Buffalo came up with a massive 31-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday to keep themselves in the thick of the AFC playoff race. It is the second straight win for the Bills and it moved their record to 8-6 this season.
A key part of the win was stopping the play of MVP candidate quarterback Dak Prescott. The Cowboys' headman had thrown for 250+ yards in 7 of the last 8 games before the matchup with Buffalo. Over that time, Prescott also had 23 touchdown passes compared to just 2 picks.
As it would turn out, the Dallas signal-caller would not have a touchdown pass on Sunday and he also would not reach the 250-yard mark that he had commonly been reaching. He finished with 134 yards and an interception (Christian Benford's first pick of the season). He also had a QBR of 38.4, his worst of the year since the week three loss Dallas had against the Arizona Cardinals.
Prescott's rhythm with his targets downfield was interrupted early and often by the Bills' secondary members actively putting their hands on the football. They reached 7 total pass deflections for the fifth time this season. Six different Buffalo defenders got involved in this "pass breakup" activity. Taron Johnson, Jordan Poyer, Cam Lewis, and Benford all had deflections within the Bills secondary. Benford had 2 deflections himself and is now tied with defensive end A.J. Espenesa for the most deflections on the team.
Jordan Phillips and Ed Oliver also each deflected a pass of their own creating some chaos on the line of scrimmage.
The majority of the time the Bills have deflected this many passes, they have won and it lead to that on Sunday as they were able to disrupt the Cowboys' premier quarterback ruining their offensive attack.