Buffalo Bills smash Oakland Raiders like a pumpkin
The Oakland Raiders traveled to the east coast to face the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park this past Sunday. It was the "Return of Khalil Mack" to Buffalo, where he attended college at UB, but Mack failed to return with any impact in this game.
There were a lot of distractions in Buffalo leading up to the game but the Bills players seemed em"boldin"ed to overcome the noise of a wide receiver who wanted to pull a Brett Favre regarding retirement (not the incident where he was texting pictures of his junk to women) and the fact that the "Dareus Bus" left town for good.
After receiving, the Raiders moved the ball right down the field on their first drive. They made it look easy scoring a touchdown just over 5 minutes into the game. On Buffalo's first drive, Zay Jones caught passes on two of the first three plays and for a second I thought I needed glasses but it really did happen.
The Bills would punt the ball to Oakland. On the first play, the Raiders connected on a long 40 yard pass to Michael Crabtree, down to Buffalo's 42 yard line. The Bills' defense would make a huge stop and that's when the momentum turned. The Raiders crashed at this point, like Marshawn Lynch coming off a sugar high after a skittles binge.
Tyrod Taylor's arm and LeSean McCoy's legs helped push the Bills down the field on the next drive. On a 2nd and goal from the 6 yard line Tyrod showed great anticipation and hit Andre Holmes in the back of the end zone for a score. Holmes had to drag his toes to remain in bounds on the play which likely ruined his pedicure. It was a tremendous play all around to tie the game at 7.
With under a minute left in half, Leonard Johnson forced a fumble and the ball bounced up for rookie linebacker Matt Milano. He caught the ball and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown with 22 seconds left to put the Bills ahead 14 - 7.
On the next play Steven Hauschka, who was the only kicker to force a fumble last year, forced another one this year but the Raiders recovered. He can now claim the title of worlds manliest kicker.
Halftime Stats:
4 Beers
11 Wings
1 shot of Captain Morgan
2 mini sized skittles packs in honor of Marshawn Lynch (1 regular, 1 sour)
BUF 14 - OAK 7
After going three and out on their first drive of the second half, the Bills decided to weaponize their special teams. Matt Milano caused a fumble on a punt which was recovered by Mike Tolbert. The Bills didn't put the game away however, instead opting to toy with their prey, notching a field goal to make it 17 - 7.
Just three offensive plays later, Preston Brown made a nice play to tip a Derek Carr pass, and ball hawk Micah Hyde was there to make his NFL leading 5th interception of the season. The Raiders were spiraling out of control like me on the dance floor at a wedding after too many cocktails. The Bills opted once again to torture the Raiders with a slow painful death adding another field goal to increase their lead to 20 - 7.
Buffalo wasn't done smashing Oakland to pumpkin bits yet. The offense finally got into a rhythm on a 12 play 80 yard drive which took over 7 minutes off the clock. The drive ended with Tyrod Taylor jumping up and reaching the ball over the end zone from the half yard line. He fumbled the ball, but not before it was ruled a touchdown giving the Bills a commanding 27 to 7 lead on the first play of the 4th quarter.
To their credit, the Raiders would rally back to score one more touchdown but this game was over. LeSean McCoy sealed the deal with a 48 yard touchdown run on the first play after a turnover on downs by the Raiders. On a day where the Bills honored former running back Cookie Gilchrist with Wall of Fame honors, they scored 34 points which just so happens to be the number Cookie wore.
The Buffalo Bills have "defended their dirt" well this season extending their record at home to 4 - 0. Sean McDermott's "process" for getting ready for home games clearly works very well and I trust the hell out of it.
Final Stats:
7 Beers
17 Wings
1 shot of Captain Morgan
4 mini sized skittles packs in honor of Marshawn Lynch (3 regular, 1 sour)
BUF 34 - OAK 14
