After taking a beating last Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills turned it around with a 44 point performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s their third time scoring 40+ points this season. After the first quarter, the Bills’ offense came to life and it never looked back.
While the defense had its struggles, they made more plays than Tampa’s defense which led to a double digit win for the Bills. Buffalo needed this win and they did it by having an offensive powerhouse performance. After Keon Coleman was ruled out as a healthy scratch, fans were curious to see how this offense would operate and they did more than enough to get a Victory Monday underway.
While the turnaround for their next game is quick (set to battle the Texans in Houston this Thursday), it’s important to brag about some of the best performances in this win.
4 winners (and 2 losers) from Bills' bounce back win vs. Tampa Bay
Winners:
QB Josh Allen
The obvious top player in this game is Josh Allen, who had six total touchdowns for Buffalo. He had 3 on the ground and 3 in the air, making it the second time he’s pulled off this statline in his career (Week 14 vs. Rams in 2024). He had 357 total yards and he was launching the ball down the field (finally!) more than he has been all season long.
Without Allen turning into Superman, the Bills don’t put 40+ points or even win this game.
WR Tyrell Shavers
It was a great sighting of Tyrell Shavers in this game as he led the Bills in targets, receptions, and yards (4 catches, 90 yards, 1 touchdown). He managed to find the endzone on a 43-yard broken play pass from Allen that truly sparked the run the offense would eventually go on.
It’s kind of ironic that Shavers had a great game against Tampa Bay in this game, and also had a great performance against them in the preseason that ultimately helped him earn a roster spot for the regular season.
S Cole Bishop
After taking some heat about his performance early on this season, Cole Bishop is now becoming a star for this Buffalo secondary. He recorded his third interception of the season against Tampa in a much-needed play to keep the Bills ahead of the Bucs in the second half. The second-year safety has really stepped up since Buffalo’s bye week and fans are getting the chance to witness the future on the backend of the defense.
RB Ray Davis
Ray Davis makes a surprising appearance on this list not because of what he did on offense, but his special teams contributions. Davis had four kickoff returns for 158 yards, which included two 40+ yard returns, per the Bills' PR X team, to put the Bills’ offense in great position. We tend to focus on offense and defense, but special teams can help be a deciding factor and for this game, it was.
Losers:
RB James Cook
For the most part of the day, it was quiet for James Cook. He had just 16 carries for 48 yards with only a long rush of 8 yards. However, he did manage to bring in a 25-yard touchdown pass that helped the Bills regain the lead in the third quarter. But his rushing attack was close to nonexistent.
OT Dion Dawkins
The Bills have had some issues with penalties this season and it continued a little bit into this game. Left tackle Dion Dawkins was called twice for a false start that put the Bills in tough situations at times. While he did his job protecting Allen, he being the veteran that he is cannot have these kinds of mental errors.