Whipping the Cowboys was as complete a victory as the Bills have had all season

Sal Maiorana
Democrat and Chronicle

ARLINGTON, Texas - You could almost see the wheels turning in Cole Beasley’s head the other day when he was trying to downplay his return to Dallas for Thursday’s Thanksgiving showcase against his old team. 

The Buffalo Bills wide receiver talked a lot about this being just another game, another notch the Bills needed on their belt — No. 9 to be exact — to keep their push for the postseason moving in the right direction.

But you know darn well Beasley couldn’t wait to get back to Big D, have a big day in what he hoped would be a Bills victory, and show the Cowboys that maybe they should have fed him the ball a little more often during his seven years with them and perhaps paid him in free agency.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 28:  Cole Beasley #10 of the Buffalo Bills runs the ball against Chidobe Awuzie #24 of the Dallas Cowboys in the second half at AT&T Stadium on November 28, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

“It feels great, man,” Beasley said after his perfect scenario played out as he caught six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown in the Bills’ 26-15 victory over the Cowboys. “I’m just glad I’m in a place that coaches believe in me, teammates believe in me, and they give me opportunities to do what I do. I was telling everybody before the game, ‘I’m just glad I’m on this side.’ It’s been a great experience. Everybody else played their butts off, man, and we got win No. 9. That’s most important. So just glad to take another step forward.”

When the Bills signed Beasley, I felt it was the perfect addition to an offense that has really never had a player quite like him, a quick-twitch slot receiver who can get open quickly and give the quarterback a readily available option.

It has taken a little while for Beasley and Josh Allen to get on the same page, but they are there now, and it’s a thing of beauty for a Buffalo offense that is starting to find its groove. In the last two games, Beasley has 12 catches for 186 yards and two scores and for the season he’s up to 55 receptions for 635 yards and 5 TDs.

“I’m extremely proud of Cole and happy for him,” said coach Sean McDermott. “He’s worked hard, and obviously we’re happy to have him on our team. There’s a lot of other stories in our locker room of guys like Cole that maybe didn’t work out in one spot, but it works out in Buffalo. That’s really the culture we’re trying to build, where guys come to Buffalo and they can become the best version of themselves.”

Beasley’s old coach, Jason Garrett, could only tip his cap when he said, “Beasley is a good player. He was a good player for us. He’s done a good job for them all year. We understood the challenges with him.”

They just didn’t do a very good job of stopping him.

It began right away as he hauled in a perfectly thrown clutch third-down pass from Allen for a 29-yard first-quarter gain, perhaps Allen’s best throw of the game. He then made a good read of a coverage on a first down at the Dallas 25 and it resulted in a second-quarter touchdown, a play where it looked like Allen was going to tuck the ball and run until Beasley made his move.

“Me and Cole were on the same page,” said Allen, who was 11-for-12 for 130 yards in the second half. “I wasn’t trying to run it there, and usually I’m not trying to run it but sometimes that option presents itself. He made a great play, cut behind the linebacker and caught it and had some (yards after catch) for the touchdown. It was a huge play for us.”

As the Bills continued to build their lead in the second half, all Beasley could do was look around at his old home and be thankful for the new lease on life he has with the Bills.

“There’s a bond here that I don’t think can happen in many places, with the way it’s set up,” he said. “I can’t explain everything, but we’re always together, man. It’s a different kind of brotherhood here. You know, we’re always together. Our kids are together. Coaches, players, everything. It’s really a unique and awesome thing that we have here in Buffalo. My family has loved every bit of it. That’s part of why I said I’ll play here until the wheels fall off.”

Here are some observations I had on the game:

The Bills’ defense is for real

I know, duh, right? But the one thought I couldn’t shake heading into this game was that the Bills’ defense was due for a clunker –—it has really had only one all year, against Philadelphia — and this seemed like the place where it would happen.

The Cowboys entered with the No. 1 offense in the league in terms of total yards and passing yards, and were sixth in points scored. They have weapons up and down the lineup, led by MVP candidate Dak Prescott and two-time rushing champ Ezekiel Elliott.

On a short week, in a big-time spot like Thanksgiving, not to mention the Cowboys coming off a lousy offensive performance in their loss to New England, it was all set up for the Bills’ defense to take one on the chin.

And in the first 4:26 of the first quarter, that’s what happened. The Cowboys easily moved downfield 75 yards for a touchdown, the huge crowd of more than 90,000 was going wild, and the Buffalo defense was reeling.

