It wasn’t the most handsome of victories, but as far as the Bills were concerned, it was downright beautiful.
After one of the most trying weeks in franchise history, Buffalo responded with a triumph it absolutely, positively had to have.
Oh, there were plenty of warts in the Bills’ 31-23 decision over the Browns, Sunday afternoon at Detroit’s Ford Field, but the final score wasn’t one of them.
Buffalo, coming off two straight tough losses, including last Sunday’s 33-30 overtime gift to the Vikings at Highmark Stadium, desperately needed to stop the bleeding.
A third consecutive defeat, based on yesterday’s other games, would have dropped the Bills into a tie for last in the AFC East and made them a genuine candidate to miss the playoffs for the first time in four years.
Instead, Buffalo, at least for one game, reversed its struggles both rushing the ball and stopping the run while quarterback Josh Allen stifled his recent problems turning the ball over and dutifully played the supporting role of game-manager.
WHEN IT was over, behind Devin Singletary and rookie James Cook, the Bills rushed for 171 yards, only four fewer than last week’s season high against Minnesota. In addition, Buffalo held the Browns, one of the NFL’s top running teams, to 80 yards on the ground, a figure very close to what it averaged the first six games to lead the league.
Allen, who had thrown six interceptions — four in the red zone — and fumbled three times, including one in the end zone, over the three previous second halves, had a refreshingly pedestrian game.
He didn’t turn the ball over and was a workmanlike 18-of-27 passing for 197 yards with two sacks and a touchdown. He ran only three times for seven yards.
AFTERWARD, Allen was relieved that Buffalo’s ground game took off some of the offensive pressure he’s felt most of the season.
“Devin and James both ran the ball well (86 yards each on 18 and 11 carries, respectively) and those guys up front made those holes for them,” he said. “If we can run it like that we’re going to continue to run it … that’s no secret.
“Our offensive line fought their tails and that’s going to help us going forward. If we can continue to utilize our run game and have it be successful for us, we’ll keep running.”
To which coach Sean McDermott added, “I was very impressed by how we ran the football, both backs ran hard and took care of the football.”
Of course, there was a bit of early tension after a 10-3 deficit opening the second quarter as it took the Bills 22 minutes to log their initial first down.
But, after waiting 29 minutes, 46 seconds to have a pass directed his way, Bills’ top wide receiver Stefon Diggs caught a touchdown throw that put Buffalo up 13-10 just before intermission. Then, on the first possession of the third quarter, Tyler Bass’ third of six field goals, a 56-yarder, sent the Bills on their way.
“Scoring before the half is probably the biggest thing of the game and coming out in the second half and getting more points, you can really help yourself out, especially the way we did,” Allen said. “It’s just situational football and trusting what coach McDermott preaches.”
OF COURSE, much of the post-game talk was directed toward the snowstorm that dumped 7½-feet of snow on Orchard Park and caused the site switch from Highmark to Ford Field while creating an abbreviated practice week and a travel nightmare for the team.
“We easily could have folded and allowed it to be an excuse for us,” Allen said, “but trusting the guys we have in this locker room who are true professionals that do things the right way … we were just trying to win a football game. That’s our mindset and our goal every time we step out on the field and fortunately we got it done today.”
And McDermott emphasized, “When you share an experience like this it can bring a team closer together … we were already close but seeing how the guys rallied around it … it was just a resilient effort and good to get the win.”
The big conclusion Allen took from the game was, “We still don’t feel like we played very well, but it goes to show you playing smart football we put up 31 points and didn’t play up to our standards.”
(Chuck Pollock, an Olean Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
