The Buffalo Bills are going back to the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. After a sloppy game and a dreadful third quarter against the Miami Dolphins on Saturday night, the Bills pulled off a come-from-behind 32-29 victory as snow flurries fell on Highmark Stadium.
While we take stock of the win and what the performance on the field means for the rest of the season, we’ll dive into another edition of Studs and Duds.
As a reminder, this column looks simply at the performance in the most recent week, or weeks in this case, identifying who stepped up and who struggled and what those performances might mean for the Buffalo Bills going forward. Some heroes will just have one-off great games while some struggles could signal major issues, so we’ll make sense of that together here.
Duds
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first.
Cam Lewis
Unfortunately, the only other time I’ve mentioned Cam Lewis in this column was when he failed to knock a pass down against the Vikings, allowing Justin Jefferson to haul in a fourth-down catch and ultimately costing the Bills a win.
He almost cost his team another win on Saturday when he assaulted the Dolphins’ punter after the defense got a three-and-out to secure a 21-19 lead. Miami would go on to score with their new life on that drive, taking a 26-21 lead that they would hold until late in the fourth quarter.
Considering Lewis is the last cornerback on the depth chart, it would not be shocking if this was the end of his season in Buffalo. The fact that Lewis had to go into the medical tent after the collision with the punter also makes it possible for the team to find a way to rule him out with an injury or put him on Injured Reserve.
His versatility and ability to move over the safety was helpful when Buffalo was dealing with a rash of injuries in the secondary, but you just can’t afford crucial mistakes like this from the guys that are on the back part of the roster.
Rodger Saffold
We talk about Saffold a lot in this column, but he has just been downright brutal for Buffalo this season. In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, this is Saffold’s worst year in his 12-year career. He currently grades out as the 77th-best guard in the NFL out of 84 and has the 76th-best run-blocking grade. He has also started to take costly penalties and has just been a liability, which makes it even more surprising that Brandon Beane didn’t try to acquire any interior offensive line help at the deadline.
With Mitch Morse suffering a concussion on Saturday night, the Bills make have to reshuffle their offensive line. Morse has a long history of concussions, which means this injury is particularly scary for him and could have him on the sidelines for a while. The team would likely move right guard Ryan Bates to center, if he’s healthy next week, and potentially slide Ike Boettger to right guard since he was activated off of the IR on Monday.
However, that means there is nobody to replace Saffold in the starting lineup, and Buffalo is likely stuck with him for the remainder of the season due to their failure to add any depth during the season.
Damar Hamlin
This has become a lather-rinse-repeat section of this article, but Hamlin’s tackling continues to be a major issue. It cost the team a touchdown against New England and another one against Miami. His poor angles also allowed for a few massive runs by Raheem Mostert and a miscommunication by him in the secondary allowed for another touchdown on a deep pass to Jaylen Waddle.
Hamlin was tasked with doing the impossible in replacing Micah Hyde, but it might be time for the Bills to give more snaps to Jaquan Johnson or Dean Marlowe because Hamlin has become a hindrance in the last few weeks.
Studs
Now for the good news.
Josh Allen
Josh Allen was his typically dominant self against the Miami Dolphins, completing 25-of-40 for 304 yards and four touchdowns while adding 77 yards on the ground. He almost single-handedly willed his team back when it seemed like the offense couldn’t get anything going and the defense couldn’t make a tackle.
Allen’s play on the seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that tied the game at 29 was the perfect example of how he can put this team on his back. He rushed for 52 yards on the drive, including the two-point conversion where he dove over Miami defenders and got the tip of the ball to cross the line.
The quarterback also just continues to torch Miami during his career. He’s now at 2,999 yards passing, 31 touchdowns, and just five interceptions in his 11 career games against the division rival. That’ll do.
Dawson Knox
Yes, Dawson Knox dropped two passes which continues an inconsistent season for him, but he also hauled in six catches for 98 yards and a touchdown. There were times in the game when he seemed like the only receiving option that was open, making crucial catches to keep Buffalo drives alive.
He remains a crucial component of this offense, which is why he got paid as such this offseason. Buffalo hasn’t had a solid second receiving option emerge with consistency this season, and Knox himself only has three games with over 41 receiving yards. More games like this will be crucial to the Bills making a deep playoff run.
Kaiir Elam
Two weeks ago, Kaiir Elam was a healthy inactive. Last week, he was active but didn’t play any snaps. It was a frustrating turn of events for Buffalo’s first-round pick because the poor play of Dane Jackson meant that the team desperately needed a consistent cornerback opposite Tre’Davious White.
Perhaps Saturday’s performance will help convince the coaches that Elam can be that guy. Elam was competitive with Tyreek Hill, one of the best receivers in the game, multiple times. Hill made some tough catches, but Elam also tackled him for a loss on a crucial play when he almost got an interception.
He plays with physicality and challenges the receiver at the point of the catch in a way that Jackson has not done. The coaches must notice this since Elam was on the field for the crucial late defensive drives and perhaps may move into a more full-time role next week against the Bears. It’s time.
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