What We Saw: Week 15

New England lost themselves the #1 overall seed with their debacle in Indy

Ben Brown
What We Saw 2 Years Ago
Series Navigation
Introduction
Chiefs @ Chargers
Patriots @ Colts
Cowboys @ Giants
Texans @ Jaguars
Titans @ Steelers
Jets @ Dolphins
Cardinals @ Lions
Panthers @ Bills
Bengals @ Broncos
Falcons @ 49ers
Packers @ Ravens
Saints @ Buccaneers

Panthers @ Bills

Final Score: Bills 31, Panthers 14

Writer: Dan Adams (@dadams0323 on Twitter)

 

Carolina kicker Zane Gonzalez hurt himself in pre-game warmups and was unable to play today. That forced the Panthers to forgo field goal attempts and instead go for it on every fourth down from the Buffalo side of the 50 and to go for two after every touchdown. The anti-analytics crowd was presumably losing their mind. Not being able to kick field goals likely cost the Panthers an early lead when they opted to go for it on 4th-and-9 from the Buffalo 24. That lack of a lead would prove to be an issue for the Panthers because their offense completely fell apart once the Bills built a big enough lead to force the Panthers to throw. Forcing Cam Newton to drop back and pass turned the Panthers’ offense from a unit that started the game off moving the ball fairly consistently to one that looked completely outmatched. Josh Allen shook off a bad early interception to throw for three touchdowns, and Devin Singletary emerged to give the Bills a balanced attack that they’ve been lacking this season. The Bills won 31-14.

 

 

Carolina Panthers

 

Quarterback

 

Cam Newton: 18/38, 156 yards, TD, INT, 4 Sacks | 15 carries, 71 yards, TD, 2 Fumbles

 

Cam Newton was very effective as a rusher and struggled as a passer. On anything longer than around ten yards Newton seemed to lack the ability to throw the ball accurately at all. His completions were all short passes and his rare attempts down the field were not close. His short passes were typically on point and he made a nice pass to D.J. Moore to pick up a two-point conversion.

 

 

The issues for Newton really started once the Bills got enough of a lead to force the Panthers to throw the ball. Without the threat of the run to open up the quick-hitting routes, Cam was forced to hold the ball and look downfield which proved to be beyond his capabilities today. While other quarterbacks could salvage their fantasy day in garbage time, Newton became a net-negative when forced to drop back. The final pass of the day for Newton was by far his worst, and possibly the worst pass of any quarterback today.

 

 

It’s a shame that his poor passing overshadowed his rushing abilities today because Cam looked great running the ball. For the first half of the game, nothing seemed more automatic than Cam using his legs to convert a first down any time the Panthers needed three yards or less. He scored Carolina’s first touchdown on a designed quarterback run, initiating contact with the defender at the goal line before falling into the end zone.

 

 

Carolina’s offense looked solid while the game was close, and most of that was thanks to Cam’s legs. Even if Cam eventually loses his grip on this starting job he should still be featured in goal-line packages as the clear best short-yardage runner on the roster.

 

Running Backs

 

Chuba Hubbard: 8 carries, 40 yards | 1 target, 1 reception, 1 yard

Ameer Abdullah: 4 carries, 7 yards | 4 targets, 4 receptions, 48 yards, TD

 

Chuba Hubbard got the start and handled the majority of the early-down work. He benefits from the threat of Newton’s rushing ability but like Newton, once the game got away from the Panthers Hubbard was essentially taken out of the game. Ameer Abdullah took over as the primary receiving back and looked pretty good. Abdullah showed off some nice moves in space and looked comfortable running routes and catching the ball. His touchdown reception was a nice route that featured a quick fake towards the flat before turning upfield and easily burning the linebacker stuck covering him.

