Buffalo’s gunslinger Josh Allen was 22 of 28 for 263 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday against Washington. In the first half. The Bills scored four times in the second quarter alone, en route to their 43-21 drubbing of the WFT.
Allen finished the day with five touchdowns – four passing, and one rushing. He completed 32 of his 43 passes for 358 yards, and didn’t even play the last five-plus minutes of the game. That was when the Bills took their foot off Washington’s fleshy throat, having already salted the game away.
Allen and the Bills offensive line dismantled the much heralded Washington defensive line. Chase Young and his crew managed exactly zero sacks. Where was that vaunted pass rush? Again.
There didn’t even seem to be a lot of situations where Allen needed to athletically escape a rush. He sat comfortably in the pocket most of the time.
On his fourth touchdown pass, the Bills quarterback had enough time to make himself a sandwich, before hitting Emmanuel Sanders in the end zone.
The score capped off a seventeen play, 93-yard drive that ate up more than eight minutes of game clock (8:18). That put Buffalo up 33-14 with under five minutes to go in the third, and seemed to be the dagger in Washington’s afternoon.
Heinicke Intercepted
If it wasn’t, then Taylor Heinicke throwing his second interception of the day three plays later, definitely was. It gave Buffalo the ball at the Washington 31-yard line. The Bills kicked a field goal to capitalize on the turnover, and made it 36-14. Whatever proverbial wind was left in the WFT sails, seemed to disappear at that moment.
Heinicke’s day was ultimately defined by his two turnovers. Both cost his team points. Buffalo scored a touchdown in the first half, after Heinicke was picked off at his own 43-yard line, but had it returned to the 17-yard line. Three plays later, Josh Allen hit Dawson Knox with a 14-yard touchdown pass, to give the Bills a then commanding 21-0 lead.
Both throws were bad decisions on Heinicke’s part. His lack of experience and game time may have been the cause, but those exact factors mandate that he take care of the ball. He didn’t.
The 28-year old Washington quarterback finished the day 14 of 24 for 212 yards. He had two touchdowns to go with his two interceptions, in his second straight start since Ryan Fitzpatrick was hurt in Week 1.
Highlights Of The Day For WFT
Washington had a good chance to get back into the game, despite going down 21-0, and looking completely deflated early on.
Washington got back to 21-14 thanks to two spectacular diving efforts on separate touchdown runs from Heinicke, and running back Antonio Gibson.
Gibson took a screen pass and went 73 yards. He reached back in with the ball and punched the pylon, as he was diving out of bounds across the goal line.
That was as close as Washington would get.
By The Numbers:
Sometimes stat lines don’t tell the story of a game. That wasn’t the case on Sunday.
Buffalo had 481 total yards of offense, to Washington’s 290.
Buffalo had 29 first downs, to Washington’s 13.
Time of possession? 35:37 for the Bills, to 24:23 for WFT.
How about turnovers? The Bills had none. WFT? Three.
Yup. That pretty much covers it.
Other Game Notes:
Cole Beasley caught most of the Josh Allen passes. Well eleven of them anyway. That tied his career high for receptions as a Buffalo Bill.
The Sportsbook seemed high with an under / over at 45.5, but Buffalo nearly scored that themselves. Bookies are S-M-R-T smart.
From The Peanut Gallery:
Watching the game with my ten year old, he asked if commentators were “fans of teams”. I told him that they weren’t supposed to be. They were supposed to be impartial.
He replied that he thought the one commentator was pro Buffalo. I said that’s Darryl Johnston. He used to play for the Dallas Cowboys, that’s why. His nickname was “Moose”.
“His nickname should be Tiny Dad. Get it? Darryl Tiny Johnson?”
Best. Kid. Ever.
Up Next:
Washington heads to Atlanta to face the Falcons in Week 4 action. The opening line favors Atlanta by half a point. That might change by week’s end, given that some books had Washington favored by a half point.