Bills-Chargers Week 3 Reactions

The Bills turned the ball over 5 times, watched Josh Allen throw a pass to himself, and still walked out of Week 3 at 3-0. On today’s episode of 1st and 5, Dave and Greg unpacked the ugliest win of the young season, including:

• How Buffalo survives five turnovers and still wins
• What went wrong with an offense that looked unstoppable for two weeks
• Which Bill is playing his way into the Defensive Player of the Year race
• Whether the defense turned a corner or just got bailed out
• How much longer Jim Leonhard gets the year-one pass

How Do You Win a Game That Ugly?

The Bills became the first team since 1993 to win a game with 5 or more turnovers, and that stat is the whole story of Week 3. Three lost fumbles, two Josh Allen interceptions, and a 3-0 record anyway. As Dave put it, the luck that carried the first two weeks, recovering their own fumbles and watching opponents drop picks, finally ran out, and Buffalo won regardless.

The reason they could is the defense. The Chargers ran 7 drives that ended in zero points, and even in a game full of complaints, that kept Buffalo in front while the offense sorted itself out. Penalties on both sides turned it into a slog, and a few of them bailed the Bills out late, which isn’t a plan anyone wants to lean on. Good teams win ugly games, though, and this was about as ugly as a win gets.

See whose stock was up and whose was down in the Bills’ Week 3 win

What Happened to the Offense?

For two weeks the offense looked unstoppable, and on Sunday it hit a wall. The pass protection had a rough day. Allen spent the afternoon under duress, and by the second half he looked physically worn down. The Chargers built a game plan to keep him in the pocket and take the scramble away, and it worked. Joe Brady was slow to adjust, and the offense spent too long stuck in the mud before it started attacking horizontally and found some life.

The turnovers made it worse. James Cook put the ball on the ground on the opening drive, Dalton Kincaid lost a rare fumble, and Allen forced a deep shot to DJ Moore in triple coverage on second-and-7 when a checkdown was right there. That one looked like a quarterback pressing to score, maybe carrying over the sense from the first two weeks that this team has to outscore everybody.

Who Kept the Offense Afloat?

James Cook is the reason it held together. After the opening fumble, he took over the second half with explosive runs and got rewarded with the touchdown, and the ball-security blip aside, he was the engine. Ty Johnson made his return from a hamstring injury count, with four catches and a big third-down outlet when Allen had bodies draped on him, the safety valve this offense sorely missed the first two weeks.

Keon Coleman stayed quiet in the box score but made the two plays that mattered, a 37-yard grab down to the 1 and an onside-kick recovery that would have handed the Chargers a chance to tie if it got away.

Whether that’s enough from a number-two receiver is the open question. A number two has to give you more than two moments, but this is the exact role Keon can win. With the dirty work and a big play or two, and on a day nothing came easy, he delivered the two that counted. DJ Moore is still the piece that makes it all go, and the offense looks like a different animal when he’s off the field.

Is Greg Rousseau Playing His Way Into the DPOY Race?

The one thing nobody’s arguing about is Greg Rousseau. He has 6 sacks through three games and became the first Bill ever to open a season with 2 sacks in each of his first three games. He looks like a player finally turned loose in the right role.

It helps that he isn’t alone. Deone Walker has emerged as a tank next to him, and Bradley Chubb draws enough attention that offenses can’t just double Rousseau and move on. Greg admitted he spent years as one of Rousseau’s harshest critics and is a week or two from signing the apology letter, and even if the sacks dry up for a stretch, forcing offenses to account for him is the point.

Did the Defense Turn a Corner?

The defense held the Chargers to zero points on 7 drives. C.J. Gardner-Johnson finally had the interception Dave and plenty of fans were waiting for. His pick swung the game after his first one got called back because of a Benford hold. Speaking of, IGB filled in cleanly when Benford went down and held up when the Chargers tested him early. Those are the good signs.

The problems are the same ones that have been there for three weeks. The tackling is still bad, Dee Alford had a mostly rough day, and penalties on the Chargers took as much off the board as anything the Bills did. Buffalo also drifted into a soft, prevent-style shell in the last two minutes for the second game running, then flipped aggressive only once the Chargers reached the red zone, which is backwards. The defense did enough to win, but it still hasn’t shown the week-to-week improvement everyone’s waiting for.

How Long Does Jim Leonhard Get?

This is where the two dug in. Greg’s patience is running thin, and he wants the tackling fixed. If the story of Leonhard is about the development of “his” guys, he wants IGB on the field now. The “year-one” talking point has to have an expiration date, because the whole point of firing Sean McDermott was to be better, not the same. His fear is getting to January, giving up forty in a shootout, and still hearing that it’s year one.

Dave’s more willing to wait. It’s only been three games. The run defense and the third-down defense have both improved, and the roster is a mix of McDermott-era holdovers and new pieces that Leonhard is still sorting, with the health of guys like Ed Oliver and Terrel Bernard an open question. 

Wrapping Up

So, was this a one-off bad day or a sign the offense can be schemed against and the defense can be taken advantage of?

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