The Buffalo Bills had one of the best games in the history of Highmark Stadium for its farewell season opener. That’s 52 years of existence and history. This game certainly can make the case as one of the best.
There were some young guys forced into action early for the Bills with plenty of mixed results over the course of the ball game. Obviously, the entirety of the defense had a rough outing outside of some takeover moments from veteran defensive tackle Ed Oliver that changed Buffalo’s fortune.
Rookies aren’t regularly part of a Super Bowl hopeful’s team success as early as Week 1 — especially when the opponent is the preseason Super Bowl favorite with a buzzsaw offense and a potential top-five defense in the league. Let’s talk about how the rookies performed and where we’re at with others who may not have participated.
The Bills made the decision at cutdown time to place Maxwell Hairston, the team’s first-round draft choice, on Injured Reserve (IR) with designation to return. Hairston should hit the ground running come Week 5 when he’s eligible to return. When he actually returns to the lineup to receive run with the defense remains to be seen. The Bills’ starting cornerbacks played 100% of snaps on Sunday night. But there’s no doubting the team is lacking back-end speed that could be much needed for a squad that looked slow against the Ravens.
Sanders played 16 total snaps on Sunday. He logged a pressure that forced Lamar Jackson out of the pocket once. As was the case for most of the defense, he was sealed or washed too many times Sunday night. There’s no doubting that Sanders has very good pass-rushing upside, but the Bills will need more from him down-to-down in terms of holding his ground in run support. If that fails, his snaps won’t increase throughout the season. Let’s give him some time to improve as his NFL reps steady.
2024 6th-round selection Javon Solomon got the nod for a jersey over Jackson on Sunday. Jackson had struggles in the preseason as a pass rusher while Solomon certainly supplies some juice as a situational pass rusher. Solomon didn’t perform at a high level and clearly struggled against Baltimore’s run game. That makes the decision to keep Solomon over Jackson a bit puzzling with Jackson’s size, length, and ability to lock out and hold up against a dynamic rushing attack.
We’ll see if Jackson works his way into the lineup at any point, but keep in mind that the Bills are without Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi for six games due to suspension. It’s a very early marker, but it’s certainly not encouraging to see Jackson a healthy inactive with multiple players shelved.
Walker earned himself a jersey on game day logging 13 snaps out of a possible 51 for the defense. Walker was relatively quiet in this game and didn’t register a sack. However, it is notable that Walker appeared to have blocked the outside rusher at the end of the game that partially turned Ravens star safety Kyle Hamilton loose to block the game-winning field goal. Luckily, Hamilton narrowly missed the ball and all was well. However, it did appear Walker blocked the wrong man on the PAT. That will be a teaching moment for Walker and something to get cleaned up for the future. He wasn’t notably good nor bad in his reps based on initial watch.
One of the more optimistic rookies in preseason games had been Hancock — a player who appeared to be ascending before a minor shoulder injury put him on the shelf for a short period of time while missing the final preseason game. However, he was inactive in this contest. The Bills’ safeties were genuinely abysmal in the game with Taylor Rapp’s lack of athleticism very glaring and Cole Bishop’s reaction timing and tackling leaving plenty to be desired over the course of the game. Hancock played with edge and pace in his time on the field this preseason. If the Bills won’t play Damar Hamlin (sub par athlete), perhaps Hancock needs a jersey and an opportunity if the play at safety doesn’t improve.
One of the biggest late-game heroics came from third-string tight end Jackson Hawes. He was a player who struggled with receiving ability in college, and that definitely carried over into the preseason. Hawes played 16 snaps on Sunday while Alec Anderson (Buffalo’s sixth offensive lineman) played just 3 snaps. After the Bills forced a turnover, Hawes (the most unsuspecting character in the comeback) made a double catch. You’d like to see him catch it clean, but the concentration to bring the ball down to the one-yard line that ultimately set up another quick score was clutch. Hawes is going to be a difference maker as a blocker this year, but his catch down the seam en route to a clutch ending is his most memorable mark on this game.
Another Day 3 selection forced to play a lot in Week 1 was Strong. The sixth-round selection out of Virginia Tech had a chase-down tackle to prevent a touchdown by Derrick Henry in the second quarter. He picked up a questionable holding call in the first quarter that wiped out a sack of Jackson. There was also a blown coverage in the third quarter in man coverage that the Ravens popped on the Bills where Strong was late to read it out and allowed an explosive pass to wide receiver Zay Flowers, resulting in a 38-yard gain. Strong was largely a positive simply due to the fact you hardly noticed him during the course of the game. Bills coach Bobby Babich praised the rookie for his play on Sunday in a game filled with defensive errors.
Lundt was a healthy and unsurprising inactive on Sunday. He was a player square on the roster bubble on cutdown day. We’ll have to see what becomes of Lundt when Tylan Grable returns off his stint on IR due to concussion.
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