Pro football coaches are famous for reminding us that “it’s hard to win in the NFL.”
Indeed, those on losing streaks admit, “I thought I’d never win a game again.”
So it’s risky to be critical of a victory, no matter how flawed.
After all, on Sunday afternoon at Bills Stadium, Buffalo did exactly what it was supposed to do: it beat a self-destructive Chargers team, 27-17.
And the win was needed as the 8-3 Bills maintained their division lead over the Dolphins (7-4) and Patriots (5-6), who both won.
Still, while there were some reasons for encouragement in Buffalo’s performance, there were also some circumstances creating genuine concern.
Here’s a look at the good and the bad as the Bills improved to 5-1 at their fanless home stadium:
THE GOOD
— All season long the Bills’ running game has been an enigma.
Oh, there was that impressive 38-carry 190-yard effort in the win over New England. But there was also that dismal 19-carry, 34-yard performance when beating Seattle.
What it translated into was a 98-yard per game average, 27th in the league.
But, against the Chargers, Buffalo conjured its second-best effort – 30 carries for 172 yards – of the season as Devin Singletary contributed 82 yards on only 11 carries.
— As much as Buffalo has struggled to find a consistent running game, it’s been worse stopping the run, ranking 28th in the league by giving up an average of 137 yards per game. But, on Sunday, it held the Chargers to a mere 74 yards on 34 tries.
— Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has taken his share of criticism for some nonsensical playcalls, but he’s had more than his share of good ones.
Against L.A., he called what looked like a wide receiver sweep to Cole Beasley, but he instead pulled up and threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to wide-open rookie wideout Gabriel Davis, whose average of 16 yards per catch tops Buffalo.
— One player who generated little notice after being signed as a free agent from New Orleans was linebacker A.J. Klein. He was pretty much invisible over his first eight games. But, in his last three, Klein has totaled 30 tackles, 25 of them solos, four sacks, five tackles for loss and seven quarterback hits.
— The Chargers’ most feared offensive weapon this season is wide receiver Keenan Allen who, coming into Sunday, led the NFL in receptions (81) and was second in yardage (835), an average of eight catches for 84 yards per game. However, against the Bills, he was targeted 10 times but finished with a pedestrian four catches for 40 yards. This, a week after being targeted 19 times and logging a career-best 16 catches for 145 yards and a touchdown in a win over the Jets.
THE BAD
— Let’s start with quarterback Josh Allen.
His numbers were OK: 18-of-24 passing for 157 yards with a touchdown, an interception and an 88.4 passer rating. But he also lost a fumble and made some questionable decisions, forcing one throw as he was about to be sacked that could have been picked and another in a similar situation where his ankle was twisted, trying to avoid a sack, while unleashing a desperation toss, in what could have been a serious injury.
The third-year pro still hasn’t learned not to try to do too much … that he has a pretty good team around him, and those efforts invariably lead to trouble, last season’s playoff loss at Houston being Exhibit A.
— The Bills seem determined to self-destruct with penalties.
They came into the game ranked 30th of 32 NFL teams in most penalties and didn’t improve that standing with nine more for 85 yards. Buffalo was actually flagged 12 times but two were declined and another was off-setting.
But even nine is too many, especially the dumb ones. Allen was called for unsportsmanlike conduct when he spun the ball in front of a Chargers defender following a scoring run. Defensive tackles Ed Oliver and Quinton Jefferson were each called for drive-extending roughing-the-passer violations, Oliver compounding his foul by being called for a neutral zone infraction on the next snap.
Rookie running back Zack Moss was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after a 31-yard run and Davis was flagged for a similar violation, though it was declined because a Dion Dawkins hold on the same play moved the ball farther back.
— Besides Allen’s two turnovers, Singletary also had a critical fumble. Combine those three giveaways with the ill-considered penalties and, against a more opportunistic team, Buffalo could well have lost.
Instead, the Chargers totally mishandled the clock and had any number of quizzical offensive play-calls, issuing an emphatic reminder of why they’ve lost seven one-possession games despite a talented roster.
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
