By Joe Buscaglia, Tim Graham, Michael-Shawn Dugar and Lauren Smith
Josh Allen tossed a pair of touchdown passes, James Cook rushed for two more scores and the Buffalo Bills delivered a decisive 31-10 win on the road over the Seattle Seahawks.
The Bills (6-2) never trailed in the game and posted a season-high 445 yards of offense Sunday on the way to a third consecutive victory.
Allen threw for 283 yards and first-half touchdowns to rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman and tight end Dalton Kincaid, and Khalil Shakir had a season-best 107 receiving yards. Cook added a season-best 111 rushing yards and the two scores in the second half as the Bills built the lead as high as 28 points in the final frame.
The Seahawks (4-4) didn’t reach the end zone until midway through the final quarter on a short scoring run from Zach Charbonnet. Buffalo’s defense limited Seattle to season-lows in scoring and yardage — 233 yards of total offense and 32 rushing yards — as the Seahawks dropped their fourth game in the last five.
James Cook again 💪💪 @BuffaloBills fans, how you feeling?
📺: #BUFvsSEA on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/Wt4r3BydtO— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2024
Bills’ defense key in win
One of the biggest questions the Bills defense had to answer was in keeping Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III from hitting the big play on rushing attempts.
Not only did the Bills avoid Walker from busting a huge run when the game still mattered, but they kept him hemmed in completely. His best gain was only 5 yards, coming only on a busted fumble play where he had some open air. Walker had only nine rushes for 12 yards.
It was especially impressive for the Bills as they were without their top linebacker Terrel Bernard, and his backup, Baylon Spector, had struggled in previous outings to help limit the run.
The Bills had a total team win, but the defense deserves a lot of credit for limiting what is usually an extremely explosive offense. — Joe Buscaglia, Bills beat writer
A beautiful TD catch by @keoncoleman6 🔥
📺: #BUFvsSEA on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/t2VpmIdGGP— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2024
Mike Macdonald looked outmatched by Sean McDermott
This is the first game of the Macdonald era in which the Seahawks looked completely outmatched.
The total number of penalties (11) stand out, but the Bills somehow committed even more errors (13). The real difference in this game was the Bills played like a team led by an experienced head coach who had his club ready to travel across the country and play their brand of football. Meanwhile, Macdonald’s Seahawks couldn’t move the ball nor stop the Bills when they had it. Seattle lost the battle at the line scrimmage and players on each side of the ball lost their cool.
At 4-4 with a chance to still be atop the NFC West after Sunday night, the Seahawks don’t need to panic but they do need to look in the mirror and find an identity. — Michael-Shawn Dugar, Seahawks beat writer
Bills receivers Coleman, Shakir stand out
Coleman played a grown-man’s game in the Seattle rain, wrestling a touchdown toss from Pro Bowl cornerback Riq Woolen in the first quarter and making another gorgeous, contested catch for a 21-yard gain in the third quarter to set up a touchdown.
The past two weeks combined, he posted nine receptions and 195 yards.
But the best receiver Sunday was Allen’s security blanket, Khalil Shakir, who caught his first eight targets for 99 yards. The lone misconnection was a pass deflected at the line of scrimmage.
Eight receptions already were a career-high for Shakir, who finished with nine receptions for 107 yards, eight short of that personal best also.
A remarkable stat, especially considering Shakir was hobbled by a right ankle sprain four weeks ago: Allen has targeted Shakir 36 times this year with only one incompletion. Since the start of last season, Shakir has caught 75-of-83 targets (90.4 percent) for 1,032 yards. — Tim Graham, Bills beat writer
Seattle looked one-dimensional
Seattle’s issues being one-dimensional offense popped up again. Walker and Charbonnet combined for 16 yards on 12 carries. Even before the score got out of hand, Seattle had no success running the ball. A 13-yard scramble by Geno Smith in the fourth quarter was the longest carry of the afternoon.
When Seattle can’t do anything but drop back to pass, the results will almost always be bad. That’s been the case all season and Sunday was no different. — Dugar
(Photo: Jane Gershovich / Getty Images)
