Steve Johnson Steals Spotlight From Terrell Owens in Buffalo Bills Wild Win
The Buffalo Bills defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in as bizarre a game as you would ever want to see by the final score of 49-31. Despite the Bengals' Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, the receiving star of the day turned out to be the Bills' Steve Johnson, who came up with his first three-touchdown receiving game of his career.
This was a tale of two halves, with the Bengals winning the first half, 31-14, and the Bills dominating the second half, 35-0. According to Elias Sports Bureau, this was the first game in the history of the NFL that a team was trailing by 17 points or more at halftime and came back to win by 18 points or more.
The Bills continue to show that they have turned a corner, as this marks consecutive wins following their 0-8 start to the season. For the Bengals, this marks their seventh straight defeat and may be the final nail in Marvin Lewis' coffin as head coach.
Steve Johnson Was the Best Receiver On the Field Today
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For the day, Steve Johnson caught touchdown passes of 11, 32 and 28 yards from Ryan FItzpatrick. In total, he caught eight passes for 137 yards. Although Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco each caught a touchdown pass, Johnson managed to outscore the dynamic duo all by himself.
Johnson was not alone. Lee Evans caught two passes for 72 yards, and Donald Jones caught five passes for 70 yards, including his first career touchdown.
Johnson also showed that he has a sense of humor. After one of his touchdown grabs, he pulled up his jersey to reveal a little slogan he wrote on his T-shirt, which simply said: "Why So Serious"
It looks like Johnson has learned plenty from the year he spent together with T.O. last year in Buffalo and has now moved on. For T.O. and Ochocinco, they can continue to focus on their TV show, dancing with the stars and celebrity competitions. For the Bills, they will focus on winning and moving forward with their rebuilding efforts.
Drayton Florence Scores a Defensive Touchdown For the Bills
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The Bills defense hadn't created many turnovers lately. Today, they came up with some big plays. This picture shows the end result of a Drayton Florence fumble recovery, as he alertly scooped up a Cedric Benson fumble and returned it 27 yards for the score.
The touchdown helped to truly turn the momentum to the Bills early in the second half, and the play resulted in the Bills trimming the score to 31-28. Traditionally, the second half is when the opposition comes out and make plays in the third quarter, as the Bills had allowed the most points scored in the third quarter.
Not today, as they pitched not only a third-quarter shutout, but blanked the high-powered Bengals offense for the entire second half.
Bills Secondary Intercepts Not Just One Pass, But Two
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All season long, the Bills secondary had not intercepted a single pass. That streak finally came to an end today as it came up with two big interceptions.
Right after Drayton Florence returned the fumble recovery for a touchdown to help trim the Bengals' lead to three points, Carson Palmer led the Bengals on a drive down inside the Bills' 5-yard line. On a third-and-goal play, Palmer tried to hit T.O. in the end zone, but Bills safety George Wilson stepped in front of the pass and returned the ball all the way to the midfield stripe.
That was a huge turning point in the game. If Palmer hits on the play, the Bengals would have been up 38-28. As it was, the Bills took over the ball at midfield, and proceeded to score a touchdown and take a 35-31 lead—a lead that they would never surrender.
In addition to his fumble recovery, Florence also had the other interception for the Bills. This was his best game of the season.
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Another Big Game For Fred Jackson
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Fred Jackson had another solid game today, as he rushed the ball 21 times for 116 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
It seems that whenever the Bills stay committed to the running game and hand the ball off to Jackson at least 20 times, good things usually happen.
The second touchdown was unusual because the Bengals defense had basically stopped playing by then. Jackson scored from 30 yards out and went in untouched.
It appeared that Jackson had suffered a bad ankle injury at one point, grabbing at his ankle and coming right out of the game. But Jackson, being the warrior that he is, returned shortly and led the Bills ground game with many solid runs.
While Jackson was out tending to his ankle injury, it was noteworthy to see the Bills use their unheard-of backup running backs to convert a first down on one of the second-half drives. Faced with a second-and-12, Quinton Ganther picked up 11 yards, and then on third-and-1, Jehuu Calcrick (the newest member of the Buffalo Bills) picked up two yards to gain the first down.
It was the only carry for each backup running back, but showed that the Bills aren't afraid to use everyone on the active roster.
Several Miscellaneous Notes
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Chris Kelsay made some big plays and turned in a rather solid second game in a row. It is not lost on me that both of the outside linebacker's better games turned out to be the Bills' two wins.
Rian Lindell has a disturbing trend of missing field goals lately. It turns out that this miss didn't cost the Bills the game, but ever since Kansas City iced him in overtime, Lindell has not been kicking with his normal level of self-confidence. Hopefully he returns to form soon, because the elements will start becoming more of an issue soon.
There was a Shawn Nelson sighting today, as the Bills tight end actually caught a pass today. He had been AWOL since the Ravens' overtime fumble. Also, David Martin caught two passes today and had some solid down field blocks.
Eric Wood appeared to have a nasty leg injury in the second half, but no word yet on how badly the guard is hurt. We are keeping the fingers crossed for him.
