The Best of One Bills Drive - Sept. 22, 2019

(Greg D. Tranter and Budd Bailey have written a book about the history of the football stadium in Orchard Park called "One Bills Drive." It has been published by Reedy Press (https://reedypress.com/shop/one-bills-drive-the-buffalo-bills-greatest-home-games/). The books covers the top 50 games played in the stadium's history from 1973 until January 2025. However, there are several other games that qualified as thrilling - but they couldn't crack the top 50. Those contests deserve to be remembered too, so we'll offer them in this space a couple of times per week during the season.)

Attendance: 69,448  

Score by Quarters:

                                    1       2       3       4       Final

Cincinnati (L, 0-3)       0        0        7       10     17

Buffalo (W, 3-0)            8        6      0       7        21

Scoring Summary:

Quarter – Team – Play

1 – Bills – Allen 1-yard pass to Knox (Allen pass to Beasley)

2 – Bills – Hauschka 34-yard field goal

2 – Bills – Hauschka 45-yard field goal

3 – Bengals – Dalton 1-yard run (Bullock kick)

4 – Bengals – Dalton 1-yard pass to Mixon (Bullock kick)

4 – Bengals – Bullock 43-yard field goal

4 – Bills – Gore 1-yard run (Hauschka kick)

Recap: The 2018 season had been disappointing for the Buffalo Bills. They were coming off a trip to the playoffs in 2017, and in the following spring they traded up to draft a promising quarterback named Josh Allen. However, the team’s momentum came to an abrupt halt with a 6-10 season that included four straight losses.

Therefore, a good start in 2019 was in the interests of everyone. It might give Allen and the rest of the team some confidence that they could play with the NFL’s best. A good opening to the football year also might supply a little juice to a fanbase that was looking for an excuse to become excited.

Buffalo had gathered some energy by beating the Jets and Giants in the first two games of the season. A 3-0 record, however, is tougher to reach. The Bills hadn’t done that since 2011 – although that team couldn’t stand prosperity and finished 6-10 after a 5-2 start. Maybe this season would be different, starting with a game against the winless Cincinnati Bengals.

Buffalo certainly started the contest as if it meant business. Allen connected with Dawson Knox to open the scoring late in the first period, and Allen’s pass to Cole Beasley added two more points. Stephen Hauschka kicked a pair of medium-range field goals in the second quarter, and the Bills had a 14-0 lead at halftime. Buffalo seemed to be in good shape, considering the way the Bengals were playing – which their own players admitted later was poor.

“We can’t have the performance we had in the first half and expect to win,” Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton said.

But the Bills knew all about what Dalton could do on the field. He led the Bengals to a last-minute win in Baltimore in 2017 that allowed the Bills to sneak into the playoffs that year. Buffalo’s fans appreciated that effort so much that they donated $442,000 to Dalton’s foundation. A big second half wouldn’t go over so well this time.

Dalton put the Bengals on the scoreboard with a short run in the third quarter. Then with 12:27 left in regulation the quarterback completed a short pass to Joe Mixon, and the extra point tied the game. If that wasn’t enough reason for concern, Dalton moved Cincinnati into field goal range later in the period, and Randy Bullock converted from 43 yards away. The Bengals had a three-point lead, and the Bills had less than five minutes to win.

Allen didn’t need that much time. Buffalo moved the ball 78 yards on seven plays. The key moment came on a pass from Allen to Knox, who made a great catch and then bulldozed some defenders as he completed a crucial 49-yard gain. “When you’re a defense, and you see that stuff coming from the offense, I think everyone jumped off the bench and was excited,” Bills’ safety Micah Hyde said. “The crowd went wild.”

Frank Gore finished the job with a short plunge to give the Bills a 21-17 lead with four minutes left. But with Dalton waiting for his last chance, Buffalo could hardly exhale.

Cincinnati did move the ball 47 yards to reach the Bills’ 28-yard line, but there were only seconds left. Buffalo snuffed out the Bengals’ last hope when Hyde tipped a pass that was intercepted by Tre’Davious White at the 10-yard line, and the Bills were 3-0 for the third time in 26 years. It was the fourth of four turnovers by the Bengals, which was a big factor in the outcome. 

The game shouldn’t have come down to the final minutes. The Bills had chances to finish off the Bengals well before the end, but didn’t. Playoff teams do that.

“Obviously being 3-0 is great,” linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said. “But teams that seem to separate themselves over a period of time when they’re up and have a game – I’ll say semi-under control – they know how to put teams away, and so that it’s not going to come down to two minutes at the end like it did.”

“We won and that’s all that matters,” White said. “We’re blessed.”

Noteworthy: Allen finished 23 of 36 for 243 yards and one interception. Dalton was in the same neighborhood at 20 of 36 for 250 yards. … Gore led the Bills with 76 yards rushing, 30 ahead of Allen. … Knox’s touchdown was his first since his junior year in high school. “You know, honestly, I never thought about it. I just took it game by game,” he said. … Cincinnati had a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown wiped out by a holding penalty. … Dalton had been 3-0 against the Bills until this game. … Zac Taylor of the Bengals became the fifth head coach in team history to start his first season 0-3. Taylor was only the 10^th coach in team history. … Before the game, the Bills saluted superfan Ezra “Pancho Billa” Castro, who had died in May because of cancer. In 2018, Castro was called up to the stage of the NFL draft to announce the Bills’ third-round selection.

Legacy: The Bills weren’t good enough to beat New England at home the following week, but had enough in the tank to improve to 9-3 by the end of November. Even a 1-3 finish couldn’t keep Buffalo out of the playoffs. The Bills’ 10-win season was the first time that the team hit double digits in victories in 20 years.