.
- A forward lateral was finally called against the Titans. Finally, over 20 years later Bills fans get their wish: a forward lateral call against the Titans special teams unit. Despite that, the original “Music City Miracle” will still continue to haunt Bills fans despite the penalty the other night.
- Tyler Bass is an elite NFL kicker. Bass was 3/3 on all of his field goals last night, and he made a long field goal before the half last night. Bass should be viewed as one of the best kickers in the league, I would trust him anytime and anywhere.
- The Bills passing game is ridiculous. Last night, we saw the resurgence of Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley. I can’t leave out Emmanuel Sanders and his clutch targets either, but Cole Beasley led the Bills in receiving for 88 yards and one touchdown.
- The Buffalo Special. After a touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Tommy Sweeney, Josh Allen caught a two-point conversion pass from Dawson Knox that gave the Bills a 31-24 lead at the end of the third quarter. We didn’t know it yet but those would be the Bills’ final points on the night.
Buffalo is 4-2 going into the bye week, but it would have been nice to win in Nashville on Monday Night Football, especially in a thriller like it turned out to be. I do expect the Bills to get back on track going into the Dolphins game and continue their domination of the AFC East. The Bills will host the Dolphins in Orchard Park at Highmark Stadium on Sunday, October 31st, at 1:00 pm. The Dolphins are reeling as they are coming off of a loss in London to the previously win-less Jacksonville Jaguars.
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