Not having LeSean McCoy in Sunday's lineup led most to believe Buffalo's chances of getting a win in Minnesota were even further reduced. Enter Chris Ivory, who got his first start of the season.
Ivory ran hard and though his yards per carry average won't show it, he was effective in keeping Buffalo's offense balanced.
"Chris is a very physical runner and a guy we have a lot of confidence in," said head coach Sean McDermott. "Extremely proud of Chris and he understands his role on this football team and did phenomenal job as well as the offensive line in the first half."
What was surprising was Ivory's biggest play came when he converted a 2nd-and-17 play that went for 55 yards and set the offense up in first-and-goal from the Minnesota six-yard line. Buffalo would reach the end zone six plays later.
Ivory finished with 126 all-purpose yards
"Without Shady in the backfield, Chris and (Marcus) Murphy, they ran really hard to execute plays like that and our front five did a great job," said Josh Allen.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
128 – net yards rushing for the Bills
14 – net yards rushing for the Vikings
+3 – Buffalo's turnover differential
17 – Minnesota's third-down conversion percentage in the first half (1-for-6)
27 – first half points scored by the Bills on Sunday
6 – first half points scored by the Bills in their first two games
AROUND THE AFC EAST
The New York Jets lost to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night Football by a score of 21-17 to fall to 1-2 on the season.
The Miami Dolphins are a perfect 3-0 after coming back to beat the Oakland Raiders by a final of 28-20. Ryan Tannehill has now won 10 of his last 11 starts stretching back to the 2016 season.
On Sunday night football the New England Patriots dropped to 1-2 with a 26-10 loss in Detroit. New England is now tied for second place with the Jets and the Bills in the AFC East.
THEY SAID IT
"You see as soon as I hit the ground, you see me try to pull my hands up. Obviously when you're tackling a guy from the front, you're going to land on him," Matthews told reporters. "I understand the spirit of the rule, I said it weeks prior. But when you have a hit like that, that's a football play. I even went up to Alex Smith after the game, asked him, 'What do you think? What can I do differently? Because that's a football play.'"
--Packers LB Clay Matthews, on being flagged for a second straight week for an illegal hit on a QB.
"Nobody gave us a chance to win this game. We knew it was going to be a dogfight. All offseason we've been hearing Jacksonville this, Jacksonville that. Well, people need to start paying attention to us. We won the game. But now, we know we can't let up. We have to keep it going."
--Titans S Kevin Byard, on Tennessee's 9-6 win over Jacksonville
"Jimmy it's a knee. We're fearing ACL. We'll find out for sure on Monday."
--49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, on QB Jimmy Garoppolo's injury
