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Bills use big 2nd half to defeat Cardinals 34-28 in Week 1

© Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Buffalo Bills came back from down 14 points to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 34-28 in Week 1 of the 2024-25 season.

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Arizona went up 17-3 early in the road game, scoring on its first three drives, but a touchdown on the closing possession of the first half gave the Bills a lot of momentum to build off in the second half. They opened the third quarter with a touchdown and scored another later in the period after strip sacking Kyler Murray to take a 24-17 lead and never looked back, even with the Cardinals scoring a kick-return touchdown.

Murray and the Cardinals had one last chance to take the lead on the final possession with just under two minutes remaining and no timeouts, but turned the ball over on downs in Buffalo territory with less than 30 seconds remaining.

Murray opened the season completing 21-of-31 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing five times for 57 yards. James Conner carried the ball 16 times for 50 yards and a touchdown. Highly-touted rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. only had three targets, catching one ball for four yards, as Greg Dortch led the receiving corps with six receptions for 47 yards.

Josh Allen carried the Bills as expected, going 18-of-23 on his passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns, as well as rushing nine times for 39 yards and two scores. James Cook led all players with 71 rushing yards for Buffalo on 19 carries.

Overall, the Cardinals defense struggled to limit drives, as linebacker Kyzir White led the team with 11 tackles (one for loss), while Budda Baker had 10 tackles and one for loss. The Bills defense registered four sacks against Murray, including three by Greg Roussseau. Arizona did have one more tackle for loss than Buffalo, finishing with five to the Bills’ four.

First Half

Conner started the game off with the first six touches for the Cardinals going for 40 yards, including 31 receiving. Arizona capitalized on this strong start, as Murray found Michael Wilson for a five-yard touchdown pass for the Cardinals’ opening score of the season. The Cardinals led the Bills 7-0 after the extra point with 7:47 remaining.

The Bills looked to get momentum back right away with a 53-yard kickoff return, but as soon as Buffalo got in the red zone, Allen was strip sacked by Roy Lopez and the ball was recovered by the Cardinals’ Justin Jones. This was only Lopez’s third career sack and first-ever forced fumble.

After the turnover, Murray led a 10-play, 60-yard drive, but the Bills ended up forcing a 29-yard field goal, which was drilled by Matt Prater to give Arizona a 10-0 lead right at the start of the second quarter. At this point, the Cardinals led the time of possession 12:40 to 2:23 and Murray had completed 10-of-11 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown, although Harrison had no catches.

Cardinals right tackle Jonah Williams went down with a knee injury at the end of the drive and did not return.

After the field goal, the Bills moved the ball down the field pretty easily. They appeared to score a touchdown after Allen rushed into the end zone on third-and-goal, but offensive lineman O’Cyrus Torrence was penalized for an obvious facemask. This pushed the ball all the way back to the Arizona 19-yard line, and after Allen rushed for no gain, Tyler Bass drained a 37-yard field goal to cut the Cardinals lead to 10-3 with 9:47 remaining in the second quarter.

Harrison dropped his first on-target pass during the Cardinals’ third offensive drive, but Murray went right back to him on a four-yard stop route the very next play for his first reception. Arizona continued to use short, but efficient plays to put together a 13-play, 71-yard drive wrapped up by a three-yard touchdown run by Conner to put the Cardinals up 17-3 with 2:40 left in the half.

The Bills had three early penalties on their closing possession. However, the Cardinals were then whistled for consecutive holding and roughing the passer penalties to move the Bills all the way to the Arizona 26-yard line. Allen then used his legs to rush for a seven-yard touchdown with 19 seconds remaining. Murray just took a knee on the final Arizona offensive possession.

Arizona dominated the time of possession 20:06 to 9:54 for the half. Murray put together a masterclass, finishing the half completing 16-of-19 passes for 131 yards and touchdown, and rushing four times for 28 yards. Conner had 18 yards on the ground and a touchdown on nine carries and was the team’s leading receiver with 33 yards on three catches. For the Bills, Allen completed all five of his passes in the half to five different receivers for 70 yards and had three carries for 20 yards and a touchdown.

