ORCHARD PARK — Christian Benford can laugh about the irony of making a few great plays to jump routes and get his hands on the ball, but the one he actually catches is dropped right into his gut.
The Buffalo Bills cornerback dropped an interception earlier in the game, one that “hurt his soul,” but they had several of those plays. Rasul Douglas nearly picked off Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, so did Taron Johnson, Jordan Phillips and Taylor Rapp.
Buffalo was close to an interception all day, partly because it applied pressure to Prescott, knowing it was going to make the NFL’s leader in touchdown passes erratic. And so the Bills led by 28 points before Benford secured the team’s first takeaway of the game.
The Bills sacked Prescott three times — twice on third down — and smacked him every chance they could. The Cowboys had 92 yards of total offense through three quarters — the fewest by the franchise since 2010 — and less than five minutes into the fourth quarter, Josh Allen’s day was over.
When Buffalo’s first-string defense left the field midway through the fourth quarter, the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense — one that had scored 40.5 points over the previous five games — had three points. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who entered the game as the MVP frontrunner, finished with a season-low 134 yards and no touchdowns in a 31-10 throttling.
Two months ago, it wouldn’t have been a surprise. Two weeks ago, that result would have seemed stunning.
The Miami Dolphins, fresh off scoring 70 points against the Denver Broncos, and leading the league in every offensive category, were bottled up and beaten by the Bills 48-20 in Week 4. But then the Bills defense — injuries and all — couldn’t find ways to finish games, giving up three fourth-quarter comebacks in a dreadful 3-5 stretch.
And, yet, with their backs against the wall, their coach’s character and ability challenged, the same defense that gave up 29 points to the New England Patriots — who have scored 20 points once in the seven games since — has allowed a total of 27 to Prescott and Patrick Mahomes-led offenses in consecutive weeks.
And, although the Bills are still ninth in the AFC behind fellow 8-6 teams Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Houston, they are very much in the hunt for a playoff spot.
“We’ve started to play with a lot of swagger, a lot of juice,” Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver said. “We’re not in the playoffs right now, but the main thing is having that juice, that swagger … we’re all as one and we know what to expect from everybody and everybody’s going to do their job and everybody is on the same page. And when you’re playing like that, that’s how you get into the playoffs.”
The Bills have often struggled to knock opponents out this season, partly in a failure to capitalize on momentum. Buffalo followed a score by giving up one on defense on the ensuing possession 16 times entering Sunday, including twice against the Chiefs and three against the Eagles in the prior two games.
Aside from giving up a field goal after going up 14-0, the Bills sucked every ounce of momentum away from the Cowboys they could. After a game-opening touchdown drive, Dallas picked up 33 yards on three plays, sparked by a 13-yard scramble by Prescott on third and 6.
But a holding penalty halted the drive and Bills defensive end Greg Rousseau followed by tackling Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle for a 2-yard loss to set up a third and 14 play, which ended in a Leonard Floyd sack to end the drive.
The Cowboys had a chance to double-dip after winning the coin toss, but safety Cam Lewis — who played in dime packages with Micah Hyde out with a stinger — broke up a couple passes and made a tackle on a short pass to force a punt before halftime. And then a well-timed blitz by Tyrel Dodson resulted in another third-down sack to end the opening drive of the second half, leaving Dallas with no points.
“It wasn’t really too much about (Dallas),” Lewis said. “When we play our brand of football, I feel like nobody in the league can compete with us. The offense took care of the ball, defense forced three-and-outs, our D-line got to the quarterbacks and our (defensive backs) covered. I just feel like we played our brand of football.”
Buffalo’s brand of football seems to be rising up with the competition. Since the start of 2021, the Bills have played 11 games against top-10 offenses and have held seven under their season averages in points and yards.
Not only did Dallas score a season-low 10 points, but it failed to score a first-half touchdown for the first time this season. And after eight consecutive games with 300 yards of total offense (four with more than 400 during that stretch) the Cowboys were limited to 195 yards by the Bills.
There’s also the added notion of possibly missing the playoffs with any more missteps. Charged with winning the remaining five games after the bye, the Bills have now won what most considered the most difficult of the two.
Playoff odds prior to the Chiefs game were 30%, but have now risen to 69% following the win over the Cowboys, particularly after getting losses from the Broncos and Steelers on Saturday. Still, the Bills can win their next two games against the Chargers and Patriots, but if they lose to the Dolphins in Week 18, they still currently have just a 50% shot to make the playoffs, according to Upshot’s playoff simulator.
That means the defense has to come calling yet again.
“There’s definitely a burst of energy,” said Floyd, who became the first Bills player with double-digit sacks since Lorenzo Alexander in 2016. “Simply because we have to win. We have to win every game to get into the playoffs and the guys did a great job coming out with a great mindset.”