WGR

‘The Bills have jumped to 4-1 despite committing certain football crimes that can undermine a team as limited offensively as this one, but that hasn’t happened.’

‘Through five weeks, the Bills rank 32nd in special teams DVOA (Football Outsiders’ efficiency rating). The offense is ranked 28th; just slightly ahead of the Miami Dolphins, Cincinnati Bengals, and the New York Jets. Yikes.’

‘Chris Mortenson of ESPN is reporting the Bills have traded WR Zay Jones to the Oakland Raiders for a 5th-round pick.’

‘”He’s just got to continue to do his job. You saw we made some plays at the wide receiver position. Zay’s a guy that continues to grow. He’s still young in his career. He’ll continue to do a good job as he continues to grow, and focus on what he can control. I appreciate his team first approach yesterday.”‘

‘Buffalo suffered several injuries on both offense and defense, as center Mitch Morse, offensive tackle Cody Ford, linebacker Matt Milano and defensive end Trent Murphy all were injured and did not return to the game.’

‘”We have a great secondary and a great defensive line,” Phillips said. “We all work together and I was the one that was able to get the sacks.”‘

‘I’ll get to Allen’s game in a moment because the story of the game was the Bills defense. They dominated their matchup with the Titans offense holding quarterback Marcus Mariota and company to one touchdown and a grand total of 252 yards. The Titans had 11 possessions on offense and six of those were three and outs. They didn’t convert a third down until the second half and were just 1-3 in the red zone. The Bills defensive line was too much for Tennessee’s offensive line. Buffalo recorded five sacks of Mariota, three of which came from Jordan Phillips. The Bills defense has now allowed only six touchdowns in the first five games and no opponent has scored more than 17 points.’

‘Dominant is the word. 252 total yards for the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. One touchdown allowed and that came on a short field drive following a Josh Allen interception. Yes, the Titans missed 4 field goals as Cairo Santos had a very tough day, so that was helpful. At least one of those misses was partially blocked by Darryl Johnson but still, it’s pretty rare to see a kicker miss that many kicks in one game and in a tight low scoring affair it was a big deal.’

‘Taking into consideration his decision-making and passing all together, the Bills QB played probably his best overall half football for the first thirty minutes, going 17-for-21 for 146 yards and a TD pass. He made one crucial mistake by throwing a ball he shouldn’t early in the third quarter that resulted in an interception. But, otherwise, Allen took what the defense gave him, didn’t try to force the issue, took sacks, and threw the ball away when needed. He finished the game 23-for-32 (71.8%) for 219 yards and 2 TDs passing, plus another 19 yards on the ground. A solid performance for Allen coming off a week of being in concussion protocol.’

‘Players have to pass through five phases of the NFL’s concussion protocol, wtih stage four being non-contact football related drills, with stage five being medical clearance from an independent neurological consultant and team doctors.’

‘“I would have to say unselfish team defense. I think this team does a good job of playing team defense and I think our unit, I’m probably biased, but I think our unit does a good job and playing team defense also.”‘

‘Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota is the only QB in the league who has started four games and yet to give the ball away. In fact, he currently has the league’s longest active streak of passes without a pick (169) and the last time he threw an interception was December 6 of last year, in Jacksonville. The Bills are tied for 2nd in the NFL with five interceptions. They are 6th in the league intercepting the ball at a 3.11% rate per pass attempt. Somethings gotta give.’

‘”Special teams is a big part of playing good football, and complimentary football, where all three phases link up to get the overall result. We feel really good about our special teams units. We feel really good about our kicking game. It’s an area we need to continue to develop, but, it’s an area that this weekend, could come into play, with respect to the type of game that we expect. We expect it to be a physical, field position-type of game. And so, special teams usually plays a big part in those types of games.”‘

‘The Bills are left with just Dion Dawkins, Ty Nsekhe, and rookie Cody Ford at offensive tackle. Although, Ryan Bates is capable of playing all five positions on the offensive line.’

‘“Yeah, it was,” McDermott responded when asked if that was part of the reason the Bills worked in the rain. “We’ve done some work in the spring, as well, to prepare for potential weather. This was another day of it, which was good. We didn’t have to fabricate wet ball drills. We had the elements of it out there today.”’