The 2025 Buffalo Bills season has been written, but the book is incomplete. Before we cast our full attention toward the 2026 season, let’s take one last glance back over our shoulder for our annual look at the Plays That Defined the prior campaign.
For any newcomers, first and foremost; Welcome! When it comes to the “rules” of this exercise, we’re not voting for our favorite highlight necessarily, but the one that best captures the essence of the game. Put differently, if you had to choose just one play
to show someone to explain as much of the contest as possible, which would you choose?
Week 6; Buffalo Bills at Atlanta Falcons
The Buffalo Bills had just come off an embarrassing loss to the New England Patriots where sloppiness cost them dearly. How did they respond against an Atlanta Falcons squad that at best could be characterized as “volatile?” With an even SLOPPIER game of course. The Bills’ offense achieved something we’re no longer used to seeing with prime Josh Allen on the team; ineptitude. Making it worse, the defensive side of the team had not one, not two, not three; but FIVE insanely costly penalties.
How bad was it? The Falcons entered the half up 21 – 7. The struggling defense came on strong in the second half and kept Atlanta to a lone field goal, late in the fourth quarter. The offense put the Bills within seven points with 9:53 left in the third quarter and then… completely failed to do anything else. The game was well within reach, but Buffalo failed to reach out and take it.
And oh yeah! Just like the New England embarrassment, this one was in prime time too.
Greg Rousseau offside (Q1; 14:55)
If there was any difficulty in selecting a defensive penalty to highlight it was the choice to only go with one. From there though, it’s an easy choice. The Bills defense extended two drives on third down stops, and wiped out a sack that may have changed the play call on the next down and therefore eliminated one big play from the Falcons (hint: See two plays down). Negating a touchdown is the greatest sin per my Penalty Harm ratings, but the second worst thing you can do is negate a turnover (negated punts treated as turnovers in case you’re wondering).
Greg Rousseau is juuuust over where he should be when the play starts and Atlanta has a free play. Which worked out great for them as the play resulted in a lost fumble. Could this have changed the outcome of the game? Asbolutely. This was the first snap after kickoff and the Falcons went on to score a touchdown. Buffalo recovering this ball nearly guarantees at least a field goal.
Josh Allen sacked (Q2; 12:42)
There were two turnovers in this game, but both were at the end of halves and neither really diminished the Bills’ chances all that much. The four sacks though were kind of a big deal, especially this drive ender. Even a small gain here could have led to a field goal try. The loss of 15 killed any shot at that.
More broadly though, it’s emblematic of how Buffalo was pushed around by what should have been a weaker opponent. Whether it’s this play, Khalil Shakir being forced enough to the sideline to make a critical conversion catch out of bounds, or any other number of plays; Buffalo was out-executed by Atlanta.
Bijan Robinson touchdown (Q2; 11:22)
Atlanta had quite the day on the ground, with 210 yards rushing. While a huge chunk of them obviously stem from this play, the Falcons had success all day. The defense had no answer in the first half, allowing 21 points. They locked down in the second half as noted above, but the team never found a way to bounce back.
Greg Rousseau blocked FG (Q4; 12:31)
The Bills were down one score with plenty of time on the clock. About to go down two scores and make their comeback even harder, Greg Rousseau found the sweet spot to jump into and blocked this field goal attempt. This play highlights how the Bills had plenty of chances to get back into the game and win it, but each time their chances were squandered.
Buffalo would get the ball near midfield after this. What did they do with this golden opportunity from one of the rarest plays? A three-and-out “highlighted” with our next play.
Botcheroo (Q4; 11:13)
Seriously? What the heck was even going on this game?
