Buffalo Bills @ Carolina Panthers
Final Score: Bills 40, Panthers 9
Writer: Matthew Bevins (MattBQBList on Reddit)
Unsure what it seems to be, but the past three weeks of games that I’ve had the pleasure of watching have been absolute goring of opponents, inept play-calling curtailed by one team’s innate need to decide what kind of team they want to become. This week, we got to see the Buffalo Bills come into Carolina hot off the heels of back-to-back losing weeks at the hands of the now hapless Falcons and the surging Patriots squad. The Panthers were declawed in this game, given the lack of quarterback depth, as Bryce Young spent the game out due to an ankle injury. When the Panthers wrapped up this game, they were likely wondering where the team lies in the scenario where Young doesn’t return for a bit, and they’re dealing with Andy Dalton behind center for anything more than a game or two, as they sit firmly entrenched in the NFC South battle.
Three Up
- James Cook — Who else would it be? The No. 1 back stampeded the Panthers’ defense to the tune of 216 rushing yards. Cook has become the household name for rushers in high-powered offenses, and this week he had 50 more yards rushing than Josh Allen had passing. The team found its way on the ground early and often, and it was very easy to turn the chains over. On his first rush of the game, he easily broke it for an over 10-yard rush, and it really didn’t change from there. The team didn’t need to do anything other than get it to Cook, and the fact that the Panthers were unable to stop him at any point is insanely impressive.
- Khalil Shakir — What was left from the Cook scraps was given to Shakir. Shakir had his highest receiving yards to date on the season on a day where Allen barely threw for over 160 yards in the air. Garnering over half of Allen’s passing yards is something many wouldn’t expect, but it’s nice to see that Allen was able to go back to Shakir after a relatively unimpressive game. Hopefully, this is a jumping-off point to a team that desperately needs someone other than Cook to be relied on.
- Tetairoa McMillan — The dude they call Tet is still looking for that game where he’s given a touchdown or two, as well as a massive production in yards, but the good news is that his quarterback doesn’t impact what he’s able to do on a game-to-game basis. In a game where Andy Dalton was really unable to get anything going, Tet was still able to put up production just a yard shy of 100 yards in the air (100 is also his season high for the rook). We’re going to have to see what the team does if they continue to slide down the standings, with Tet being arguably their best asset, but for now, we continue to fire him up. He’s a legit top-10 upside wide out.
Three Down
- Carolina’s offense — This team really has some problems to figure out, and it’s really hard to pinpoint what the issue is. They have two running backs who, over the past two seasons, have produced massive games at a moment’s notice in Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard. They have one of the highest-upside young wideouts in football in Tet. There’s young promise in Jalen Coker and Ja’Tavion Sanders. It ends up not allowing them to really break out, and the offense couldn’t even get an offensive touchdown until the final quarter. Things need to change rapidly if the Panthers want to have a chance in this division.
- Chuba Hubbard — Hubbard is a great running back, and made that point very well-known last year, causing rookie Jonathan Brooks to lose his job before he ended up with a season-ending injury. Now, Chuba is feeling that same pressure breathing down his neck by Dowdle, who, while not having a huge game of his own, carried four fewer times and gained 20 more yards on those carries. If this team has any ongoing worries about the health of Bryce Young, they’re going to take any leg up they can get, and that could quickly lead to Hubbard looking up at Dowdle on the depth chart.
- Dalton Kincaid — The offense in Buffalo is as dangerous as any in the NFL, but the fact of the matter is that on any given day, someone is going to lead the squad in output, and this week, it wasn’t Kincaid. On National Tight Ends Day, Kincaid found himself with just a single reception on three targets, and his backup, Dawson Knox, had just as many receptions. While this is something that can happen, what we’re noticing is that the team doesn’t feel any need to force the ball to Kincaid.
