Bills offense dominates time of possession, grinds down valiant Vikings defense

Joe Brady likes to say the Buffalo Bills play nameless, faceless opponents. The Minnesota Vikings can probably say the same, but only because they bring enough heat to peel the faces off opposing offenses, bolstering a high-blitzing phisolsophy by being fast, physical and intelligent. The Vikings defense is simply nasty. When someone looks at the statistics down the road, they might think the Bills had an off game. They had season-lows in points (23), total yards (339) and yards per play (4.3) And yet the Vikings allowed season-high 23 points in a 23-6 loss. There have been times Josh Allen and the Bills have grown frustrated playing small ball, leaning on the run game and resisting the urge to hunt splash plays. Not against the Vikings. They won ugly; they grinded out the win. The Vikings had only allowed one 80-yard drive all season — a one-play, 81-yard drive against the Green Bay Packers in the first quarter of the season opener — and the Bills produced three, choking out Minnesota by holding the ball over 42 minutes. “Time of possession is good. Yards is good. It’s only good if you’re scoring touchdowns,” Brady said. “... The guys stuck together and found a way to win. They earned that win. Finding a way is the wrong term, but they earned it.” Typically Josh Allen draws special game plans. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores just did what he does to everyone: blitz. A lot. The Vikings, who blitz 71% of the time — almost 40 points higher than the league average and 30 points more than the next highest defense — send five or more rushers on 12 of Allen’s first 15 drop-backs. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, they blitzed him on 68% of his 35 drop-backs and it was ugly for most of the first half. The Bills attempted to counter Minnesota’s blitz by using six or seven players in pass protection. They had five players run routes just 10 times, the lowest rate of Brady’s career as a play-caller. And, at times, it was counterproductive. While the Vikings sometimes walk eight players to the line of scrimmage, they are most often only sending five. So when the Bills ran three-man routes, they had six players in coverage. Combine that with the Bills struggling to find which five were rushing and Allen was sacked four times, including three in the first half. Allen started the game 6 of 14 for 52 yards, with a sack squandering a 58-yard game-opening kick return by Greg Dortch and an interception nullifying a second drive, as the Bills got just three points despite having the ball inside the Minnesota 40 on three straight drives to start the game. But after three previous drives netted a total of minus-3 yards on 11 plays, the Bills got the ball with 4:02 left in the first half. Brady went to the quick passing game and immediately found success, going 80 yards on eight plays. Allen got into a rhythm, going 6 of 6 for 70 yards. The Vikings finally chose not to blitz and Allen was able to extend the play to find tight end Keleki Latu in the end zone for his first career touchdown catch to take a 10-3 lead. From that drive, Allen went 15 of 17 for 182 yards, finishing with 234 for the game, which is the most allowed by the Vikings since Green Bay’s Jordan Love threw for 387 in Week 1. “Those guys are coming, they’re coming fast,” Allen said. “They’re so smart on the back end. They’re able to read and flow with eyes. … That’s a tough defense.” But Brady had decided leading up to the game that the best way to beat the Vikings was to wear them down. He watched the Detroit Lions run for 230 yards and hold the ball for nearly 36 minutes, something he referenced earlier in the week. It became even more appealing when they ruled out left tackle Dion Dawkins (rib) and left guard Alec Anderson (ankle) before the game. That moved veteran Austin Corbett into the lineup at left guard and Tylan Grable — who made his NFL first start last week at right tackle for Spencer Brown — to left tackle. Cook didn’t have much room to run, totaling just 18 yards on his first 10 carries. In fact, Cook had one run over 10 yards the entire game and it came in the fourth quarter, one play before Cook sealed the game with a 5-yard touchdown run to take a 20-6 lead. The Bills gobbled 8:32 off the clock and used 15 plays to march 84 yards on that drive, with Cook carrying eight times for 45 yards. He finished with 107 yards on 31 attempts. It’s one thing for an offense to score points — and no team scores more than the Bills — but it’s another to use an offense to control the game simply by managing the clock and controlling the tempo. “Eventually you end up making it a game that they weren’t willing to play,” Brady said. “That’s a good football team and that’s a great defense. And to be able to just stay on the field and be able to possess the ball, is really hard. … Really proud of that locker room.”