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'It's a great position to be in' | Taron and Austin Johnson jump start a big day for the Buffalo Bills defense

Nov 11, 2024 at 11:30 AM

Dorian Alerte

Contributing Correspondent

The Buffalo Bills defense dominated the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon en route to a 30-20 victory.

"I thought that the defense and the takeaways was a big-time difference in the game, and then also getting momentum back after our turnovers with some key stops and fourth down stops," head coach Sean McDermott said.

The Bills as a defense swarmed to the football, sacking Colts QB Joe Flacco four times, intercepting him three times, forcing two fumbles and recovering one.

Newly signed DT Quinton Jefferson, who has played for the Bills in previous seasons, also forced a key turnover on downs in the third quarter with one of those sacks.

The defense also kept Colts RB Jonathan Taylor in check in the second half, limiting him to five carries for seven yards after he had over 100 yards in the first half.

On a day where the offense was far from perfect, and they know that they have to step up, WR Khalil Shakir had one word that he used to describe the defense's effort in this win - "dogs."

"That's the only thing you can say about them, they go out there and create those turnovers, sacks and the energy, momentum shifts that they you know bring to us, it's huge," Shakir said.

One of the biggest contributors on the defense was CB Taron Johnson. Johnson started the game hot, intercepting the Colts' first play from scrimmage and running it back into the end zone for a touchdown. He received a big block from CB Rasul Douglas that made the path for him to get into the end zone.

"It's huge," LB Terrel Bernard said. "Taron is a playmaker. And first play getting the pick six sets the tone for the game, the energy gets the mindset right. Starts us off on a good foot. We lean on Taron to make plays like that. It was huge for us."

Johnson said that he had seen that play in the past and he had played it differently.

"I'm not sure what he was seeing, but I've seen that play before, against a different team, and I played it differently," Johnson said. "I seen it, I played it differently, and I felt like they were expecting me to play it a different way. And took the ball, and after that, I just scanned the field and took to the house."

McDermott spoke on Johnson as a leader of the team and said that he leads by example because he learns from his mistakes.

"When you lead by example, everyone's going to make mistakes, but when you can learn from it and say, 'Hey, this is, you know, quite honestly, a copycat League, where people try the same plays sometimes week to week, even though it may not be in the repertoire normally' and right away, the first play was one of those plays, and he picked it," McDermott said.

Johnson's day did not end with the interception. The CB filled up the stat sheet, recording three tackles, 1.0 sack and two passes deflected, while nearly intercepting Flacco again in the third quarter.

Johnson's big day was contagious across the defense, as DT Austin Johnson and S Taylor Rapp both also caught interceptions. The defensive tackle had not caught an interception in his entire career from high school through college, but now he has two on the season.

"We just got to stay consistent," Johnson said. "We just talked about trying to get more and more turnovers. … It's just a great position to be in and happy to be on the team and with these great guys."

McDermott spoke on the bond that his team has that has caused them to play so well.

"They're a very competitive group," McDermott said. "They take a lot of pride in not letting each other down. They love each other. I think that's a big piece of this. This is a team that's has a pretty strong bond. That starts with the players and the leadership group and leading by example, and guys getting together when they're not in the building."

With this win, the Bills improved to 8-2 for the first time in the Sean McDermott era with a date with the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs on the horizon. Although that game looms large, McDermott was impressed with the leadership of this team to focus on the challenge ahead of them and to take a week-by-week approach.

"They've been able to do a good job of that to this point and the expectations that we have for ourselves are the most important ones," McDermott said. "We put a lot into every game. If we don't, we're doing ourselves a disservice. So, we owe that every week, to ourselves and to our fans, to put the same amount of preparation every week. And it's a good football team that's coming in, undefeated football team, and well-coached. We have a ton of respect for them. So, we got to see if we can get a little bit healthy here. And put the week of preparation in and move forward from there."