Buffalo- Coming off a thrilling 24-16 victory against the Indianapolis Colts last week, the Bills took that momentum into Carolina and went up 10-0 early in the first quarter. Bills’ QB Josh Allen was on fire coming out the gate. He threw a couple of deep balls to his receivers and made sure that he kept the chains moving on critical third-down possessions. He finished his night 9 of 11 for 102 yards.
The Bills’ defense was the talk of the first half. The Carolina Panthers could not get any productivity out of their receivers nor their running backs. Cam Newton did not play while Kyle Allen took his place and was named the starter. Allen struggled to find his rhythm and was trying to figure out the Bills’ zone, which did not work because the Bills’ kept bringing a Blitzer on the right side of the line.
However late in the first half, the Panthers’ defense stepped up and forced a fumble, which put them in a decent position to score. Will Grier came into the game and completed two decent passes before he was picked off by Bills’ CB Kevin Johnson around the 40-yard line of the Bills and Johnson took it to the crib.
Before the end of the half, the Bills’ defense made a mental error by using another player to leverage themselves to block an attempted field goal. The mistake cost the Bills the ball and gave the Panthers a chance to put points on the board before the half. The Panthers could not get into the endzone, so they had to settle for a field goal. After the successful field goal, the Panthers let Matt Barkley throw a 40-yard bomb to his receiver and three plays later Barkey throws a fade route to Duke Willams to put the Bills up 24-3.
The Panthers added three points before the half to make the score 24-6.
In the second half, the Bills on both sides of the ball was not disciplined. There were too many costly penalties that ended potential drives.
In the fourth quarter Bills’ third-string QB Tyree Jackson threw a slant pass to Christian Wade, who evaded tackles, turned a short gain into a 45-yard gain, and put the ball on the Panther’s goalline. The Panthers held the Bills’ offense to a field goal, making the score 27-6.
Late into the 4th quarter, the Panthers finally got themselves a touchdown and was successful with a 2-point conversion making the score 27-14. After a couple of runs to run out the clock, the Bills finish what they started and now are 2-0 in preseason play.
