Too often the Bills are the team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but this weekend they did to the Vikings what they usually allow other teams to do to them by driving for the game winning score in the final minutes of the game. The Bills, under Kyle Orton, have engineered another improbable come from behind victory in a game they played poorly enough to lose. It was an ugly win, but as Patriots fans have been saying all week, a W is a W.
So, just how good is Sammy Watkins? He had his “break out” game against Miami and he made that eye-popping catch against Detroit to set up the winning field goal, but this Sunday he may have shown he is worthy of the obscene price the Bills paid for him. I’ve hated the pick since the second they made it, both because of the price and the fact that I didn’t think Watkins was even worth one first round pick. I’m not sure yet about the first one, but he’s convinced me that I was wrong about his abilities. Seven games into his career and he’s played a significant role in three of the team’s four wins, three wins the Bills probably wouldn’t have had without him. His 9/122/2 stat line was one of the best any WR not named Demarius Thomas put up in Week 7 and has to be one of the best I’ve seen from a Buffalo Bill in the last few years. I’m starting to Billieve in Sammy Watkins.
The Bills defense was once again dominant. Sure, they gave up a ton of rushing yards, but what they didn’t give up was points, holding the Vikings to 16, which turned out to be just good enough. You might say that the Vikings are a terrible team with a rookie quarterback, and you would be right, but when you consider that the Bills turned the ball over FOUR times, then holding them to only 16 points was quite a feat. The defensive line was it’s usual disruptive self, notching five sacks and numerous quarterback hits and hurries. The back to back sacks for -16 yards after the Vikings got down to the Bills 7 yard line were crucial, game changing plays. And speaking of game changers, Leodis McKelvin have been ripped by Bills fans this season so far and apparently he got the message. He answered with 2 picks, one of which set up Sammy Watkins’ first touchdown of the day. The secondary overall played well, aside from that one TD drive the Vikings had where Greg Jennings became unstoppable for a brief period of time.
The ugliest part of the win was the aforementioned four turnovers. Back to back fumbles on the first two possessions cost the Bills at least 3 points and gift wrapped 3 more to the Vikings. It wasn’t a good day on offense in general because, apart the from the game winning drive, the Bills couldn’t establish anything on the ground and lost their offensive leader in Fred Jackson, plus one of their most dynamic weapons in CJ Spiller. Bryce Brown is going to get the call with Anthony Dixon (I refuse to call him Boobie) as the change of pace back, but our RB group is dangerously depleted. If they want to win next weekend in Jersey, then the Bills will need to play mistake free football and the offensive line needs to get it’s act together in one big hurry.
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