Bills observations: Buffalo looks ready for Miami after walloping Commanders

Heading off the field after a 37-3 win over the Washington Commanders, the Buffalo Bills’ defense had every reason to strut. Sam Howell and the Commanders were a feel-good, 2-0 team playing in front of an invigorated fan base. And then the Bills’ defense put Howell in a blender, sacking him nine times, forcing five turnovers, scoring a touchdown and putting together as thorough a defensive performance as we’ve seen under Sean McDermott.

But the Bills didn’t need to wait long to remember the big picture. All they had to do was flip on the television or pull out their phones to see what the Miami Dolphins were doing. Buffalo’s Week 4 opponent and biggest threat in the AFC East improved to 3-0 with a 70-20 win over the Denver Broncos. Yes, the Dolphins scored 70 points and had 726 yards of total offense despite playing without star receiver Jaylen Waddle.

So, McDermott wasn’t in the mood to bask in the glow of his 100th career game as an NFL coach after Buffalo pummeled Washington.

“I think I just saw Miami put up 70-plus points, so we’ve got a long week ahead of us,” McDermott said.

The Bills certainly look ready, though, after a near-flawless performance for a second straight week. Here are our observations from the win.

1. The depth of the defensive line on full display

Last week, the Bills’ defensive line was outstanding but didn’t have a lot to show for it on the stat sheet. Jimmy Garoppolo got the ball out quickly and limited the sack opportunities for Buffalo’s pass rush. This week, the Bills more than made up for it with nine sacks and 10 tackles for loss. The beauty of this performance is that the Bills got contributions from all over the place.

“The defensive line really set the tone for us,” McDermott said.

It started with Ed Oliver, who has been one of the Bills’ best players through three games. On the Commanders’ first drive of the game they managed to get beyond midfield before Oliver and DaQuan Jones combined for an 8-yard sack. Bernard had a sack and an interception on the next two plays to set the tone for a commanding effort from the Bills’ defense.

Leonard Floyd was fantastic in this game, collecting two sacks and three quarterback hits. Oliver and Jones both finished with 1.5 sacks. Bernard had two sacks. A.J. Epenesa had a sack to go along with four pressures and a pick six. Greg Rousseau had a sack and two pressures. Jordan Phillips didn’t have a sack but tied for the team lead with four pressures. Seven defensive linemen had at least one quarterback hit.

The Bills ended up pressuring Sam Howell on 46 percent of his dropbacks, according to TruMedia. They did that despite only blitzing on 12.5 percent of his dropbacks. That blitz percentage is near the bottom of the league. The talk coming into the season was that Buffalo’s defense would be more aggressive with McDermott calling plays. That’s been true at times, but what’s helping this group thrive is the fact that they can get pressure with four rushers.

Reminder: The Bills are doing this without Von Miller, who should still be the team’s best pass rusher when healthy.

2. Big plays keyed the offense

Through a clunky 22-16 loss to the New York Jets and an efficient 38-10 drubbing of the Las Vegas Raiders, one aspect of the Buffalo Bills was absent: the big play.

Entering their Week 3 game against the Commanders, the Bills ranked 27th in the NFL with just four plays of 20-plus yards. That led to a different-looking offense than the one that produced the fifth-most plays of 20-plus yards in the entire NFL last season.

That made the 37-3 win over the Commanders a return to normalcy for the Bills. Before the midway point of the third quarter against the Commanders, the Bills already had as many 20-plus yard gains (4) as they did in the first two weeks combined. They finished the game with six explosive plays and are now in the top 10 in the league in that category.

Josh Allen hit Stefon Diggs for passes of 30, 30, 20 and 19 yards on the way to an eight-catch, 111-yard day for Buffalo’s top wideout. Allen also hit Gabe Davis for a 35-yard touchdown and had a 20-plus-yard scramble.

3. Balance on offense just as encouraging

The big plays aren’t just Josh Allen’s stat. Buffalo’s quarterback played another clean game, completing 20 of 32 passes for 218 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He added 46 yards and a touchdown on three carries. But Sunday was further proof that balance can be Buffalo’s greatest asset on offense.

The Bills are now fourth in the NFL in runs that gain at least 10 yards, according to TruMedia. They are also generating at least 12 yards on 10 percent of their rushing attempts, the sixth-best mark in the league. James Cook had 112 total yards in this game, and 98 of those came on the ground. Buffalo averaged more than 5 yards per carry for the second straight game and now has 351 rushing yards in its last two games.

