Top 3 Things We Learned

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Top 3 things we learned from Bills vs. Cardinals | Week 1

Sep 08, 2024 at 08:50 PM

Alec White

Content Coordinator

The Bills opened up the 2024 season with a comeback 34-28 win over the Cardinals at Highmark Stadium. It's the first time the Bills have won their season opener at home since the 2020 season.

Here's the top three things we learned:

Double dipping leads to a crucial momentum swing

The Bills found themselves trailing 17-3 late in the second half, stuck in the mud due to unforced errors and a lack of ball control. The Cardinals, who won the toss and elected to receive, drove down for a touchdown on the opening possession and had the Bills playing from behind for the entire first half.

"We felt like we barely touched the ball," said QB Josh Allen, who had just two pass attempts in the game's first 27 minutes.

Buffalo had the ball with 2:40 to go and went into the drive with the mentality that they needed to score before the break. Allen and the offense drove down the field in a 7-play, 65-yard drive where Allen powered his way into the end zone on a 7-yard TD rush with :19 seconds before halftime.

Because the Cardinals elected to receive to begin the game, that meant the Bills would also get the ball coming out of the break. Allen felt that getting two-straight possessions was crucial for the offense to get into a groove.

"The key was double dipping, being able to get the ball in the second half. We're a team that defers, they elected to receive and gave us an opportunity to score in two minutes, come back, get the ball and score again and steal a possession," Allen said.

Coming out of halftime, Buffalo got the ball back and chewed up over five minutes of clock on a 10-play touchdown drive. Allen capped off the long drive with a rocket over the middle of the field to WR Mack Hollins who the team signed this offseason. The Bills QB saw a blitz look pre-snap and made the adjustment.

"They went zero. We had an alert on the play, so it was a good call by Joe and we found a way to alert it," Allen said. "We've repped that play quite a bit of times, and the job there is get inside and give him a catchable ball, and Mack did a great job of doing that and scored a touchdown."

During those two drives, the Bills put up 130 yards of offense while the Cardinals had zero. Momentum was back on the home sideline with the score tied at 17-17.

"Had a good halftime, talked to the guys," Allen said. "And just figured out what we're gonna do and guys went out there and executed."

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Rousseau sets a record, Von makes a statement

It's been 40 years since a Bills player had the kind of game that DE Greg Rousseau had Sunday. The fourth-year DE had three sacks of the elusive Cardinals QB Kyler Murray, joining Ben Williams (1983) for the most sacks in franchise history in a Week 1 home opener.

"It's a blessing. And I'm just, I'm just happy to be out there with the guys that I'm out there with, because that's what it's all about," Rousseau said of his performance.

Rousseau turned the tide late in the game late in the third quarter with a strip sack of Murray that was recovered by second-year LB Dorian Williams at the Arizona 31-yard line. The Bills took their first lead of the game five plays later.

"It was huge. The turnover, sack fumble that he had, and then I think he had two other sacks in big situations,"said LB Terrel Bernard who led the team with 10 tackles.

Throughout training camp and into the preseason, several of Rousseau's teammates have noticed another gear to his level of play.

"That's what I expect out of him, man, he does that consistently," starting safety Damar Hamlin said in the locker room. "Hard working, first one in and last out, always putting in the extra work. So y'all just seeing the results from his process."

The Bills had some trouble adjusting to Arizona's run game in the first half and Murray's ability to extend plays. Murray had 131 passing yards and 28 rushing yards in the first half, compared to 31 passing yards in the second half.

Buffalo credited a halftime reset where defensive coordinator Bobby Babich told the defense "just settle down" as to why things changed out of the break.

"I think just affecting the quarterback and speeding up his clock a little bit," LB Terrel Bernard said. "Changing some things in the back end to adjust our coverages and how we were playing 'em, not giving him as much time to sit back there and kind of duck it down and pick us apart a little bit."

Sunday was a significant day for edge rusher Von Miller as the 14-year-old veteran registered his first sack in a game since Nov. 13, 2022 — and it came on an important third down. With the Bills leading 31-28 and five minutes remaining in the game, Miller bull-rushed the Cardinals right tackle, pushing him back into Murray's lap. The QB stumbled down, Miller touched Murray down and got the sack.

"You think about it for so long, like you think about it all last year, then when you get hurt… like can't wait to get a sack, can't wait to get a sack," he said. "I'm not gonna lie, it definitely felt good, after the type of season that I went through and the type of season that we all went through last year."

Air Allen & Mr. Football with circus-level TDs

The first two touchdowns of Josh Allen's 4-TD day were mostly routine. His next two were anything but.

Following the fumble recovery of Rousseau's strip sack, the Bills had the ball right outside the red zone. Two short runs and a completion to WR Keon Coleman set Buffalo up with a 4th-and-1 play. Allen muscled his way for a yard to pick up the first down at the Arizona 11.

On the next play, Allen threw a screen pass to his left to Khalil Shakir and the third-year wide receiver followed his blocking, including a pancake from LT Dion Dawkins, and spun his way over the goal line over a Cardinals defender for the go-ahead score 24-17.

"Dion's block, but I'm like, right behind him, just kind of just following him. He just laid some dude out. And as I'm running, it's like so hard – when somebody makes a play like that, like, it's like, oh my goodness, but I realized I'm carrying the ball I got to get in the end zone," Shakir laughed. "That's just team football."

Shakir finished second on the team with 32 receiving yards, only behind Coleman's team-leading 51 yards in his debut. Allen and Bills head coach Sean McDermott came away impressed with Shakir's effort to stay up throughout the entirety of the play.

The visual of this Khalil Shakir TD 😂 pic.twitter.com/Itqq19LUVu
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 8, 2024

"Football player, man," McDermott said.

"It's his ability to drop and sink his hips. His balance control is pretty off the charts. He finds ways to kind of bounce off of guys. And he did a great job on that one," added Allen.

Our first 'OMG' Josh Allen run of the season came on the Bills fourth and final touchdown of the game as the quarterback decided to hurdle over All-Pro defensive back Budda Baker to give Buffalo a 31-20 lead in the fourth quarter.

"Split-second situations. The first one, the first rushing touchdown, I kind of lowered the shoulder, knowing that it was a corner. Second time, I knew it was Budda, and Budda's a good player, and he'll lay the boom on you so I decided to go up and over," Allen said.

Time felt like it was going in slow motion as the crowd — and Allen's teammates — watched the QB go up.

Cannot stop watching this @JoshAllenQB touchdown. 🤯#GoBills | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/xU0dd6BLOT
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 8, 2024

"Josh is a dog, bro, I'm telling you," LT Dion Dawkins said. "He shocks me every time. He gets airborne, I'm like, 'Josh please, please.' He does it. It looks good, it feels good, and he gets up."

Sunday marked Allen's 4th-career game with 2+ pass TDs & 2+ rush TDs, tied with Hall of Fame QB Steve Young for the most ever.

"1-0 is what we're trying to do each week," Allen said. "And we got a short week going to a division rival in Miami, and gotta have a quick turnaround, watch the film on this one, and find a way to turn the page tomorrow and start getting ready for them.