Arrow Up/Arrow Down: Cardinals at Bills

Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Once again, a game between the Buffalo Bills and Cardinals came down to a final drive with Arizona holding the ball.

This time, however, the Bills held on for a 34-28 victory to start the 2024 season 1-0.

Here are my Arrows Up and Arrows Down from this game:

ARROW UP:

DE - Greg Rousseau

The Bills' fourth-year defensive end was the best defensive player on the field, collecting a whopping three sacks, including one that forced a fumble the Bills recovered on a critical third quarter drive with the game tied, 17-17.

Rousseau also added two quarterback hurries in the win.

QB - Josh Allen

Allen was excellent all afternoon, both with his arms and legs, going 18-of-23 (78.2%) for 232 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while also running nine times for 39 yards and two more touchdowns.

In total, Allen accounted for 271 yards and four touchdowns.

Nine different receivers

Allen threw the ball to 10 different players on Sunday. Nine different players made catches, and all of them had double-digit receiving yards.

WR - Khalil Shakir

Shakir caught three passes for 42 yards and a touchdown, but maybe made his biggest play when he was absolutely drilled after a short pass, but turned upfield and made it into a 19-yard gain.

WR - Keon Coleman

When it was all said and done, Coleman was actually the leading receiver in the game, catching four passes for 51 yards. 28 of those yards were from a highlight-reel grab on the sidelines that set up the Bills for a fourth-quarter touchdown.

CB - Cam Lewis

Lewis was in the game plan to be an extra safety on the field in dime packages, but was forced into the main nickel cornerback role after Taron Johnson left the game early. And Lewis did a terrific job, finishing with nine tackles.

DB - Ja'Marcus Ingram

Ingram was also impacted by the Johnson injury. When Lewis had to step up to play cornerback, Ingram had to replace him as the dime safety in those packages.

He finished with two total tackles and the pass breakup on the final Cardinals offensive play of the game down near the Bills' goal line.

K - Tyler Bass

Bass had a strong, confident outing, drilling two field goals and nailing all four extra point attempts on a windy day.

Defensive coaching staff adjustments

In the first half, the Cardinals ran 36 plays for 190 yards, averaging 5.2 yards per-play. In the second half, they ran 24 plays for just 80 yards, averaging 3.33 yards per-play.

Kyler Murray ran four times in the first half, and only once in the second.

Bills defensive coaches and players did a great job of guarding the edges and forcing everything back inside.

PR/KR - Brandon Codrington

In his debut return in a Bills uniform, Codrington took the ball back 53 yards to set the team up at the Cardinals' 45-yard line. He also had no issues fielding his one punt attempt, returning it seven yards.

DE - Von Miller

Miller recorded his first sack since November 2022, but was also impactful on several other passing plays. He finished the game with his sack, an additional quarterback hurry, and two total tackles.

Red zone offense

The Bills were 4-for-6 (67%) scoring touchdowns once inside the Cardinals' 20-yard line.

The comeback

The Bills were down 17-3 at one point in this game, and things looked very bleak. However, they continued to take it one play at a time and grind their way back to ultimately taking the lead and then the victory.

ARROW DOWN:

Penalties

Sure, there were a couple flags thrown that either shouldn't have or were maybe considered ticky-tacky, but the bottom line is the Bills committed too many penalties as a team, and especially in too many critical situations. This included a situation in the second quarter that wiped an Allen touchdown off the board.

Buffalo was called for a total of nine penalties for 65 yards.

Offensive line and false start penalties

Yes, this deserves its own, separate Arrow Down from overall penalties.

False starts at home just shouldn’t happen, and the Bills had four of them! One each from Dion Dawkins, Spencer Brown, Quintin Morris, and O’Cyrus Torrence.

OG - O’Cyrus Torrence

Torrence was called for three different penalties, one of which was a facemask that took a touchdown off the board. Another was a holding that wiped out a first down run.

Missed tackles

The Bills had far too many missed tackles as a team, especially early in the game.

Defensive tackle production

Granted, the Cardinals attacked the Bills' edges much more than their interior, but Ed Oliver did not show up on the stat sheet at all. DaQuan Jones, who did have a nice bat-down of a pass late in the game, had one assisted tackle on the day.

Kickoff return against

Right after the Bills seemingly took control of the game, leading by 11 with just 8:51 remaining, DeeJay Dallas took the next kickoff back 96 yards for a Cardinals touchdown.

It pulled Arizona back within three points and sucked the life out of the crowd.

Field goal on the final offensive drive

With 2:00 left, the Bills leading by three and facing a 4th-and-3 from the Cardinals' 21-yard line, head coach Sean McDermott decided against going for it, essentially needing three yards to ice the game.

Instead, he decided to kick a field goal and go up by six, which opened the door for the Cardinals to possibly win the game with a final touchdown drive.

Lack of targets for Samuel and Kincaid

It may have something to do with his recent toe injury, but Curtis Samuel had only two targets, both catches, for 15 yards.

Meanwhile, Dalton Kincaid was targeted just twice and caught one pass for 11 yards.

Call on Ja'Marcus Ingram

The officials didn’t have a very good day, but their most egregious call was flagging Ingram for a late/roughing hit on Murray, which he clearly didn’t do.

That call cost the Bills a third down stop, and gave the Cardinals a 1st-and-goal. They eventually scored a touchdown.