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Buffalo Bills Rumors: Tyrod Taylor And Karlos Williams Get Top Grades In Midseason Report Card

By Daniel Benjamin
Published on: 06:23 PST, Nov 9, 2015

The Buffalo Bills are finally healthy.

With nearly all their offensive weapons in place, the Buffalo Bills improved to 4-4 on the season with a much needed 33-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. The Bills are currently 7th in the AFC playoff race, just a half-game behind the sixth-place Pittsburgh Steelers.

Buffalo snapped a two-game losing streak, and the offense got big plays in both the passing and running games as quarterback Tyrod Taylor and wide receiver Sammy Watkins, along with running backs LeSean McCoy and Karlos Williams, returned from injuries. The Bills totaled 420 total yards offense with 266 coming on the ground — which Elias Sports Bureau says is the franchise’s most rushing yard since 1996 — and no turnovers.

Taylor, playing for the first time since sustaining a knee injury during Week 5, connected on 11-of-12 passes for 181 yards and one touchdown. More importantly than gaudy numbers, Taylor made plays when he needed to.

In what was probably the play of the game, Taylor threw a beautiful pass that Sammy Watkins hauled in for a touchdown to increase the Bills lead to 26-14 with 2:12 left in the third quarter. On third-and-14 at the Bills 44-yard line, Watkins blew by Dolphins’ cornerback Brent Grimes off the line of scrimmage, and Taylor lofted a perfect pass in the right corner of the end zone, for which Watkins made a sprawling grab.

Taylor contributed 44 yards on the ground, whereas McCoy ran for 112 yards along with a score on 16 carries. Williams added 112 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Watkins had a career night, according to ESPN, finishing with a career-best 168 yards on eight receptions. Watkins accounted for 92.8 percent of the Bills receiving yards, marking the highest percentage total since December 1996 when Baltimore’s Qadry Ismail had 96.8 percent of the Ravens total.

Yahoo Sports reports that the game marked the first time in Bills history that they’ve had two 100-yard rushers and a 100-yard receiver in the same game.

“We have a lot of talent, and unfortunately, we had so many injuries that we haven’t necessarily seen them,” Buffalo head coach Rex Ryan, who earned his 50th career regular season victory, told reporters. “So let us be healthy and then judge us for who we are.”

Defensively, the Bills struggled once again. Buffalo permitted Miami to gain 397 yards and 29 first downs. The Dolphins amassed 6.4 yards per play and gained 106 yards on the ground. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill completed 27-of-36 passes for 307 yards.

Defensive end Jerry Hughes made the biggest defensive play of the game for the Bills. Three plays prior to when Taylor hooked with Watkins for the touchdown, Hughes beat his check with a spin move and stripped Tannehill as he was trying to throw the ball.

Hughes finished with three tackles, two sacks, and two quarterback hits.

Buffalo 2-1 on the road will play five of its next six games away from Ralph Wilson stadium. The Bills start their road trip against the New York Jets (5-3), who are coming off a 28-23 victory over Jacksonville, on Thursday. They will then travel to New England (11/23), Kansas City (11/29), Philadelphia (12/13), and Washington (12/20).

Buffalo hosts Houston on December 6.

The rest of the article will evaluate how the Bills are doing at the midway point.

Buffalo has been kind of a disappointment this season. The Bills have dealt with numerous injuries, but they lost three of four prior to the victory over the Dolphins. They suffered a disappointing loss to Jacksonville in England (34-31), gave up 34 points in the loss to Cincinnati, and played horribly against the New York Giants (24-10). Sandwiched in between the losses was an unimpressive win against Tennessee (14-13).

Buffalo gets a C+ overall on offense. The Bills rank eighth in the NFL in points (26.1), 20th in yards (350.5) and tied for 11th for fewest turnovers (11). Buffalo has surrendered the seventh-most sacks (23) is No. 18 in third-down conversions (37.1 percent) and has committed the most offensive penalties (85).