Buffalo Bills
Quarterback
Josh Allen: 12/19, 163 yards, 1 TD | 3 carries, 7 yards, 2 TDs
For all intents and purposes, Josh Allen had himself a bye week for the team. Allen joined the tush push crowd to the tune of two short-yard rushing touchdowns, and then ceded the way to James Cook for the remainder of the game. While Allen was clearly outdueling Andy Dalton in every aspect of the game, he had his lowest passing yards of the season, and lowest pass attempts of the season, and the team very clearly didn’t feel the need to do much more than was needed to pace ahead of the Panthers in this game with their backup quarterback behind center. Allen was able to find Khalil Shakir on a short route, and Shakir did all the work, and it goes to show how, at times, this Bills offense is really toning down in the same way that Patrick Mahomes has done for the past two seasons. Shakir took his touchdown pass on a short slant route to the house on an amazing cut and run, and besides that, the offense really didn’t have any receiving weapons that truly stood out in another suboptimal Allen showing. Won’t find anyone talking down the value of Allen in a league where quarterback play can go south so quickly, but the fact of the matter is that this is now the third time in seven games that Allen hasn’t produced a 200-yard passing game, and Sunday, he was buoyed by two rushing touchdowns on extremely short fields where the ball could’ve gone to either a tight-end on a short rush play, or Cook. Allen is flying dangerously close to a top-10 potential output rather than the top three he continues to be drafted into.
Running Back
James Cook: 19 Carries, 216 Yards, 2 TDs
Ty Johnson: 4 Carries, 6 Yards
Ray Davis: 9 Carries, 16 Yards
This offense seems to be morphing into the James Cook show, whether the coaching staff had this intention or not. Cook came into the season with a bit of additional discussion on his name due to the fact he was so adamant he wouldn’t be rushing without a new contract, and has now all but shown he may be one of the top three running backs by the end of the season. Before the third-quarter whistle had blown, Cook had brought the team two touchdowns on the ground, as well as over 200 yards rushing. Both rushing touchdowns were not of any crazy rushing scheme, as Cook was able to make a defender miss on the first level with an amazing counter play to hit the boost and end up somersaulting in on a 64-yard scamper. His second touchdown came behind it on a much less lengthy rush where he ended up showing double the speed, amping up past the defenders right up the gut for a 21-yard touchdown.
The secondary rushers didn’t have much need to produce going forward, and ended up combining for just 13 carries and meager results. The team continues to like the ability of Ty Johnson to be available for passing plays if need be, and Ray Davis will continue to play out as a change-of-pace back when needed, but both really didn’t need to be seen much in a game like this.
James Cook broke free for a 64-yard touchdown and how has 146 rushing yards midway through the 2nd quarter.The Panthers run defense has looked more like the 32nd ranked DVOA unit than than the Bills run defense so far.
— Scott Spratt (@scottspratt.bsky.social) 2025-10-26T18:02:29.893Z
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Keon Coleman: 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 30 Yards
Khalil Shakir: 7 Targets, 6 Receptions, 88 Yards, 1 TD
Dalton Kincaid: 3 Targets, 1 Reception, 23 Yards
Elijah Moore: 4 Targets, 1 Reception, 14 Yards
Dawson Knox: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 15 Yards
Jackson Hawes: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 15 Yards
The wide receiver room of the Bills is steadfast with the same names as you can get in the NFL, and this week the game got away with a handoff or two from Cook. The winner of this week’s lottery to be the key receiver was Khalil Shakir, who found himself on the receiving end of a soft short pass on a slant route, and ended up making a couple of quick cuts and taking himself the distance for a 54-yard score. Shakir for the remainder of the game accounted for 34 yards on five receptions, which would otherwise be a meager output. The team is starting to move itself more towards a run-first motive, and that is going to lead to all the names above eating each other alive for a few sparse targets. At the end of the game, we only saw under 20 attempts in the air, and the team just ran away (literally and figuratively from the opponent), and the team never felt the need to get unsafe with the football.
