The Buffalo Bills lost to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night, spinning s string of injuries and bad decisions into their second straight defeat. The Bills are 4-2 and enter their bye week in second place
in the AFC East. It’s an epic disaster for Josh Allen, Sean McDermott, and Buffalo at large. We could see some changes in the next two weeks with the extra time and the massive numbers of injuries.
Before we get to the injuries, here is the drive-by-drive summary.
On the very first play from scrimmage, the Buffalo Bills forced a fumble to set the tone but Greg Rousseau was offside. Dorian Williams and Christian Benford’s outstanding plays were null and void. The Bills pulled Rousseau for underperforming Landon Jackson on the rest of the drive, and the Falcons rammed it down Buffalo’s throat for a touchdown. They mostly ran away from Ed Oliver at DT. Of note, they never showed a replay of the penalty. SCORE: Falcons 7, Bills 0
Josh Allen found Josh Palmer on a 45-yard play-action bomb to open the Bills’ first series. A Tyrell Shavers holding call knocked them back to 2nd and 18 in Atlanta territory, and on 3rd and 13 from the 19, Dawson Knox slipped behind the safety and Allen hit him for the game-tying score. They didn’t show the Shavers penalty, either. SCORE: Falcons 7, Bills 7
Bills forced a three and out after an Atlanta penalty.
Then the Falcons did the same to Buffalo.
The Bills’ punt was mid, going 40 yards in the air with no return. A phantom Tre White penalty extended Atlanta’s third drive on third down, then the Falcons were able to convert a third and seven later on the drive. Drake London had two catches for 31 yards and the touchdown. There were 128 yards for the Falcons in the first quarter. SCORE: Falcons 14, Bills 7
To start the second quarter, Josh Palmer was injured as the Bills were moving the ball into Falcons territory. After a Connor McGovern injury, Josh Allen took a big sack on third down and the Bills punted. Josh Allen may have hurt his hand on the play, too.
After a Bills punt, Bijan Robinson took the first down play 81 yards for a long touchdown run. Cole Bishop had a chance to tackle him halfway home on the sideline but couldn’t secure the play. SCORE: Falcons 21, Bills 7
Three straight handoffs from the maybe-hurt Allen and a few snaps later, the Bills punted again from midfield.
After a few runs eeked out a first down, Michael Penix found Drake London again for his sixth catch of the first half. After those 26 yards, London was knocking on the door of 100. Another third-down conversion got Atlanta to the Bills’ 40. The Bills stopped him short on third and long with a Greg Rousseau tipped pass. The Falcons passed on a 50-yard field goal attempt to make it a three-score game and Taron Johnson came up with a huge stop.
After the stop, the Bills got the ball back with 1:56. A potential Elijah Moore catch apparently hit the ground. The Falcons got away with a third-down pass interference on Keon Coleman and the Bills punted back with 1:15 left.
The Falcons punted it back with 21 seconds left, but the Bills had some hope. A frustrated Josh Allen was intercepted at midfield, and now Atlanta had a chance.
After a 9-yard pass, there were 10 seconds left on the clock with the Falcons at the Bills’. Penix found London (again) for 39 yards but he stepped out at the last possible second on a Taylor Rapp desperation tackle. Buffalo entered halftime lucky to be down only two touchdowns.
The Bills drive down the field with James Cook and some well-timed passes culminating in a Ray Davis 16-yard touchdown catch and run. SCORE: Falcons 21, Bills 14
Buffalo sacked Penix on the ensuing drive led by Ed Oliver, forcing a 2nd and 23. The Falcons punted giving the Bills a chance to tie the game.
The Bills got as far as the Atlanta 46, setting up 4th and 2. Allen rolled to his left to avoid pressure and flicked a shovel pass to Ty Johnson that didn’t get close to the RB. Perhaps if he had stepped and thrown it normally, they convert and are in business.
The Falcons took the ball into Bills territory but Deone Walker had some nice plays to set up 3rd and 14. A very late flag came in on the play with a pass interference call on Christian Benford to extend the drive. Deone Walker had another play to knock down a second-down Penix pass to bring up third and 12 and the Falcons QB threw it in the dirt on a pump fake. FIELD GOAL BLOCK! Greg Rousseau got his long arms up to stop the Falcons from going up two scores with 12:30 left in the game.
On the subsequent Bills drive, the Bills moved it to 3rd and 1 at their own 48-yard line. Give it to your best player and see if he can convert? Nope. What about your $10-million running back? Nah. Call an end around and fumble it for the second straight week. Last week, it was a fumble by Dawson Knox. This week it was Elijah Moore that dropped it. He recovered, but the Bills lost two yards and punted.
Deone Walker continued his great game with a big run stop and the Falcons went three and out. Bills get the ball just under the 9-minute mark.
Buffalo goes three and out after a zero-yard sack, no gain on second and 10, and a miscommunication with Elijah Moore on third and 10.
The young Falcons team stepped up on the ensuing drive, taking it to the Bills on a methodical drive. Michael Penix held onto it in the face of a big Joey Bosa hit and delivered it to Bijan Robinson for a big play for 23 yards. On first and 10 at the Bills 23, Shaq Thomson had a potential pick-6 in his hands but he dropped it. On third and 1 at the 2-minute warning, Jordan Phillips jumped offsides to give Atlanta a fresh set of downs. Three runs and a field goal robbed the Bills of their timeouts and finished the game. SCORE: Falcons 24, Bills 14
The Bills were outgained by 200 yards in the first half and the game was decided with them down that much. Buffalo was held to 237 offensive yards before the desperation final drive. They scored just 14 points. The last time those numbers came out was in the Baltimore Ravens blowouts in Week 4 of 2024.
The Bills head to the bye week at 4-2 and in second place in the AFC East with a lot of questions.
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