Bills force four turnovers in win over Colts

The Buffalo Bills beat the Indianapolis Colts 30-20 and forced four turnovers along the way, the team’s season-high.

“Thought that the defense and the takeaways were a big time difference in the game. Then getting momentum back after our turnovers, with some key stops and fourth down stops,” said Bills head coach Sean McDermott.

The first turnover came on the Colts’ first play from scrimmage as Joe Flacco looked left, and targeted wide receiver Josh Downs downfield. Sitting underneath the route was Bills’ nickel Taron Johnson, who slid to his left and made the grab. Johnson reversed course at the 15-yard line and found the corner, crossing the goal line for a pick-six.

“We can make those plays, but at the same time, when it happens that early, I’m like, okay, on to the next play,” Johnson said. “Because, I mean, that was the first play of the game. So I’m like, I still got a whole game to play. So my mindset was just focused on the next play.”

Johnson continued to say that he saw a similar look earlier in the season, but he played it differently. Johnson believes that he thinks Flacco thought he’d play it that way again, leading to the interception.

“I’ve seen that play before against a different team and I played it differently. I mean, we were in a different call, too, but in that game,I played it differently, and I felt like they were expecting me to play it a different way,” Johnson said. “I took the ball. After that I just scanned the field and took it to the house.”

“When you can learn from it and say, hey, this is quite honestly, a copycat league where people try the same plays sometimes week to week,” McDermott said. “Even though it may not be in their repertoire normally and, and right away, the first play was one of those plays and [Taron Johnson] picked it. 

The Colts took over after the touchdown and Buffalo forced their second turnover in as many drives when Austin Johnson undercut a screen pass to Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor. This marks Austin Johnson’s second interception of his career.

“Austin Johnson coming up with another interception on the screen,” McDermott said. “We were able to make them one-dimensional, which was important for us.”

The Bills went into the third quarter leading 20-13 and with their second drive of the half, the Colts started from their own three-yard line. Indy drove 60 yards to get into Bills territory before defensive end Greg Rousseau swiped the ball out of Flacco’s hands. Safety Damar Hamlin jumped on the fumble and the Bills took over at midfield. This was Rousseau’s first forced fumble of the season and his second sack in as many weeks.

Rousseau now has 5.5 sacks on the year.

“Defense came out, especially in the second half,” Taron Johnson said. “We made a lot of plays and I feel like that helped us win for sure.”

In the fourth quarter, the Bills went up 23-13 and in response, the Colts began a drive with back-to-back first downs through the air. On the third play of the drive, however, Flacco threw a ball a tad too high, as Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce tipped it in the air and right into Bills safety Taylor Rapp’s hands.

The Bills shut out the Colts for much of the second half, only allowing a touchdown with two seconds on the clock. A big part of that was holding Colts running back Jonathan Taylor to just seven yards on the ground after he ran for 107 in the first half. 

“Run defense is usually fundamentally based and I thought they did a phenomenal job again adjusting at halftime with some good information sharing,” McDermott said. “That was being shared from the booth and some good communication and collaboration which it always takes and the players when executed.”

Buffalo’s defense ended the day with four sacks and six tackle-for-losses as well.

After two Josh Allen interceptions and four takeaways by the defense, the Bills turnover differential is now at +13 which ranks #1 in the NFL as of the early slate ending on Sunday. 

Buffalo’s 8-2 start is also its best since 1993.