The Buffalo Bills Win, But A Costly Victory

The Buffalo Bills beat the Cleveland Browns 19-17 Friday night, but injuries put two veteran players out of the game for the Bills leaving some big question marks. 

Quarterback AJ McCarrin suffered a shoulder injury that reportedly was a fracture to his right collar bone.  That would mean some significant time on the sidelines.  And defensive tackle Kyle Williams limped off with an injured right knee and was taken to the locker room.  Bills punter Cory Carter was also helped off the field after a late hit.

The injury to McCarrin made a tough night even tougher for him.  He completed only 3 of 6 passes for 12 yards and the Bills failed to gain a first down in four tries with him under center in the first quarter.

Josh Allen took over and finally got the Bills moving.  Allen led the Bills to scores on three straight drives and finished 9 of 13 passing for 60 yards and a touchdown.

Nathan Peterman started off slow with two incompletions but completed every pass after that to finish 8 of 10 for 113 yards including a 35-yard touchdown to a wide open tight end Nick O'Leary.  O'Leary finished with 4 catches for 70 yards.

Running back Keith Ford had a busy night with 9 carries for 23 yards, but a guy who's had a very good summer so far is Marcus Murphy who showed speed and an ability to quickly find open lanes.  Murphy carried four times for 39 yards.

Rookie kicker Tyler Davis had a night to forget.  He had a kickoff go out of bounds, missed an extra point and a 45 yard field goal try went wide.  Stephen Hauschka was perfect on a pair of field goal tries including a 53-yarder.

The game was a feature match-up between the first two quarterbacks taken in the NFL draft last spring - Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield.  Mayfield was 7 of 13 passing for 75 yards.

The Bills next game is a nationally televised game against the Cincinnati Bengals a week from Sunday at New Era Field.