On the Aaron Maybin front, the linebacker was inactive once again, and that trend shows no reason to stop. Bills rookie Alex Carrington was active today, but the defensive lineman did not appear to have any major impact on the game.
Antonio Coleman had a number of big hits on special teams, and he has replaced Ashlee Palmer as the player that is really laying the lumber on special-teams unit this year.
Long Day For The T.O. and Chad Ochocinco Show Duo
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You really had to feel sorry for T.O. and Chad Ochocinco. Terrell Owens had promised via his Twitter account last Sunday that he would do everything in his power to guarantee that the Bengals would beat the Bills. He lived up to his promise—well, sort of. He did catch three passes 63 yards and a touchdown. He also had some drops and did a bunch of talking, but what else is new?
To his credit, T.O. did have one nice touchdown catch called back due to a penalty, but that was the correct call because the Bengals lineman flat-out tackled Kyle Williams. Otherwise, Palmer would have never gotten the pass off.
For what it is worth, the leading receiver on the day for the Bengals was Texas rookie Jordan Shipley, who had five catches for 71 yards.
Chad Ochocinco also came up with three catches on the day, good for 28 yards and one touchdown. So the duo had six catches combined for 91 yards and two scores.
With that kind of production, why are they so angry and disgusted?
How Do Marvin Lewis and the Bengals Recover From This Loss?
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This might be a very hard defeat for Marvin Lewis to overcome as he tries to continue to serve as an effective head coach for the Bengals.
It is one thing to have a 17-point lead at halftime and lose the game. It is another thing to do that against a team that has a record of 1-8. Bengals fans must have sensed something was up, as they failed to sell out Paul Brown Stadium for the first time since 2003. Since the game was blacked out locally, the Bengals fans were spared the embarrassment of seeing the big lead slip away.
The Bengals had touchdowns called back because of penalties, turned the ball over three times and allow the Bills to score 35 unanswered points. To say that Lewis does not have a tight grip on his football team may be a huge understatement. Is it time to ask if his job is now in jeopardy as the head coach?
The Bills players noticed that the Bengals players appeared to quit during the second half, and it sure seemed that was the case when Fred Jackson ran it in for his second touchdown untouched in the fourth quarter. When the team quits playing for a coach, the end can't be that far away.
Strange Homecoming Game For Ryan Fitzpatrick
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After playing two years for the Cincinnati Bengals, Ryan Fitzpatrick had admitted that he was looking forward to his homecoming game to face his old team.
If you had asked him how he was feeling after three of his first six passes were intercepted by Bengals players, he might have given you a slightly different answer. Luckily for Fitzpatrick, one of the interceptions was negated due to a questionable roughing-the-passer call, and Chan Gailey stayed with Fitzpatrick, who eventually settled down to come up with a four-touchdown performance.
For the game, Fitzpatrick completed 21of 34 passes for 316 yards and four scores. After his terrible start, Fitzpatrick wound up in one stretch going 18 for 26 for 268 yards. He only scrambled once for the day, which went for 11 yards and a big first down.
Fitzpatrick kept the Bills offense clicking, as Brian Moorman had to punt only one time for the entire game. Of course you don't need to punt the ball away when you are turning it over. But luckily, Fitzpatrick capitalized on injuries to two of the Bengals' defensive backs (Chris Crocker and Johnathan Joseph) and picked apart the replacements, which allowed the Bills to score 35 unanswered points.
Bills Defense Had Some Problems But Stiffened in Second Half
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The Bills allowed Cincinnati to pick up 26 first downs and 361 yards of total offense. The Bengals saw Cedric Benson run for 124 yards in 25 carries. The Bengals could seemingly run the ball at will, but somehow they went away from the run in the second half.
The Bengals converted on 9 of 16 third-down opportunities. It seemed that either Jordan Shipley, Jermaine Gresham or some other no-name Bengals receiver would be unaccounted for on one third-down play after another.
But in the second half, the Bills defense stiffened and pitched the shutout. Making big plays inside their own 5-yard line helped. The Bills actually seemed to have prevented the Bengals from scoring at the goal line as the first half expired, but the referees somehow decided to place one second on the clock after a phantom timeout.
So the Bengals obliged by kicking a short field goal. Otherwise, the Bills would have scored 42 unanswered points.
The defense will have to tighten up next week against the Pittsburgh Steelers if they want to continue their winning streak to three games in a row.
Bills Have the Bengals' Number, Winning Their 10th Straight Game
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The Bills have had more than their fair share of losing streaks against specific teams. The streaks they have suffered at the hands of the Dolphins and the Patriots are well documented.
But now the Bills have their own personal patsy—a team they know they can beat. The Cincinnati Bengals have now dropped 10 straight games to the Bills. Although today's game had the most improbable ending based on the first half, it is noteworthy that the Bills seem to own the Bengals no matter how good or bad the Bills team in question is.
Hopefully we can get the Bengals on the schedule next year. If Terrell Owens is still there, it will be a win all the sweeter.
Next up, the Bills have a tough task as they host the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at 1 p.m. Happy Thanksgiving to all Bills fans and enjoy this win.
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