ORCHARD PARK, NY – OCTOBER 22: Jordan Poyer #21 of the Buffalo Bills blocks the ball as Cameron Brate #84 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers attempts to catch it during the first quarter of an NFL game on October 22, 2017 at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
3) Defense
Week in and week out forcing turnovers seem to be a common occurrence for the Bills defense. The Bills have gotten an interception in every game this season except for one. Intercepting the likes of Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton, and Jameis Winston. The defense came up big again yesterday with rookie linebacker Matt Milano intercepting Winston’s pass; he also had five total tackles, two for a loss, one quarterback hurry and one pass breakup to go along with his first interception.
Jerry Hughes also came up big with that big “stuff” on Winston with 6:32 left in the first half. But that turnover eventually would lead to zero points being put on the board for the Bills thanks to poor clock management. Rookie cornerback Tre’Davious White continues his dominance, though late in the game he gave up a Mike Evans touchdown for the Buccaneers to take the lead late, White bounced back. White made up for the touchdown and punched the football out of the hands of Buccaneers receiver Adam Humphries, causing a fumble that the Bills would recover and leading to Stephen Hauschka’s game-winning field goal.
There were some flaws on the defensive side of the ball that the Bills need to work on. Allowing Winston to throw for 384-yards and 3 touchdowns is obviously not good. The O.J. Howard blown coverage touchdown is certainly something that the Bills will be working on this week in practice, but despite all those high flying plays from the Buccaneers offense the Bills didn’t get let down. They did a good job of stuffing the run with Doug Martin, only allowing him to just 49-yards on 20 carries and allowing a total of 69-yards rushing. The games only get more difficult though as the season goes on, next week the Bills host the Oakland Raiders and their pass heavy offense.