Anything can happen on any given Sunday… especially when the Buffalo Bills are involved, apparently.
After a disastrous 47-3 season-opening loss against Baltimore and a messy Week 2 loss to the Chargers that saw veteran cornerback Vontae Davis retire mid-game, Bills fans would not have been blamed for altogether avoiding watching Week 3 against their toughest opponents yet in the Minnesota Vikings. The home team was, after all, favoured to win by a 17-point margin according to the betting odds.
But here’s hoping they tuned in for the 1 p.m. gridiron meeting, because not only did the Bills defeat the Vikings — they completely shut them down. Heck, they almost shut them out entirely, had it not been for a garbage-time touchdown reception from tight end Kyle Rudolph with three minutes to go. (Had they pulled off the shutout, it would’ve been the first time Minnesota was held scoreless at home since 1962. Lucky for them, they dodged that history.) The final score? 27-6, Bills win.
So, uh… What. Just. Happened? Let’s recap, with some help from Football Twitter:
The weekend didn’t start well for the Bills, who have looked a little bit… lost so far this season.
But once they made it to the field, their luck quickly changed. Allen, who was named the club’s starter ahead of Week 2, scored two rushing touchdowns in the first half alone, and added a TD pass for good measure to help the Bills build a 27-0 lead entering the half.
At one point in the first quarter, Allen even hurdled (!!!) over one of the league’s most intimidating players in Anthony Barr. It’s a highlight worth watching over and over, in part because it’s an incredible feat of athleticism, and also because Bills head coach Sean McDermott definitely ordered his rookie QB to never do that again.
Yep. @JoshAllenQB is out here hurdling defenders
: CBS #GoBills pic.twitter.com/648TG3QxFT
— NFL (@NFL) September 23, 2018
What a game so far for #17 and the entire Buffalo Bills team. Keep it going guys! I know I would have never been able to hurdle like that well done! pic.twitter.com/D6MC5xEBUN
— Jim Kelly (@JimKelly1212) September 23, 2018
The Bills’ defence was dominant in the first half, too, holding the Vikings’ powerful offence to just 46 yards in the first 30 minutes — per Bills PR, that’s the fewest yards allowed since 2004. Needless to say, this week’s halftime looked one heck of a lot better than last week’s halftime. (Cue the jokes.)
Minnesota surely missed running back Dalvin Cook (hamstring) and dominant defensive end Everson Griffen (knee), but no one saw this performance coming.
All told, the Bills sacked Kirk Cousins four times, limited all but one receiver (Adam Thielen) to less than 50 yards and generally had a day. While Cousins managed to throw for 296 yards and a late touchdown to Thielen, he fumbled the ball three times, gave up an interception and struggled to convert on third downs.
Allen, meanwhile, had a quiet second half but finished the game with a tidy 196 passing yards, 39 rushing yards and no interceptions. Plenty of room for improvement, but even more reasons for optimism in Buffalo.
Next up for the Bills? Another NFC North heavyweight: the Green Bay Packers. Which Bills will we see next Sunday?
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