Khalil Shakir goes 54 yards for another big Bills TD!BUFvsCAR on FOX/FOX Onehttp://watch.nfl.com
Carolina Panthers
Quarterback
Andy Dalton: 16/24, 175 Yards, 1 INT | 2 Carries, 1 Yard
Andy Dalton needs to get in a booth somewhere. It is settled. The journeyman has found his way to the Panthers and saw his first start of the season, and it went about as expected. Dalton was unable to finish the game with over 200 yards and found himself unable to convert and get the Panthers in the end zone until the first drive of the fourth quarter. Dalton did what any quarterback taking over an offense should do and immediately scoped out the best weapon, firing on Tetairoa McMillan early and often, even managing to connect with him on plays that most NFL receivers likely wouldn’t end up able to convert. On one pass, Dalton rolled out, ended up pressured, and almost entirely threw the ball away into a spot where only McMillan could make the play, coming down with a reception near the sideline. Dalton found Tet seven times for 99 yards, but still was unable to get them into the end zone, and is clearly a very large downgrade from the player that, even just this year, Bryce Young has shown. Dalton will return to the bench the moment that Young returns. Young is having a rather pedestrian season, and is still figuring out this offense, but he does have 14th-most passing touchdowns on the season before this week, and could likely improve as the season goes on with a returning Jaylen Coker and McMillan another two weeks into the season.
Running Back
Rico Dowdle: 8 Carries, 54 Yards
Chuba Hubbard: 12 Carries, 34 Yards, 1 TD
Trevor Etienne: 4 Carries, 16 Yards
The running back room is one of the highest-valued pieces of this offense, as Rico Dowdle continues to showcase some high upside after departing Dallas unceremoniously. Dowdle played 13 fewer snaps than Chuba Hubbard this week, but outperformed Hubbard in every metric but that snap count. Dowdle turned in 22 snaps to Hubbard’s 35, but Dowdle showed the surging nature of a running back that is needed to keep this offense pressuring defenses in the backfield. Hubbard was revelatory last year, but this season, he hasn’t shown anything that makes us think he is deserving of eating up 75% of the carries while Dowdle is holding that giant glass of juice he’s willing to use. Hubbard didn’t pass 50 yards in this game, and so far this season, he hasn’t yet rushed over 100 yards. On the other hand, we have Dowdle, who sat behind him this week, had a couple of powerful rushes this week, and also has two performances of over 200 yards rushing this week. Anticipation is that Dowdle will likely start eating away at carries starting next week, as the team licks its paw from this poor performance overall.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Tetairoa McMillan: 10 Targets, 7 Receptions, 99 Yards
Jaylen Coker: 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 36 Yards
Ja’Tavion Sanders: 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 19 Yards
Xavier Legette: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 17 Yards
Tommy Tremble: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 4 Yards
Joe Horn Jr.: 1 Target, 0 Receptions | 2 Carries, 9 Yards
The wide receiver room continues to be completely built around Tetairoa McMillan. McMillan saw 57 of 61 offensive snaps, continues to be the option of first look for any quarterback, and is blooming into a top-10 wide receiver in front of our very eyes. While the touchdowns are likely to be hard to come by, McMillan is the lone option in the air that the team can rely on for first-down conversions. What we didn’t see just a week back, and is something that is likely a relief to people who use their IR tactically, was the slight resurgence of Jaylen Coker. While the output was nothing to be too excited about, Coker ended up on the field for 40 snaps and ran 26 routes, and will likely begin his rise into the No. 2 receiver slot on this team. Coker was someone that many were excited about coming into the preseason before he ended up injured, and the fact that he was able to push himself back up to 40 snaps and the second most receiving yards in just his second game back from injured reserve is a sign this team wants to get him more involved in the weeks to come.
The rest of the targets remaining were split up evenly between Xavier Legette and Ja’Tavion Sanders, and, until the offense can run a bit more consistently and with an ability to convert on their downs, there won’t be many reasons to get very much further down the depth chart than Coker, at the furthest.