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'A great example of being ready' | How Ja'Marcus Ingram helped close out the Bills win over Arizona

Sep 09, 2024 at 09:25 AM

Dorian Alerte

Contributing Correspondent

The Buffalo Bills opened their season in exciting fashion, defeating the Arizona Cardinals in a come-from-behind victory 34-28.

"What an environment like it always is here in, in western New York, and Orchard Park, fans were incredible," head coach Sean McDermott said. "Great to get a win. Hard fought battle. Give Arizona credit, they came in here and had a good plan. We got down early in the game, and they were fighting back from there. I think that that in and of itself is a great sign for our football team."

Defensive back Ja'Marcus Ingram made the defensive play of the game at the end of the game breaking up a pass from QB Kyler Murray to WR Greg Dortch that would have set the Cardinals up in a position to score at the two-yard line at the end of the game.

"Once he checked, I knew it was coming to me," Ingram said. "I wanted to play aggressive. Get my hands on him, play to my strengths. And all game, I had just been telling myself, that I'll be in position to make a play, whenever it come, I'll be positioned to make that play."

After the game, McDermott called Ingram up to the center of the room and said, "Listen, a great example, right, of when your number's called being ready. Doesn't happen by accident."

The Bills dealt with adversity throughout, but still found a way to win the game. On the first drive of the game the Bills lost CB Taron Johnson to a forearm injury that forced him to miss the rest of the game. DB Cam Lewis and Ingram both stepped into roles that called for them to play more.

"For Taron to go down and then just being thrown in a game like that… But just trying to come in, just do my job, read my keys," Lewis said. "At first, it kind of goes fast, you know, everything's kind of moving fast, but it starts to slow down, you know, with time, with the reps and stuff like that. So, really, what I've tried to do, just trying to slow it down, and then just read my keys."

Lewis also spoke about how big it was for Ingram to step into a different role and play big when his number was called.

"Yeah, that's what you got to do. You got to be able to, you know, play whatever they need you to be, you know, in an emergency situation," Lewis said. "So, I'm glad he came in. Did what he supposed to do, stepped up, made some big plays, man, and helped us win this game."

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In addition to the injury to Johnson, the Cardinals scored on all three of their first half drives, including a field goal that was scored after the offense fumbled. The Bills also had a touchdown called back due to a face mask penalty on the offensive line and they had to settle for a field goal.

When they got the ball back on their third drive of the game, with only 2:40 left on the clock in the second quarter, they found themselves in a 17-3 deficit.

"I think you look at us offensively, they did a good job of holding on to the football and running the ball well and kind of controlling the game," QB Josh Allen said. "We felt like we barely touched the ball, but we felt like we were constantly in the green. We were ahead of the sticks. We've got the one fumble by me… And then we got a few penalties that pushed us back there."

From that point on, the Bills found their footing and put their foot on the gas. Allen executed the two-minute drill to completion, finding three different receivers for positive yardage, before ultimately powering his way into the end zone to cut the Cardinals' lead to only seven points.

The offense continued their momentum in the second half, scoring points on four of their last six possessions, excluding the kneel at the end of the game.

"I think we did our best to make this game difficult," WR Mack Hollins said. "Whether it was penalties or turnovers or whatever it is. But it was just a testament to us continuing to work hard and continuing to stack good days and stack practice days. And this allowed us to continue to fight all the way to deliver the last play."

The defense also delivered, only allowing points on two of the Cardinals' drives in the second half. One of those four drives that did not end in points, ended abruptly with a sack fumble of Murray from EDGE Greg Rousseau that LB Dorian Williams picked up that gave the offense life.

"The turnover, sack fumble that he had, and then I think he had two other sacks in big situations," LB Terrel Bernard said. "Greg's been a guy that's gotten better every single day throughout training camp, throughout this offseason and, Week 1 coming out and doing that and changing the game, that's Greg."

The adjustment that changed for them at halftime: Bernard said it was simply settling into the game.

"The first game is always a little wild. You don't really know what to expect coming out," Bernard said. "We hadn't played a real football game in a little while, but definitely some things that we adjusted on the sideline and came back and tried to correct some things… eventually I think once we got closer to the second quarter, into the second quarter and into the second half, I think we made some adjustments, and we ended up getting the win."

Edge Rusher A.J. Epenesa agreed with the statement that Bernard made.

"Yeah, you know, it was a tough start," Epenesa said. "We always talk about starting fast, starting aggressive, and just kind of getting on top early. We didn't do that very well today, but it's about it's not about how you start, it's about how you finish, you know. So, there's a long game. Second half is a new beginning for us, and that's how we treat it."

For as much adversity as the Bills faced on Sunday, there were positives to draw from and LT Dion Dawkins knows that they will continue to improve play-after-play.

"Every play, we're going to get better, and the adversity is going to come," Dawkins said. "The highs and lows are going to be there. But every rep, every play, every situation, every fumble, every interception, every false start, every holding, we're getting better and we're going to learn from everything that goes on."

One of the key positive takeaways was that the offense found their footing. Although no single receiver caught for more than 51-yards, nine different receivers caught passes, and a total of ten were targeted.

"Everybody's gonna find a way to get their touches," Allen said. "It felt like every time I looked up, it was somebody new finding a way to get open and catch the ball. And I thought Joe did a great job of calling the game. Obviously, you want to get some guys more touches to get them going, but it's hard to argue with the results that we've got right now."