Buffalo didn’t need much from Damien Harris or Latavius Murray in this game, as the two big backs combined for 30 yards on 10 carries. Murray did score a touchdown, but Cook did most of the damage for the Bills and helped put the game on ice late with a 34-yard run.

4. Buffalo’s offensive line passed a big test

Coming into this game, Washington’s defensive line was a concern for the Bills. Loaded with first-round picks, the Commanders entered this week tied for the league lead with 10 sacks and had sole possession of the league lead with 20 quarterback hits. But Allen was hit just one time in this game and did not take a single sack. According to initial data from Pro Football Focus, Dion Dawkins, Spencer Brown and O’Cyrus Torrence each allowed only two pressures. Mitch Morse and Connor McGovern didn’t surrender a single pressure. As a group, the Bills’ offensive line kept Allen clean and it wasn’t just because the game was a blowout. This was a 16-0 game until it got out of hand in the fourth quarter. When Allen gets that type of blocking, especially on the interior of the line, the offense has a much easier time staying on schedule.

“At halftime, those guys really took over the game on the offensive line and defensive line,” McDermott said. “That’s what we have to do. We have to continue to play good, physical football, fundamentally sound football on both sides.”

5. Allen’s disciplined approach

Allen made it through a game without attempting to hurdle a defender for the first time this season. After Week 1, it didn’t seem like any of the offseason messaging about Allen protecting himself more had sunk in. He was hit often, tried to hurdle defenders and was careless with the ball. But over the last two games, he’s only run the ball a combined six times. He managed to try a hurdle in Week 2 despite only having three carries, but he looked entirely in control on his three carries in this game. On the first one, he broke a big gain but slid before a Washington defender could touch him. He took a tackle on his second run but it was after another big gain and he was able to brace himself for the contact. Then he was untouched on his way to a touchdown on his third carry.

The slide, though, was the highlight.

“There’s a few people on this team that owe me some money for sliding,” Allen said with a smile. “There’s a little bit of incentive there.”

McDermott beamed when discussing Allen’s willingness to get down instead of muscling his way for extra yardage.

“I was very proud of him for doing that,” McDermott said. “He’s growing. That’s what you have to do. You have to play a certain way without losing your identity. I was proud of him for doing that. It showed discipline.”

Offensive MVP: Stefon Diggs

This was a tight game for most of the first three quarters. The defense crushing drives with sacks, turnovers and goal-line stands is a big reason the Commanders were never able to get points. But while Washington was still hanging around in the game, Diggs consistently kept the Bills’ offense on schedule. He was the only Buffalo receiver with more than two catches in this game, and he accounted for more than 50 percent of Allen’s passing yardage. The Bills converted nine of 15 third downs, and five of those came through the air. Of those five, Diggs had three. He also had four catches for 49 yards on third down. The Bills didn’t get much of a secondary receiving threat in this game, but Diggs made sure they didn’t need it.

You could take your pick of defensive players in this game. But Terrel Bernard is tough to beat. He had seven tackles, two tackles for loss, an interception and a fumble recovery, becoming the first player since Brian Urlacher in 2007 to have two sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery in a single game. That’s good company.

Big picture

The Bills improve to 2-1 and set up a whopper of a matchup with the Miami Dolphins in Orchard Park next week. The Bills and Dolphins played three games last season decided by a combined eight points. Buffalo lost by two on the road, won by three at home and then won by a field goal in the wild-card round at home with the Dolphins using their third-string quarterback.

This Miami team is fresh off 726 yards of total offense and 70 points. Tyreek Hill had nine catches for 157 yards, rookie running back Devon Achane had 233 yards of offense and four touchdowns and Tua Tagovailoa had more passing touchdowns (4) than incompletions (three).

The AFC East won’t be won or lost on Oct. 1, but this is as big an early-season matchup as you’ll find. With Tagovailoa healthy, Mike McDaniel has Miami’s offense cruising. More than a quarter of the Dolphins’ passing attempts are going for 16-plus yards and the team is generating an explosive play on 18.3 percent of its offensive plays. They’ll now run into a Buffalo defense that is third in defensive EPA and has only allowed 29 points through three games.

The Bills have made their Week 1 loss feel like a distant memory. Allen has played more in control. The offensive line has been steady, and the team has been able to play balanced as a result. The defense has been outstanding. Now Buffalo gets its biggest test of the season to date to start a stretch of three straight games against playoff teams from a season ago.

(Photo: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)