“That first drive we knew we were going to have to weather their storm, given the situation and playing here on Thanksgiving against a good football team,” said McDermott. “They came down that first drive and had us on our heels, but we’ve been through that before.”

He pointed to the Week 2 game at New York when the Giants did the same thing, scoring easily on their first possession. And like that game, that’s when it ended as the defense bounced back quickly and decisively.

“We settled down and made the adjustments,” said McDermott. “The players were great giving us good feedback on the sideline on what was going on and some things we could do.”

Dallas proceeded to go punt, punt, interception, fumble, missed field goal, missed field goal, turnover on downs, turnover on downs on its next eight possessions before finally scoring a garbage time late fourth-quarter touchdown.

“That first 15, offensive coordinators know what they want to do, they’re calling plays and we have to figure out what they’re doing,” said linebacker Lorenzo Alexander. “They didn’t do nothing out of the ordinary, so we just stayed calm, came back, made our adjustments and played fast the rest of the game and held them out of the end zone until the last few minutes.”

It was quite a show, and the Bills will have to be even better when they get back on the field to host Lamar Jackson and the red-hot Ravens on Dec. 8 at New Era Field.

Josh Allen has never been better

Allen said on Tuesday that he feels his season began to turn around after the rough day he had against the Patriots in Week 4. Since then, he feels like he has made a quantum leap in terms of his decision-making, his protection of the ball, and his feel for the offense. I’d have to say he’s right.

Against the Cowboys, all of that came together and he produced the best single-game passer rating (120.7) of his career by completing 19 of 24 passes for 231 yards.

“He’s playing elite right now,” Alexander said. “He has a great sense of when he needs to make a play, he’s done a great job protecting the ball, and we had some magic there on that fourth-and-short in the scrum when he finds it.”

That play cannot be overlooked. The score was 7-7 and the Bills had fourth-and-1 at the Dallas 26 at the two-minute warning. Allen bobbled the snap on what was going to be a handoff to Devin Singletary, and he somehow managed to find the ball in the pile, push forward, and extend past the line to reach for the first down. 

On the next play, John Brown threw his 28-yard double-reverse TD pass to Devin Singletary to give the Bills the lead for good. “I wanted it bad,” he said of that first down. “And I knew it put us in a good position to score points.”

The Bills have a kicking problem

Buffalo Bills tight end Lee Smith (85) and Stephen Hauschka, right, watch an unsuccessful field goal attempt by Hauschka in the first half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth)

I had not really been worried about Stephen Hauschka until Thursday. Now, his inaccuracy is a major concern, especially for a team that in all likelihood will make the playoffs, and typically plays in one-possession type games.

In perfect dome conditions, Hauschka was wide right on a 50-yard field goal and a 33-yard extra point, while a successful 41-yard field goal doinked off the right upright and luckily caromed through. He later made an extra point and a 26-yard field goal, but a kicker who once was nearly automatic no longer is.

Hauschka is 15 of 21, a 71.4 percent rate, which would be the worst of his career, and only slightly better than last season’s previous career low of 72.2 percent. He has also missed two extra points this year on 28 attempts.

The DTs had another big game

Buffalo’s rotation on the interior of defensive line, which has consisted of Star Lotulelei Ed Oliver, Corey Liuget and Jordan Phillips, has been up and down most of the season. But against the Cowboys, there was plenty to like.

Lotulelei made the first interception of his career, Oliver enjoyed the first two-sack game of his career, and also forced a fumble and deflected a pass, and Phillips shared a sack with Shaq Lawson.

Oliver’s play was particularly exciting because the rookie seems to be improving every week, ever since he was pulled from the starting lineup after the loss to the Eagles.

“It’s just a matter of time before I put it all together,” he said. “It’s not together yet, but it’s coming along nicely.”

Extra points

► Player of the game: Allen played exactly the kind of game you wish he’d always play. Who cares about 300 passing yards when he’s as efficient as he was against Dallas?

► Play of the game: John Brown’s 28-yard double-reverse TD pass to Devin Singletary that put the Bills ahead for good in the second quarter. It was a beautifully executed play and there was no way the Cowboys could have stopped it, short of Brown throwing a poor pass, which he didn’t.

► Unsung hero: Star Lotulelei has caught some heat for his play not living up to his contract, and rightly so, but he had a big game with his first career interception and a blocked field goal.

► Injuries: OT Ty Nsekhe was inactive due to an ankle injury. There were no injuries reported during the game, which keeps the Bills as one of the most incredibly healthy teams we’ve ever seen 12 games and 13 weeks into a season.

MAIORANA@Gannett.com