Buffalo Bills Game Recap
Dec 1, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson (22) breaks a tackle by Atlanta Falcons defensive end Osi Umenyiora (50) during the first half at the Rogers Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
This Sunday, of week 13 in the NFL Regular season saw the Buffalo Bills take on the Atlanta Falcons in a “home game” played in Toronto, Ontario, Canada’s Rogers Center. The Bills were coming off a spanking of the lowly New York Jets, two weeks ago, taking on the 2-9 Falcons who lost another big letdown game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. The Bills needed this win if they wanted to stay in contention in the AFC.
The first quarter saw the action start fast for the Bills, as they scored a touchdown after a Falcons opening possession punt, a one yard plunge by Fred Jackson. The big play of the drive came from CJ Spiller however, who ripped off a big 77 yard dash, something that Bills fans had been waiting for all season for him to do. After another three and out from the Falcons, the Bills once again drove down the field and scored another rushing touchdown, once again Fred Jackson doing the honours by powering it in from four yards out this time. This time the Falcons managed to answer with their own touchdown drive, as they marched down the field, and capped things off with a 27 yard run by Steven Jackson, making the score 14-7 Bills after the first quarter. The second quarter slowed down a bit, as the Falcons opened the quarter up with a punt, which was followed by a Bills field goal from Dan Carpenter, from 29 yards out. The scoring didn’t stop there, as the Falcons once again drove most of the field to score another touchdown, this time from relative unknown Antone Smith, who ran 38 yards for the score, his only carry of the game as well. Finally, a 49 yard field goal by Matt Bryant capped off the first half, with things all knotted up at 17 entering halftime.
The Bills couldn’t do anything starting with the football, but the Falcons could, as Matt Ryan tossed his first touchdown of the afternoon to tight end Tony Gonzalez from 11 yards out. The Bills were once again forced to punt on their next drive, but were gift wrapped an opportunity, as Matt Ryan fumbled the ball, and was recovered by the already legendary Kiko Alonso. The Bills wasted no time in turning this into points, as the very next play saw Fred Jackson receive a pass from EJ Manuel from 21 yards out. Another pair of punts ended the third quarter, the score once again tied at 24 a piece. After another Falcons punt started the fourth quarter, the Bills took advantage of an unnecessary roughness penalty, capitalized by a 36 yard run from CJ Spiller, to make it 31-24 Bills. Both teams traded a couple punts with each other, before Atlanta took the ball down field and scored on a one yard dive by Steven Jackson, but only after a controversial pass interference gave them the ball at the goaline, tying things up at 31 a piece. The Bills were driving, and had the ball within the 35 yard line of the Falcons, but a Stevie Johnson fumble would cost them, and take this game to overtime.
The Bills started overtime with the ball, but a case of deja vu would cost them, as Scott Chandler coughed up the ball after a catch, and was returned all the way to the Buffalo 47, setting the Falcons up perfectly to win the game. Following a big catch and run by Harry Douglas, Matt Bryant would boot through the game winning field goal from 36 yards out, ending things 34-31 for the Falcons. This drops the Bills to to 4-8 and the Falcons to 3-9 on the year.