The Bills have tallied 30 or more points in half of their games and have been held to less than 20 points twice.

Quarterbacks get a B+. Taylor gets an A for a grade. The 26-year-old is 4-2 as a starter and is averaging over 240 yards of total offense a game. While his inexperience has shown at times, Taylor is completing 71.8 percent of his passes (107-for 149) for 213 yards a game. He has tossed 10 touchdowns and four interceptions while adding two rushing scores. Taylor also has impressive QB and QPR ratings.

E.J. Manuel gets a C for his role as a backup. Manuel has decent statistical numbers but struggled badly against the Bengals.

Running backs get an A. The Bills had nine rushes for at least 10 yards against the Dolphins and rank second in the NFL with 141.6 yards a game. McCoy gets an A-, as he missed two games with an injury. The 27-year old leads the team with 91 carries and 416 yards. He has two rushing touchdowns as well as one receiving score along with 13 receptions. McCoy averages a pretty solid 4.4 yards a carry.

Note: McCoy injured his shoulder on Sunday but is expected to ready to play against the Jets.

Williams gets an A+. He has accumulated 336 yards on 52 carries and five touchdowns for 6.6 per carry average. The 23-year-old has two 100-yard games (both against the Dolphins) and also five receptions and another score.

Dan Herron and Boobie Dixon are the other two backs on the roster. Herron joined the Bills when Williams and McCoy were battling injuries. Heron averages 3.4 yards a carry and has three catches. In the meanwhile, Dixon has 19 yards on 15 attempts though he also has five receptions.

Receivers get a C. The loss of wide out Percy Harvin hurts as does not having Watkins the entire season hurts the entire corp. Tight end Charles Clay ( grade B) has a team-high 35 receptions and a team-high 51 targets. Clay has had a couple of big games – one really big against the Giants – and a couple of disappearing acts.

Watkins also gets a B. He has not been thrown to a ton (25 targets) but has demonstrated his ability when given a chance.

Robert Woods (26 receptions) and Chris Hogan (20 catches) add depth for the Bills and both get a C for a grade.

Defensively, Buffalo gets a D+ for a grade. The Bills were expected to be one of the best in the NFL this year. Yet, they rank in the middle of the pack in points given up (178/22.2 ppg) – Buffalo has officially surrendered 190 points but 12 were scored by the opponents defense – and No. 16 in total yards (353.5).

The Bills are No. 24 in the league in pass defense but No. 6 in run defense. Buffalo ranks No. 17 in third down conversions (38.6 percent) and No. 10 in penalties (63). They also have forced just 12 turnovers (14th) and recorded 13 sacks (26th). However, the Bills do have two defensive touchdowns.

The defensive line gets an F. Kyle Williams and Mario Williams have both underperformed badly and get an F. Kyle Williams has missed the last two weeks and is expected to be out at least two more. Mario Williams and Hughes, who gets a D+ mainly because of his performance against the Dolphins, have combined for six sacks as each have three apiece. Marcellus Dareus hasn’t produced like he did last year but receives a D.

The linebackers get a C. Preston Brown has been the best of the bunch and is second on the team with 64 tackles. He and Nigel Bradham have struggled the last two weeks, but Brown gets a C+. Bradham only has 43 tackles and has really struggled this season in Ryan’s system earning him a C. Manny Lawson is the only other linebacker to see a ton of action and has done a decent job (grade B).

The defensive backs get a B+. Cornerback’s Stephon Gilmore and rookie Ronald Darby as well as safety Corey Graham have been excellent this season and get an A+. Nickell Robey and Duke Williams have been very good and get a B, whereas Barcarri Rambo gets a C+. Aaron Williams, who got injured in Week 2, would have made the secondary that much stronger.

The kicking game gets a B-. Dan Carpenter has had many field goal opportunities (9-of-11) and did miss an extra point this season so he C+. Punter Colton Schmidt has been very effective kicking the ball and receives a B+.

[Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images]

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