‘Once opponents enter the red zone, that’s when the Bills start to buckle down and they have been suffocating with their backs against the goal line, as the Seattle Seahawks traversed to the Bills’ 3-yard line or closer three times and came away with one touchdown in Buffalo’s 31-10 win Sunday. The Bills are giving up touchdowns on 44.4% of red zone trips — 33% over the last four games — which is the team’s best mark since Sean McDermott became head coach in 2017, allowing fewer than 50% just once (2022) during that time.’
BillsBeat - October 29, 2024
Bills are building a physical identity by showing strength in the trenches after rout of Seahawks
‘“Winning the line of scrimmage, that’s where it starts every week,” McDermott said in opening his postgame news conference following a 31-10 win at Seattle on Sunday.’
Murphy: As Bills near midway point, they’re finding answers for many of season’s big questions
‘“Winning the line of scrimmage; that’s where it starts,” McDermott said after the game. “I thought our O-line and D-line did a great job.”’ Agreed.’
Bills notebook | Greg Rousseau's stellar stretch, Josh Allen's poise and looking ahead to Miami
‘”Greg did some really good things. He was physical at times where he needed to be physical. He got his hands up, affected some passes,” McDermott said of Rousseau’s day against the Seahawks.’
BillsBeat - October 28, 2024
Observations: Hot start pushes Bills to blowout win over Seahawks
‘After four straight weeks of playing poorly in the first half, the Bills finally looked ready to go from the opening kickoff against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. The solid start propelled the team to a 31-10 victory that improved it to 6-2 and strengthened its grip on the AFC East. Losses by the Dolphins and Jets on earlier in the day meant that no other team in the division has more than two wins.’
Ryan O'Halloran: After another Bills blowout win, not too early to start thinking about Chiefs, playoffs
‘What else to take away from Sunday? In the early-game window, their division rivals continued to flail away. Miami blew a 10-point lead and lost to Arizona and the New York Jets lost at lowly New England. The Bills did their part, stretching their lead to 3½ games (largest in the NFL) with a 31-10 dismantling of the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field, which Bills fans turned into Highmark Stadium Pacific Northwest.’
Running back James Cook races all over Seahawks in Bills' win
‘Cook said he started to get into a rhythm right away. His first run came on the Bills’ second play of their opening drive, an eight-yard jaunt up the middle. Then he kept rolling.’
Three questions: Assessing Keon Coleman, the Bills' luck and the AFC East
‘Nevertheless, this game easily could have been much tougher for the Bills, who were without star linebacker Terrel Bernard. The Seahawks were minus star wide receiver DK Metcalf. Clear advantage for Buffalo.’
Takeaways, game balls from the Buffalo Bills' win over the Seattle Seahawks
‘The Bills drove Seattle crazy in the first half. The Bills started with a 90-yard touchdown drive (Coleman’s 2-yard catch) and ended with a 93-yard drive (Kincaid’s 12-yard catch). According to Pro Football Reference’s Stathead search tool, it appeared to be the first time since December 2015 against Dallas that the Bills had two drives of at least 90 yards. Also, it was the first time since at least 1993 the Bills had two 90-yard touchdown drives in the first half.’
Plays that shaped the game: Good pass protection sets stage for key Bills big gainers vs. Seattle
‘The game plan of coordinator Joe Brady helped. The Bills passed on 16 of 29 first-down plays on the way to taking a 31-3 lead. Throwing on first down when the defense must respect the run is one way to take some steam out of a strong pass-rushing defense.’
Report Card: Dominant performance in a hostile environment earns Bills straight A's
‘So much for those slow starts. The Bills were ready to go right away, which is a credit to the coaching staff. The offense marched 90 yards on its opening drive despite three penalties. That speaks well of the game plan put together by Joe Brady. Defensively, Bobby Babich’s group put together two straight three and outs. Yes, the defense did get a couple of lucky breaks in the first half on Seattle mistakes, but teams don’t have to apologize for good fortune. The Bills made a long trip to a hostile stadium look easy. You can’t ask for much more. “A great week of preparation is what led to this,” McDermott said. “Focus. The leadership in the locker room. Guys stepping in for other guys that were hurt.”’
Bills pummel Seahawks with their most impressive win of the season
‘And who knows how much more lopsided it would have been had the Bills not committed so many penalties, several of which wiped out nice offensive plays, prompting McDermott to add, “Definitely things, again, that we have to improve on – pre-snap penalties and the penalties overall, and then just some decision-making.”’
Bills report card: Buffalo uses fast start, suffocating defense to eviscerate Seahawks
‘The Bills were ready to play, another check in the positive column for the coaches, but the penalties are a problem. Two weeks ago in the win over the Jets the Bills committed 11 for 94 yards, and in this one they had 13 for 85 yards. They managed to win both those games, but that’s not always going to be the case.’
Bills push around ‘Hawks, pounce on their mistakes
‘But those many mistakes only became so glaring because of how well the Bills pounced on them. How about the roughing the passer penalty for Seattle’s Derick Hall just before halftime? Allen’s third-down incompletion should have set up a field goal try for Tyler Bass to make it a 10-3 lead in the second quarter’s last minute. But Hall drew a flag for an unnecessary push on the Bills’ QB, canceling out the third-down stop (and an illegal shift penalty on Buffalo). It was hardly a vicious hit, but well after the ball was out and high enough to draw a flag. Two plays later, Allen hit Dalton Kincaid for a touchdown. Happy National Tight End Day to him.’
Bills-Seahawks takeaways: Buffalo dominates Seattle in penalty-littered blowout
‘The game was littered with penalty flags. According to ESPN, the two teams combined for 24 penalties, the most in any NFL this season.’