Bills Lead AFC East Through Week 11
Read Lexi’s recap of the first 10 weeks of Bills games.
This fall, we didn’t know if there would be any national sports seasons due to the coronavirus. We especially did not think there would be a NFL football season. The season went ahead as scheduled and started September 10th, and it’s definitely something most sports fans were excited for.
Prior to the beginning of the season, Buffalo received some hopeful news, as Tom Brady (former Patriots quarterback) tweeted he was signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All Bills fans got excited, especially now that there was a chance the Bills could be the AFC East division champions.
Starting week one the Bills went on to defeat the New York Jets 27-17. The winning streak continued through week four when the Bills defeated the Miami Dolphins (31-28), the Los Angeles Rams (35-32) and Los Vegas Raiders (30-23) in three straight games. The Bills were undefeated in four straight weeks, the team’s first 4 and 0 start since 2008. The wins caused people to talk up Josh Allen. “He’s the MVP!” “He’s the best quarterback” “He’s going to take our team to the Super Bowl!!”
Then week five vs the Tennessee Titans the Bills fell 42-16. Week six the Kansas City chiefs defeated us 26-17.
The Bills had lost their streak, and weren’t undefeated any longer. The team felt defeated, the fans felt defeated and the Bills were accused of being a typical Buffalo sports team. They needed to get out of this funk and start winning again. If they were the team that they were the first four weeks, they easily could do so.
Sure enough, week seven the Bills rallied back and defeated the New York Jets again, 18-10. They followed the game up with a week nine win vs the New England Patriots 24-21, the first Bills home win vs the Patriots since 2011 (the Bills had previously beat the Patriots in New England in 2016)
Going into week nine, no one was really that hopeful. The Seattle Seahawks were a great team, with a six and one record. Even though we all had our doubts, the Bills miraculously beat the Seahawks 44-34.
Week 10 against the Cardinals was another game where some fans went in with doubts. Throughout the game, the Bills led the Cardinals, which brought up the hopes of many Bills fans. Sadly, after a devastating final play, the Arizona Cardinals defeated us 32-30. The Cardinals’ last minute hail mary attempt was completed to seal their win vs the Bills.
The team played a very good game against the cardinals, and so did individual players. Tyler Bass, the Bills kicker, showed a whole new side of himself on Sunday. The first field goal of the game was a 54-yard field goal, which was his career high. He made it, giving the team an early seven point lead. His second attempt, a 55-yard field goal which he made, upped his new career high. On the final drive of the first half, Bass easily hit a 58-yard field goal to give the Bills the lead 16-9 at the end of the half. In the first half alone, Bass made three career high field goals in his attempts to achieve the longest field goal in team history which is 59 yards. According to the CBS broadcast, Bass is only the second player in NFL history to nail three 54+ yard field goals in a game. He was the MVP of the game, no doubt.
Wide receivers Cole Beasley, Stefon Diggs and John Brown all had extraordinary games as well. Cole Beasley had a total of 11 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown, while Stefon Diggs had 10 catches for 93 yards and an almost game winning touchdown. He completed the pass with 34 seconds left of the game. Digg is, yet again, the league’s leading receiver. John Brown had six catches for 72 yards.
Overall, though a devastating loss, the Bills hope to bounce back in next week against the Los Angeles Chargers.
For more information about the Bills season and the past game, check out these articles!!
Lexi is a senior at Sweet Home High School and previously wrote for the Panther Press where she was the editor for the News section for two years. Lexi is now the Opinion section editor of The Panther Eye. She plays volleyball for the Varsity team at Sweet Home.