Bills Defense Dominates Browns

There’s good reason the boo-birds were out in full force at halftime Sunday inside Ralph Wilson Stadium.The Buffalo Bills had concluded one of their uglier first half performances in recent memory, being outgained by the Cleveland Browns, 191-83 while possessing the ball nearly nine fewer minutes.  Somehow the Bills still went into the locker room down just 3-0.

Fortunately for Buffalo, those same fans turned their respective frowns upside down in the second half.

Buffalo utterly dominated the Browns over the final 30 minutes, particularly on defense and the result was a 26-10 victory that kept their AFC playoff hopes alive for another week.

At 7-5 it’s the Bills best record after a dozen games since 2000—the year their existing playoff drought began.

“I’m proud of the players,” Bills coach Doug Marrone said. “I know and believe how well we can play.”

The Bills held Cleveland to 124 yards in the second half, with many coming after the game was decided.

The game completely turned in Buffalo’s favor in a matter of seconds---literally.

After not scoring for more than 36 minutes the Bills found the end zone in the third quarter twice in 10 seconds.  First Kyle Orton hit Chris Hogan with a three yard pass for a score and on Cleveland’s next offensive play Jerry Hughes stripped Terrance West, picked up the loose ball and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown and 14-3 Bills lead.

Fantasy owners of Dan Carpenter rejoiced as the Bills kicker booted four field goals in the final quarter as the Buffalo defense kept providing the offense with easy scoring opportunities.

Buffalo’s swarming defense rendered Browns starting quarterback Brian Hoyer ineffective much of the afternoon. He completed 18-of-30 passes for 192 yards but was sacked twice, failed to get Cleveland in the end zone and was picked off by Da’Norris Searcy twice.

“We came out firing on all cylinders in the second half.” Searcy said.

Down 20-3 in the fourth the Browns turned to Johnny Manziel, and the much-hyped rookie led the Browns on their lone touchdown; an eight-play, 80-yard drive culminating in a Manziel 10-yard touchdown run.  He got the ball back again following a Carpenter field goal but was nearly decapitated by Kyle Williams in a play originally ruled a fumble and touchdown recovered in the end zone by Nickell Robey, but upon review officials determined Manziel’s arm was going forward and ruled an incomplete pass.

It’s a good thing the Bills defense played so well, as they won convincingly despite an ugly performance by Orton.  He completed 17-of-31 passes for 190 yards but was intercepted twice, including one by Jim Leonhard in the end zone and missed plenty of throws with Bills receivers open.

In total the Bills converted on just 2 of 15 third down plays, including failing on their first 12 attempts.

It didn’t matter on this afternoon.  Buffalo’s defense forced Cleveland into far too many mistakes, including five drives beginning late in the second quarter that netted the Browns just four total net yards, two interceptions and fumble return for a touchdown.

Nigel Bradham led the way with nine tackles and a sack, while Corey Graham had a nice game in the secondary with seven tackles and a couple of nice pass breakups.

The star though, was Searcy. Entering the game with just three interceptions in 58 career games he had two on Sunday.

The game, of course featured plenty of drama with former Buffalo connections.  Cleveland’s head coach Mike Pettine served as Bills defensive coordinator last year, while Browns safety Donte Whitner spent his first five years with Buffalo before departing for San Francisco in 2012.  Since then, he’s had plenty of negative things to say about Buffalo and many of their players.

Current Bills safety Aaron Williams feels his team shut Whitner up with their play while ending any debate on whether Buffalo’s defense was better last year with Pettine in charge.

“We proved today that we are the better defense. Point blank, period.” Williams said post-game.

Offensively Fred Jackson led the Bills with 70 rushing yards on 21 carries. Robert Woods caught four passes for 71 yards, including a big 34-yard catch on fourth and two that led to Hogan’s touchdown.  Seeing his first action of the season Bills tight end MarQuiess Gray caught two short passes and turned them into 30 and 41 yard gains.

Sammy Watkins was held to three catches for 11 yards.

Things will get exceptionally more difficult for the Bills next week when they travel to Denver to play the Broncos in a game they need to win to realistically stay alive in the wildcard race.  Buffalo then hosts Green Bay before finishing with road games at Oakland and New England.