The Bills beat the Vikings 23-6 in Minnesota on Monday night to reach 7-1 for the first time in 33 years, grinding down the NFL’s best defense in a game that was ugly for a half and never really in doubt by the end. Buffalo holds the AFC’s top seed and a two-game lead in the East. Here’s what stood out:
- Why the first-half offense looked broken
- How James Cook wore down the league’s No. 1 defense
- What Josh Allen’s quiet stat line hides
- Where 1st and 5’s Dave and Greg split on Joe Brady
- The game ball that says something about this team
Who else deserves a game ball? Check out the latest Stock Up/Stock Down article.
Why Did the Bills Offense Look So Broken Early?
Buffalo and Minnesota combined for about 100 total yards with five minutes left in the second quarter, and the Bills punted on each of their first four possessions. For a half, it looked like the Houston game from a year ago, when the offense stalled out, and Josh Allen took a beating.
Buffalo ran on first down again and again, which handed the league’s stingiest defense the exact down-and-distance it wanted. Two runs up the middle for three yards set up Josh Allen’s goal-line fumble, a good defensive play that could’ve flipped a 3-3 game to 10-3 Minnesota.
Buffalo was also down both starters on the left side of the line, with Tylan Grable auditioning at right tackle and Austin Corbett sliding in, so every obvious passing down was a gift to Brian Flores’s blitz. The latest on the line is on the BIB injury report.
How Did the Bills Wear Down the NFL’s Best Defense?
James Cook carried it 31 times, struggled early behind the shuffled line, then turned into a battering ram once the Vikings wore down. After his touchdown, he let the cameras know exactly what he thought of Minnesota’s defense, in language that’ll probably cost him a fine.
Buffalo ran 75 plays and kept pounding. The Bills put together three drives of 80-plus yards against the number-one defense in football, and by the fourth quarter the Vikings front was gassed.
Going uptempo late in the first half kept Flores from teeing off, drew an offside, and set up a 6-for-6 Josh Allen touchdown drive. Joe Brady leaned on heavy personnel and extra blockers after that to keep Allen clean, and the second half looked like a different game.
What Does Josh Allen’s Quiet Stat Line Hide?
Allen’s final line was modest, a single passing touchdown, and it undersold how he settled a game that was getting away from Buffalo. He slammed his helmet on the sideline in the first half, the hardest Greg says he has seen him throw it, then came out after the break putting the ball on his receivers’ hands.
His one touchdown, to Keleki Latu, came off a broken play. Allen escaped a sure sack and, still scrambling, found Latu for the tight end’s first career score.
On third-and-22, Allen uncorked a deep ball to DJ Moore that a Vikings defender ran under for an interception in the end zone. A clean throw to Dawson Knox hit him in the face and fell incomplete, another touchdown left on the field. Add a field goal wiped out by penalties, and Buffalo could have scored in the thirties. It won 23-6 anyway.
Was Joe Brady’s Game Plan Good or Just Lucky?
Greg hated the game script because the predictable first-down runs kept putting Allen in obvious passing spots behind a patchwork line with no guarantee the grind would pay off. He wanted standards from a 7-1 team, not a pass for a result. Dave pointed to putting up 23 points on the NFL’s best defense, on the road and down two starting linemen.
Each side has a point, and Brady even owned the tendency, saying he abandons the run too early sometimes. He stuck with it this time. Buffalo won a game it was built to win on the road, and the offense still hasn’t had to do this against a good quarterback, which the schedule won’t ask until Thanksgiving.
How Good Was Buffalo’s Defense Against the Vikings?
The defense held Minnesota to six points, and that’s the number that won the game. Carson Wentz never threatened, Dorian Williams picked him off on a ball meant for T.J. Hockenson, and Terrel Bernard should’ve had two of his own.
Two straight weeks against backup quarterbacks mean Buffalo still doesn’t fully know what its defense is, but holding any NFL offense to six on a night the offense sputtered is how you win games like this.
What Still Needs Cleaning Up?
Two false starts on the same field-goal try wiped three points off the board against a team that makes every point a premium, and the penalties remain Buffalo’s most frustrating habit.
Tyler Bass stayed perfect on field goals and is drilling 50-yarders, though the knuckling flight on the ball is a real worry once December wind shows up. Rookie punter Tommy Doman flashed too, with a big hit in coverage and booming kickoffs, but Buffalo’s kickoff coverage kept handing Minnesota short fields, a problem the Bills still haven’t solved.
What 7-1 Means for Buffalo’s Season
Seven and one is the franchise’s best start in 33 years, and it comes with the AFC’s top seed and a two-game cushion in the East. A soft two-week stretch is next, and the real tests don’t come until Thanksgiving.
Keleki Latu made the roster when no one outside the building saw it coming, and when he scored his first career touchdown, the sideline swarmed him, and Joe Brady handed him a game ball. On the other sideline, Justin Jefferson spent the night hugging Bills players on a Vikings team, wasting his prime.
Is this grind-it-out formula good enough for January, or do the Bills need to prove they can win a shootout before you trust it?
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