What We Saw: Week 9

The QB List staff catches you up on everything you missed during Week 9 of the 2020 NFL season.

Ben Brown
What We Saw 4 Years Ago
Series Navigation
Introduction
Packers @ 49ers
Ravens @ Colts
Texans @ Jaguars
Bears @ Titans
Panthers @ Chiefs
Lions @ Vikings
Giants @ Washington
Raiders @ Chargers
Broncos @ Falcons
Steelers @ Cowboys
Dolphins @ Cardinals
Seahawks @ Bills
Saints @ Buccaneers
Patriots @ Jets

Seahawks @ Bills

 

A battle of two division leaders turned into a one-sided affair……for a little while. The Seahawks porous defense was on full display as Josh Allen picked them apart early and often. Russell Wilson and the Seahawks made the end result a respectful 44-34, but the Bills won the turnover battle 4-0 to really set the tone. Let’s dive in and see what we can take away from this battle.

 

Seattle Seahawks

 

Quarterback

 

Russell Wilson: 28/41, 390 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 5 sacks, 2 fumbles lost | 2 carries, 5 yards, 1 TD

 

We know the Seahawks like to air it out on a normal day, but boy did they have to lean heavy on the pass today as they trailed 14-0 before Russell Wilson took the ball for Seattle’s second possession.

The Seahawks went three-and-out on their first possession, thanks in part to a pass batted down at the line on 1st Down. The next time Wilson touched the ball, the Seahawks already trailed 14-0. Wilson marched the Seahawks 70 yards on 10 plays all the way down to the Buffalo 5-yard line. On 4th and 1, Wilson threw his first interception of the game.

 

 

With the Bills up 17-0, Wilson finally started to get things going. On 3rd and 3, Wilson took a deep shot to DK Metcalf. The pass fell incomplete, but there were two fouls on the play – roughing the passer and pass interference on the defense. A 25-yard penalty for a 1st down. Two plays later, Wilson connected with Metcalf on a beauty.

 

 

Following the big play to Metcalf, Wilson connected with Lockett on a reception that took him all the way down to the 1-yard line. Two play later, on 4th and goal at the 1, Wilson used the old QB sneak to find the end zone and put the Seahawks on the board.

 

 

With the Bills up 24-7, Wilson found his new favorite tight end, Jacob Hollister, twice to drive the Seahawks into field goal range. On 2nd and 3 and 3rd and 3, Wilson targeted Freddie Swain short and deep, respectively, missing both times. The Seahawks settled for a field goal with just over a minute to go in the half.

The Seahawks opened the 2nd Half with the ball. Wilson started the half with two incompletions and then fumbled on this sack by Jerry Hughes.

 

 

With the Bills up 27-10, Wilson got the Seahawks rolling again. He completed a key 3rd and 6 pass to David Moore and then on the next play connected with Metcalf deep for 27 yards. Wilson found Hollister twice on the drive, once on a 3rd and 8 for an 11-yard gain that set up a DeeJay Dallas rushing touchdown.

With momentum turning their way, Seattle’s defense forced a three-and-out. Wilson completed a pass to Will Dissly for a 26-yard gain. The very next play Wilson took a shot in the backfield while releasing a pass intended for Tyler Lockett. A roughing the passer penalty moved the Seahawks another 15 yards. The drive stalled, but another field goal put the Seahawks down just 7 points.

Following the Zack Moss touchdown, Wilson looked to drag the Seahawks back into the game, but the Bills had other ideas. Wilson took sacks on 1st and 2nd down before taking a shot to DK Metcalf. Tre’Davious White undercut the route and intercepted the pass. He then returned it all the way to the Seattle 3 yard line.

 

 

With Seattle once again down by three scores, Wilson knew things were looking slim. Wilson connected with Lockett for 9 yards and Travis Homer scampered for 11 yards, which set up this beautiful play to David Moore.

 

 

Down 14, the Seahawks forced a Buffalo three-and-out. Wilson was looking to lead the team down the field again, but two plays into the drive disaster struck again as Wilson turned the ball over for the 4th time.

