Hopkins’d
We need to address the elephant in the room: the De’Andre Hopkins catch.
With three Buffalo Bills draped over Hopkins in the endzone during a last-minute effort, Kyler Murray delivered a pass to win the game.
Game-winning pass aside, the Bills defense had a mediocre performance today in the desert. Allowing Murray to rush for 61 yards and two touchdowns on the day, containment was an issue. Though there were efforts to keep Murray to the pocket, his ability to extend and make plays on his feet killed Buffalo.
With this game coming on the heels of their matchup against another mobile quarterback in Russell Wilson, there was hope that the lessons learned from last week would pay dividends. This was not the case as Murray’s ability to extend the play with his feet in the final seconds allowed Hopkins to haul in the game-winner to come from behind and win.
The Buffalo Bills did have their moments in breaking up passes and finding ways to create turnovers, but ultimately their performance will be spoken in reference to the outcome.
In hindsight, Buffalo’s ability to only hold Hopkins to a single receiving touchdown on the day can also be seen as a small victory. Down Levi Wallace, Dean Marlowe and Josh Norman, all signs pointed for Murray and Hopkins to have a career day. While they didn’t come out with the win, Buffalo should be happy with the depth that they have as it will be crucial for a playoff run in the later months.