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The Buffalo Bills are back from their bye week after suffering a heartbreaking loss against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 10. The Bills faced off against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday afternoon, and I think that Buffalo couldn't have asked for a better opponent coming out of their bye, as the Bills struggled to distance themselves from the lowly Chargers; Los Angeles always seemed to be within striking distance, and you can never underestimate how good of a young quarterback Justin Herbert is. Let's hop right into the Buffalo Bills Week 12 recap.
Pros
Devin Singletary & Zack Moss
The running game for Buffalo in 2020 has been, in a word, weak. While Moss and Singletary have had flashes of brilliance and potential this year, consistency has not been their game. The two young running backs aren't exactly the first two guys you'd rely on to pick up big chunks of yardage, they're good for a few yards here and there, but that's really been about it. Week 12 was different.
While neither of the backs scored any touchdowns, Devin Singletary had 82 rushing yards and 20 receiving yards on 14 touches, and picked himself up a nice 24 yard run. Zack Moss had 59 rushing yards and nine receiving yards on 11 touches, and netted himself a 31 yard run.
The defensive line
Much like Buffalo's rushing game, the defensive line was another area that the Bills desperately needed to improve during their bye week. All season long, opposing teams exploited the weak rushing defense that Buffalo fielded week after week, and Los Angeles was no exception to that. While Chargers quarterback, Justin Herbert, did have himself a nice game through the air (316 passing yards) it was clear that Los Angeles wanted to run the football down Buffalo's throat. Not today, Austin Ekeler, not today.
The Chargers rushed for 76 yards on 24 carries on Sunday, averaging only 3.2 yards per carry. Bills' defensive tackle, Ed Oliver, had himself a solid game, with one sack, three tackles and one forced fumble. Buffalo's defensive line has been showing slight improvements game by game, but they still have a lot of work to do. Keep it up boys.
A.J. Klein & Tremaine Edmunds
Bills' linebacker A.J. Klein finished the day with 14 total tackles, 1.5 sacks, one pass defended and three tackles for a loss. Klein has been one of the more consistent players on the Bills this season, and you can always look toward him to have a great game. Tremaine Edmunds was a guy who had a slow start to his season, but has since picked it up in a big way. Edmunds tallied 11 total tackles and one pass defended.
Cons
Josh Allen
Now, don't get me wrong. Josh Allen in no way had a bad game. He did, however, underperform compared to what we've gotten used to seeing from him in 2020. Allen finished the game completing 18 of his 24 passes for 154 yards, one passing touchdown, and 32 rushing yards with one rushing touchdown. The coaching staff clearly didn't ask Allen to do much this game, as he had a season low 24 pass attempts.
One thing that Buffalo worked extensively on during their bye week was their rushing game, and that hard work was on display on Sunday, as the bulk of the offensive duty was left on Devin Singletary and Zack Moss' shoulders, Allen wasn't asked to be his "Air Allen" self. Allen did have one fumble and threw one interception, and those two blemishes are the only two reasons why Josh found his way into my cons section.
The "No Fun League" is still alive and well
The Buffalo Bills got two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties called on them on Sunday. In no way do I blame the Bills for the penalties, in fact, I'm happy they got the penalties called on them. It shows me that they were fired up, and it shows the rest of the world that Roger Goodell and the NFL are still very much against their players showing any type of emotion in a highly physical, high stakes sport. Check out these videos below to have your mind blown.
I mean, really?! You're going to call unsportsmanlike conduct on that?! I can see Josh Allen getting the flag, he was being kind of a showboat after scoring the touchdown, but I still don't think it warranted a penalty. I would hope that the next time Keenan Allen scores a touchdown and does a dance celebration in the end zone, that he gets the same penalty called on him. But what did Zack Moss do? He got tackled and tossed the ball behind him? The referees were apparently VERY sensitive on Sunday.
Well, Bills Mafia, a win is a win, and let's hope that this week was just post-bye-week jitters. The Bills head to San Francisco next Monday night to take on the 49ers in a Monday night primetime game.
Follow me on Twitter for all your Buffalo Bills news, updates and rumors. @NY_cth.
Have a great week!
-Chris