Second Half

The Bills received the second half kickoff, and the Cardinals looked like they would force the first punt of the game, getting the Bills to a third-and-11, but Allen found Cook for a 25-yard pass for a first down. They would then march all the way down to the red zone, where Allen would throw his first incompletion after he completed his first nine. However, the next play on third-and-10, Allen found Mack Hollins for an 11-yard touchdown to tie the game at 17 with 9:51 to go in the third quarter.

Arizona then had the game’s first punt after going three-and-out on its first drive of the second half.  Murray was sacked on a third-and-six after the Bills brought a blitz, and the momentum was suddenly building for Buffalo.

The Bills went three-and-out on their next possession after Allen missed Marquez Valdes-Scantling on an open deep ball, punting it back to the Cardinals, who started the drive on their 21-yard line.

On second down, Rosseau had his third sack of the game and stripped the ball out of Murray’s hands from behind, and the Bills took over at the Arizona 21 after linebacker Dorian Williams fell on top of it.

The Cardinals forced the Bills to a fourth-and-one, but a tush push by Allen set up a first down for Buffalo. The very next play, Allen connected on a screen pass to Khalil Shakir, who took it into the end zone from 10 yards out to give Buffalo its first lead at 24-17 with 2:37 remaining in the third quarter.

Things were looking bleak for the Cardinals, as they were forced into a third-and-seven right away, but a 29-yard scramble by Murray and a 20-yard scamper by Conner suddenly had them at the Buffalo 18-yard line.

Time expired in the third quarter on the drive, and the Cardinals went into the fourth with excellent field position, but down 24-17 after Buffalo won the third quarter 14-0.

An outside run by Conner on third-and-four was stuffed for no gain and forced Matt Prater into a 31-yard field goal, as the Cardinals trailed 24-20 with 13:32 remaining in the game.

On the ensuing drive, Buffalo found itself in a fourth-and-2 at the Arizona 37, but Allen rushed for four yards to pick up the first down. Rookie Keon Coleman then made a spectacular sideline grab to set Buffalo up for a first-and-goal. Allen ended the drive with his second rushing touchdown of the day, this time from six yards out while hurdling over Budda Baker. Buffalo went ahead 31-20 with 8:44 left after the score.

Following the score, DeeJay Dallas took the Buffalo kickoff 96 yards to the house for the first-ever touchdown with the new dynamic kickoff rules. Conner then rushed in for a two-point conversion, and Arizona trailed 31-28 with 8:31 to go.

The Bills were unable to get anything going on their next offensive drive, and the Cardinals forced a punt and took over on their own 21 down three with 5:17 to play.

Buffalo once again brought pressure and Murray was sacked on third-and-long to give the Bills the ball right back after a three-and-out. A short, 25-yard punt by Blake Gillikin put the Bills at their Arizona 42 up three with 4:30 to go.

Buffalo rushed the ball a few times to get inside the Cardinals’ 25-yard line, but White was able to stop Allen on a designed quarterback run for loss on third-and-two, and Tyler Bass made a 39-yard field goal just after the two-minute warning to give Buffalo a 34-28 lead.

Bass then booted the kickoff out of bounds and the penalty gave the Cardinals the ball back at their own 40 down six with three timeouts and 1:51 on the clock. On a third-and-five, Murray found Dortch for a 12-yard gain to move the ball beyond midfield. A few plays later, on a fourth-and-seven from the Buffalo 29 and with 32 seconds remaining, Murray threw a jump ball to Dortch down the field, but it was knocked away to give the Bills the win.

Buffalo got back the ball and kneeled down.

Next Up

The Cardinals play their home opener next Sunday (Sept. 15) against the Los Angeles Rams at 1:05 p.m. MST. The Bills have a short week and will play their first road matchup in Miami against the Dolphins this Thursday (Sept. 12) at 5:15 p.m. MST.

DeeJay Dallas returns 1st touchdown of dynamic kickoff era

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

 

 

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