 

 

The last Seattle possession would come with them down 17 with 4 minutes to play. Russ led the team on a 7 play, 75-yard touchdown drive. The first play of the drive was a screen set up for Travis Homer, who took the ball and with blockers in front of him ran 50-yards to the Buffalo 25 yard line. Six plays later, on 4th and 6, Wilson connected with DK Metcalf for the score. It should be noted that Tre’Davious White was injured on this drive. He walked off to the sideline, but we didn’t get much of an update.

 

Running Backs

 

DeeJay Dallas: 7 carries, 31 yards, 1 TD | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 8 yards

Travis Homer: 6 carries, 16 yards | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 64 yards

Alex Collins: 2 carries, 5 yards

 

Travis Homer led this backfield as he saw 31 snaps to Dallas’s 20. Collins saw 13 of a potential 65 total snaps.

The good news for fantasy players with DeeJay Dallas is that he found the end zone. The bad news is he didn’t look particularly special again this week and Carson has a chance to play next week. Here’s his touchdown.

 

 

Travis Homer’s final line looks decent, but 50 of his receiving yards came on one play on the last Seattle drive of the game. There was so much blocking in front of him that I could’ve gotten at least 30 yards.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

DK Metcalf: 9 targets, 7 receptions, 108 yards, 1 TD

David Moore: 6 targets, 4 receptions, 71 yards, 1 TD

Jacob Hollister: 7 targets, 5 receptions, 60 yards

Tyler Lockett: 7 targets, 4 receptions, 40 yards

Will Dissly: 1 target, 1 reception, 26 yards

Greg Olsen: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 13 yards

Freddie Swain: 2 targets

 

DK Metcalf remained Wilson’s favorite target even while seeing a decent amount of Tre’Davious White and the stat line shows why. His day could’ve been even bigger as he drew a pass interference penalty that moved the sticks 25-yards. If we include that target on the pass interference play, 4 of his targets were deep and 2 came in the red zone. He converted one of the red zone targets.

 

 

The majority of David Moore’s productivity came on his 55-yard touchdown reception. That was his lone deep target of the game as his other 5 targets were short.

Jacob Hollister, oh hello! Hollister hasn’t seen much work all year – just 8 targets – so it was a surprise to see him nearly double his total on the year. He played well and Wilson looked his way twice in the Red Zone. With tight end being a nightmare, I’m keeping an eye on Hollister moving forward.

Tyler Lockett was out-targeted by Metcalf for the fourth time in five games. I actually did a quick search after the game to see if he quietly left with an injury but to no avail. I’m not sure there’s much actionable advice on Lockett other than don’t play him in cash DFS games.

 

Buffalo Bills

 

Quarterback

 

Josh Allen: 31/38, 415 yards, 3 TDs, 7 Sacks | 7 carries, 14 yards, TD

 

Other than taking 7 sacks, Josh Allen played an excellent game. The Seahawks attempted to put pressure on him and got to him, but when he wasn’t getting sacked, he was picking apart this Seattle secondary.

He won’t show up anywhere else but return man Andre Roberts set the tone for the Bills in this game. Roberts took the opening kickoff 8-yards deep in the end zone and took it all the way to the Seahawks 45 yard line. From there, Josh Allen completed three passes, the third going to Isaiah McKenzie for the first touchdown of the day.

 

 

The Bills got the ball back after a Seahawks three-and-out. Allen dropped back to pass on 12 of the first 13 plays of the game. On their second possession of the game, Allen led the Bills on a 10 play, 72-yard drive that culminated in a touchdown pass to Tyler Kroft. On the drive, Allen completed a key 3rd and 5 pass to Cole Beasley to keep the drive alive. Then, he completed a dump pass to Devin Singletary who took it down to the Seattle 5 yard line. Four plays later, Allen connected with Kroft.

 

 

Following Russell Wilson’s first interception, Allen went back to work moving the ball. Once again he dropped back on 9 of 10 snaps despite the positive game script. This isn’t something new either as the Bills have leaned heavily on the pass of late. Thanks to completed passes to Brown, Diggs, and Davis, the Bills once again drove deep into Seahawk territory. But this time the Seattle pass rush got to Allen twice, forcing a field goal.

