Bills batter Beck, Redskins
By Cam Boon
In this new weekly column, Cameron Boon will take the new sensation of Throwback Thursday for a Bills twist, as he looks back on a game or event that happened on this date in Bills history. It will help some of the older fans relive the glory days and some of the newer fans learn some Bills history.
In this edition of Throwback Thursday, we take you back to 2011, when the Bills battled the Redskins, and dominated the trenches en route to victory. But as we all know, it was fast downhill from there. Let’s hope the past doesn’t repeat itself, but nevertheless, here’s your Throwback Thursday:
It was a chilly day up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the Bills’ yearly game up north of the border. This time, it was the Washington Redskins who went up with Buffalo and they wish they had not. This was the coming out game for this now-dominant Bills defensive line, as they held Ryan Torain and that Redskins rushing attack to 26 yards and sacked quarterback John Beck 10 times.
The Bills controlled the game with three Rian Lindell field goals and two hookups from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Scott Chandler for touchdowns, defeating the Redskins 20-0.
They went to 5-2 with this win and were at the top of the AFC East
The Bills were able to dominate on the ground, getting 120 yards from Fred Jackson on 26 carries, and Fitzpatrick probably had one of his best games as a Bill, going 21-for-27, throwing for 262 yards and a pair of touchdowns along with an interception.
Seven Bills had receptions in the game, with Steve Johnson leading the way with six catches for 57 yards. Chandler’s two touchdown receptions were his only catches of the day.
Jackson had three catches as well on the day, going for 74 yards. David Nelson had four catches for 47 yards as well.
Marcell Dareus, who had 2.5 sacks, led the Bills defense. Dwan Edwards had 1.5, and Nick Barnett, Jairus Byrd, Spencer Johnson, Chris Kelsay, and Kirk Morrison added a sack.
Buffalo’s first points of the game came off an eight play, 80-yard drive, their second drive of the game, that was capped by a 20-yard strike from the now-Texan to the Bills tight end, making it 7-0 Buffalo.
After Spencer Johnson blocked Graham Gano’s field goal, the Bills took the ball five plays for 42 yards, and capped it with a 37-yard Rian Lindell field goal. Turnovers to field goals; Sounds like the Bills’ offense from last week against the Jets.
A 44-yard field goal at the end of the half by Lindell made it 13-0 at the break.
On the first drive of the second half, the Bills took it right down the field and Fitzpatrick hit Chandler for both of their second touchdowns of the season to make it 20-0 and that was all the scoring you would see.
Sadly, this was the peak of the Bills season as they went to 5-2 with this win and were at the top of the AFC East.
Buffalo would go on to lose seven in a row, including big losses at Dallas (44-7), at Miami (35-8) and at San Diego (37-10).
As many Bills fans know, this was right after Fitzpatrick signed his $59 million extension.
Buffalo finished the year 6-10, the first of three in a row the Bills put together.