Bills Rally at Home

The Arizona Cardinals dominated offensively early and took advantage of the Buffalo Bills’ mistakes on offense to take a 17-3 lead Sunday afternoon at Highmark Stadium. However, Bills quarterback Josh Allen was too much for the Arizona defense. He threw two touchdown passes and rushed for another pair as the Bills rallied from 14 points down to win 34-28.

Allen was 18-for-23 passing for 232 yards and two scores and ran the ball nine times for 39 yards and two touchdowns.

After 190 first-half yards on offense, Cardinals only gained 70 the rest of the way, but got a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from DeeJay Dallas to pull within three points.

In the end, the Cardinals had one more opportunity but could not convert and they fell to 0-1 to start the season.

Buffalo ultimately rallied and found a way to win, but the start of the contest was far from ideal. Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray picked through the Bills’ defense throughout the first two quarters, finishing the first half 16 of 19 passing for 130 yards and a touchdown. He frequently had long stretches to throw as Buffalo struggled to generate consistent pressure throughout the first two frames, with the Bills’ defenders having difficulty tackling after Murray found his open targets. Buffalo’s defense allowed points on all of Arizona’s first-half drives and allowed the Cardinals to convert on five of seven third downs, their struggles complemented by the offense’s inability to get much of anything going consistently outside of running the ball with James Cook.

The Bills found themselves down 17-3 ahead of their final drive of the half, a series on which both teams took several costly penalties. Josh Allen found paydirt on that drive and brought Buffalo within a score entering the second half, and the Bills looked generally better in the third and fourth quarters. The improved second half and ultimate win will prompt some members of the Buffalo faithful to forget the slow start, but it needs to be mentioned; the Bills were beaten by both themselves and the Cardinals in the first half, taking five penalties for 40 yards in addition to being out possessed by a 2:1 raito. It’s, again, not the end of the world, but it’s also not great for a team kicking off their season in front of a raucous home crowd.