 

 

With how effective Abdullah was as a receiver out of the backfield and how badly Newton struggled to throw downfield it was curious that the Panthers really didn’t go to Abdullah much until the second half.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

D.J. Moore: 11 targets, 6 receptions, 48 yards

Robby Anderson: 8 targets, 3 receptions, 29 yards | 2 carries, 33 yards

Brandon Zylstra: 4 targets, 2 receptions, 17 yards

Tommy Tremble: 4 targets, 1 reception, 8 yards

Ian Thomas: 1 target, 1 reception, 5 yards

 

D.J. Moore was clearly playing hurt today. He was shown a few times with a noticeable limp after the play with his injured hamstring clearly bothering him. During the action though Moore looked fine but was limited by the offense’s inability to generate big plays. The Bills did a good job of sitting on underneath routes and that really limited Moore’s run after the catch opportunities. He was Cam’s primary read on most passing plays, sometimes to a fault. Robby Anderson was the only other receiver that did anything of note, taking a reverse pitch from Newton and turning it into the biggest play of the day for Carolina.

 

 

Brandon Zylstra ran as the clear number three receiver but didn’t turn that role into much production. The Panthers tried to get Tommy Tremble the ball in space a few times to no avail as the Bills were all over the short passing game.

 

Buffalo Bills

 

Quarterback

 

Josh Allen: 19/34, 210 yards, 3 TD, INT, 4 Sacks | 3 carries, 24 yards, Fumble

 

Josh Allen was solid today. The biggest knock against him was that some of the sacks he took were a result of him holding the ball too long, and for a quarterback with his rushing ability, it would be nice to have seen him use his legs a little more when pressured. Allen’s first touchdown pass was perhaps a touch behind his receiver but was a good demonstration of the chemistry he has with Stefon Diggs.

 

 

Allen’s best throw of the day was thrown on a rope to Gabriel Davis in the back of the end zone from 20 yards out.

 

 

Allen’s third touchdown was an easy pitch and catch after the defense bit too hard on the run fake, allowing Allen to hit Davis again for a free touchdown.

 

 

Allen’s biggest mistake came early in the game when he allowed a defensive bac to bait him into trying to force the ball downfield instead of taking the safe check down.

 

 

It was the type of throw that might have thrown a different quarterback off his game, but Allen bounced back to play a clean rest of the game to close out the win.

 

Running Backs

 

Devin Singletary: 22 carries, 86 yards, TD | 1 target, 1 reception, 10 yards

Matt Breida: 1 carry, 1 yard

 

Zach Moss was inactive today and Matt Breida barely played, clearing the way for Devin Singeltary to be the feature back. The Bills clearly came into this game planning to establish the run. They featured Singletary early and often, and he delivered with the first touchdown of the game by diving for the endzone after bouncing off a defender.

 

 

Singletary consistently found holes to run through and showed off some nice elusiveness when challenged by defenders. The Bills put a lot of trust in Singeltary today and he responded by being a critical part of Buffalo’s effort to close out the game. It was a bit disappointing that he didn’t get more involved in the passing game, but 23 touches are great and Singletary managers should be thrilled if he comes anywhere close to that touch count in future weeks.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

Stefon Diggs: 7 targets, 4 receptions, 35 yards, TD

Gabriel Davis: 7 targets, 5 receptions, 85 yards, 2 TD

Cole Beasley: 8 targets, 4 receptions, 35 yards

Dawson Knox: 5 targets, 4 receptions, 38 yards

 

Stefon Diggs didn’t get the full shadow treatment from Stephon Gilmore but Gilmore did follow him around at times and the two were matched up frequently. Diggs got the better of Gilmore on his touchdown reception, but for the most part, Gilmore offered enough resistance to convince Allen to look elsewhere. Gabriel Davis was the next man up with Emmanuel Sanders out due to injury and Davis might just have run away with the job.  His two touchdown receptions were the highlights that surrounded a solid all-around game. Davis’s speed was both apparent and necessary as the only receiver Buffalo had consistently created separation. Cole Beasley was frequently bracketed by two defenders, particularly on third downs, which took him out of the game aside from a few short receptions. With Beasley neutralized, Dawson Knox became Allen’s go-to read for short passes and continues to be a solid fantasy tight end.

 

 — Dan Adams (@dadams0323 on Twitter)

Series Navigation
Introduction
Chiefs @ Chargers
Patriots @ Colts
Cowboys @ Giants
Texans @ Jaguars
Titans @ Steelers
Jets @ Dolphins
Cardinals @ Lions
Panthers @ Bills
Bengals @ Broncos
Falcons @ 49ers
Packers @ Ravens
Saints @ Buccaneers

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