Recap: Bills Survive Nashville Scare

The Rex Ryan honeymoon was nearly over.

Let’s be honest here. If the 2015 Buffalo Bills were any legitimate threat to end the organization’s 15-year playoff drought, then beating the Tennessee Titans and their rookie quarterback Sunday was outright necessity.  Whether it’s a Week five matchup or season finale, these contests are ones Buffalo can’t afford to lose, especially after laying an egg at home against the New York Giants last week.

Fortunately for Ryan, his team unearthed a way to avoid going under .500.  After doing nothing offensively for nearly three quarters Buffalo put together two touchdown drives and held on to beat the Titans at Nissan Stadium, 14-13.

The win improved Buffalo to 3-2 after five games. It's the first time the Bills have won their first two road games of the season since 2008.  Meanwhile the Titans have now lost their last six at home, though "home game" is a term used loosely seeing Nissan Stadium was packed with thousands of Bills fans.

Quarterback Tyrod Taylor ran 22 yards for a touchdown and threw a three-yard pass to Chris Hogan for the other while Stephon Gilmore sealed the win with a late interception on Marcus Mariota.

Buffalo leaving Nashville victorious is close to shocking considering how appalling the offense looked most the afternoon along with the team’s 2015 trademark—untimely penalties that hurt.

The Bills were also dreadful on special teams.  Tennessee fumbled the opening kickoff and the ball was recovered by Corey Graham near the Titans goal line, but an offsides penalty by Marcus Easley negated the play.  Later in the third quarter newly acquired Denarius Moore fumbled a punt recovered by the Titans that lead to their only touchdown.

Ultimately none of that cost Buffalo the game, thanks mainly to the legs of Taylor and a Bills defense that performed up to their lofty expectations.  Taylor completed 10-of-17 passes for just 109 yards (46 coming on one throw to Hogan) but ran for a franchise-record 76 yards. Meanwhile the defense, out on the field for over 36 minutes did a fantastic job in keeping their team in the game. Tennessee gained just 126 total yards in the second half and the d-line routinely pressured Mariota into bad throws, including a pressure by Marcell Dareus on Gilmore’s game-clinching interception.

Here’s more…..

Play(s) of the Game: Facing a third down and 23 from their own seven in the fourth quarter after two straight Seantrell Henderson penalties, Taylor scrambled 25 yards for a first down and drew a horse collar tackle penalty on the end of the run for an additional. Two plays later he hit Hogan for 46 yards (Hogan's career-high) down to the Tennessee seven and on third dow found Hogan for what would be the game-winning score.

Stat of the Game: The Bills were outgained in yards, 150-71, didn’t run a single play in Tennessee territory and the Titans controlled the ball for over 20 minutes in the first half—yet the Bills went into the locker room only down 3-0.

Funky Stat Of The Game: Per Elias and tweeted by the Bills, Taylor is just the 5th player to have ever thrown for 100+ yards, run for 70 yards and catch a pass (he caught a pass from Hogan) in the same game.

MVP: It’s a completely different manner, but Taylor had the type of game Jim Kelly more than occasionally endured during the Bills Super Bowl days. More times than fans care to remember Kelly wouldn’t have his best stuff the majority of the afternoon, but ultimately found ways in crunch times to make plays (albeit his arms as opposed to Taylor’s legs) to get Buffalo victories.  That’s pretty much what Taylor did in Tennessee. Frankly he was awful much of the afternoon, making poor throws and taking unnecessary sacks. However, money time brought out the best and he gutted out a visibly sore ankle that could give him problems going forward.

LVP: He’s one of the better special teams players in the NFL, but between the killer offsides penalty that cost his team at least three if not seven points plus momentum, not to mention a few missed tackles, Sunday was a day to forget for Marcus Easley.  Honorable mention to Jerry Hughes; who got near Mariota a few times but had a costly missed tackle and got fooled on a play fake that led to a 22-yard Mariota run.

THINGS TO LIKE:

♦  I’ve spent a lot of time watching Marcell Dareus since he returned from his opening week suspension and haven’t been impressed. He looked good against the Titans, having a strong game in the trenches and providing the pressure that led to Gilmore’s interception.  Today’s Dareus is the one Terry Pegula visited the vault for. Ditto for Mario Wiliams, who was a major factor.

♦  Even not counting the interception, Gilmore had himself a good day despite a costly pass interference penalty early in the fourth quarter. Gimore broke up multiple passes in the first half and did an excellent job tackling. Surprisingly he seemed to be a target of Mariota more than rookie Ronald Darby.

♦  Percy Harvin, Robert Woods and Charles Clay had nothing in the passing game, so it was good to see Hogan have a huge role in the comeback. Marquise Goodwin also had two catches for 24 yards in his first action of the season.

♦  Beautiful block (that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet) by Woods on Taylor’s 22-yard touchdown run.

THINGS TO NOT LIKE

♦ I don’t know what Pro Football Focus is going to tell me, but the naked eye tells me Seantrell Henderson could be one of the worst right tackles in the league.

♦  Surely Doug Whaley can do better than Matthew Mulligan as a blocking tight end, no? He almost got Taylor killed.

♦  The Bills didn’t reach midfield until there was just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter.  This wasn’t the 1985 Bears they were playing.  Buffalo’s very fortunate they didn’t face a more proficient offense or this could’ve been a very long day.

♦  I talked about Woods’ huge block. I should also mentioned he slipped on a third down pass thrown to him, an offensive pass interference call and having just one catch (six yards) all afternoon.

♦  Taylor’s ankle is going to become a cause for concern. Hopefully it’s something he can play through and doesn’t slow him down too much. He’d be doing himself a huge favor by learning to consistently get rid of the ball quicker. I get he has home-run ability every time he drops back or takes off, but he’s taking too many hits and has to be smarter at times.

♦  The Bills running game without Lesean McCoy and Karlos Williams is becoming atrocious.  McCoy probably won’t be back until after the bye, but it’s important the Bills offense gets Williams back this coming week.

Unsung Hero: Titans head coach Ken Wisenhunt made the types of decisions that rallies a fan base to despise you. In punting twice inside the Buffalo 40, taking a 20-yard chip shot field goal instead of going for it inside the Bills two early, and punting down one point with just 3:01 and only one timeout, Wisenhunt put too much faith in his defense and wasn’t aggressive enough in trying to take control of the game.  As far as Bills fans are concerned, to quote Kevin Durant “You the real MVP.”

Quotable: Hogan told Buffalo News reporter Chris Hogan in the locker room "What I’ve done the last couple weeks, I don’t think teams will be overlooking the fact that I’m in the game."

What’s Next: It doesn’t get much tougher than next week as the undefeated (5-0) Cincinnati Bengals come to Ralph Wilson Stadium.  Along with the Denver Broncos, Cincinnati right now is the biggest threat to the Patriots reign in the AFC. They’re coming off an overtime win over Seattle and quarterback Andy Dalton deserves (very) early MVP consideration. The Bills could make a huge statement by knocking off the formidable Bengals.

Final Thought: Every season there’s a few games the Bills win that’s labeled surprising, and a few winnable games they blow. After losing to the Giants this week the Titans were one they need to have. Considering the astronomically high probability the Patriots win the AFC East, the Bills find realistically find themselves competing with four to six AFC teams for a wildcard, so getting a conference win today could be big down the line. Had they lost to Tennessee, next week’s game against Cincinnati would’ve almost been must-win—a scenario I’m not sure the Bills are ready for. The Bills escaped today but they’re going to need their missing weapons—McCoy, Williams and Sammy Watkins back soon or this offense is in trouble.