With the Seahawks on the board, Allen continued to have success against the porous Seattle defense. He completed 5 consecutive passes, the last of which got the Bills into the end zone. Diggs and Brown each caught two balls on the drive. On Brown’s second catch of the drive, he caught the ball at the line of scrimmage and appeared to about to be tackled. But this is the Seattle defense we’re talking about, as a Brown stutter move broke him free for an 11-yard gain down to the Seattle 4-yard line. One play later, Allen connected with Davis for his third touchdown of the game.

 

 

Heading into the half, Josh Allen tried to play Superman and lead the Bills down the field with just a minute to play. He connected with Cole Beasley for a 23-yard gain on a play where he rolled out to his right and Beasley dove down to make the grab. Three plays later, the Bills attempted a 61-yard field goal which was no good.

Following the fumble recovery early in the 2nd Half, the Bills started up again. This time, it didn’t start off great. Allen took a sack and then an 11-yard completion to Diggs got called back due to an offensive pass interference penalty on Beasley. But play three – that was the golden play – as Allen connected with Gabriel Davis along the sideline for a 39-yard gain down to the 1-yard line. It looked to me as if the Bills would’ve challenged the ruling that it would’ve been a touchdown. The Bills failed to get into the end zone and settled for a field goal.

 

 

The Bills went three-and-out and following a Seattle touchdown, the Bills found themselves up just 7 points. Josh Allen went to work. He completed passes to Zack Moss and Diggs that went for 20+ yards apiece. To start the 4th Quarter, Allen took a sack. On 2nd and 15, the Bills took a false start penalty making it a tough 2nd and 20. Allen completed a pass to Diggs for 11 yards. On 3rd and 9, Allen took another sack, but wait, there’s a flag on the field and an illegal contact penalty on Jamal Adams keeps the drive alive. Then, following a Moss run that lost 6 yards and an incomplete pass, the Bills set up a screen pass to John Brown. With plenty of blockers in front of him, he took it 33 yards down to the Seattle 2 yard line. That set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Moss.

Following a Tre’Davious White pick and return that took the Bills down to the Seattle 3-yard line, Josh Allen scampered into the end zone to put the Bills back up by 3 touchdowns.

 

 

To end the game, the Bills went three-and out and then settled for a field goal following Wilson’s 4th turnover.

 

Running Backs

 

Zack Moss: 9 carries, 18 yards, 1 TD | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 30 yards

Devin Singletary: 2 carries, 1 yard | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 33 yards

 

In this game, Zack Moss out-snapped Devin Singletary 38 to 31, but I’m not sure this matters too much moving forward. Yes, Moss will get the goal-line work that doesn’t go to Josh Allen, but this team is extremely pass-heavy. This was as positive of a game script as you’re going to see and the Bills called pass plays on 78% of the time. Here’s Moss’s touchdown.

 

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

Stefon Diggs: 12 targets, 9 receptions, 118 yards

John Brown: 11 targets, 8 receptions, 99 yards

Gabriel Davis: 5 targets, 4 receptions, 70 yards, 1 TD

Cole Beasley: 3 targets, 3 receptions, 39 yards

Isaiah McKenzie: 1 target, 1 reception, 25 yards, 1 TD | 1 carry, 1 yard

Tyler Kroft: 1 target, 1 reception, 1 yard, 1 TD

 

Stefon Diggs and John Brown had themselves days against this Seattle secondary. With Jamal Adams handling the slot, Allen looked to his outside receivers all game. Diggs had just one deep target and one target in the end zone (pass interference penalty), but he was getting chunk yardage all over the field. At one point, he had consecutive 21-yard gains. Brown had 2 deep targets and 2 red-zone targets but didn’t find the end zone.

As I noted in Josh Allen’s writeup, Gabriel Davis had a catch and run that was spotted down at the 1, but it appeared that he got in the endzone. That would’ve been Davis’s second touchdown of the game.

With all the success Allen was having throwing to the outside, he didn’t need to look to Beasley who was covered by Jamal Adams.

 

— Rich Holman (@RichardoPL83 on Twitter)

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

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