Bills Vs. Cowboys Game Breakdown

The Bills playoff hopes are dead, but they still have games to play. They finished up their 2nd last game of the 2015 campaign by taking out the beaten up, 4-11 Cowboys. The game was quiet from both sides, as both teams failed to move the ball effectively throughout the game, for the most part. Both teams came into Sunday extremely banged up, and both teams left a little more banged up. Buffalo was without several key starters, including Shady McCoy, Charles Clay, Ronald Darby, Kyle Williams, Aaron Williams, Stephon Gilmore, and Nigel Bradham. Meanwhile, the Cowboys miserable season carried on without Dez Bryant or Tony Romo. The Bills took this quiet showdown by a score of 16-6 and set themselves up with a chance to finish with another .500 season at 8-8. They're going to finish 3rd in the AFC East. Let's break down the game.

Offense:
Buffalo was only able to put up 408 yards of total offense today, but they absolutely tore it up on the ground. They gashed the Dallas defense for 236 yards. Buffalo had 3 rushers with 50+ yards on the day. The offense started off slow though, putting up only 9 points through the first 3 and a half quarters. The largest play of the day came from a huge 50 yard rush from a breakout game by the Bills' recent acquisition, Mike Gillislee. Other key rushers were QB Tyrod Taylor and RB Karlos Williams.

Tyrod Taylor was nearly invisible in the passing game on Sunday, as he finished his day with a stat line of 13/18, 172 yds, 0 TD's and 1 INT. He didn't have to show up though through the air, as his ground support was excellent, in addition to his own plays he made with his legs. Tyrod scampered for 67 yards on 14 attempts. He did what he had to do on Sunday, and it paid off.

Karlos Williams and Mike Gillislee tore it up on the ground, as they combined for 169 yards on the ground. Gillislee lead the way though, as he had a breakout performance, putting up 93 yards on just 9 carries, and a TD on a 50 yard run late in the 4th to seal the game for Buffalo. Karlos added his 76 yards on 17 carries and he opened the scoring for Buffalo with his TD in the 1st quarter.

The receivers were overall quiet for Buffalo, but Sammy came through with a couple big plays, grabbing 5 balls for 84 yards. As usual, he did make his presence known.

Defense:
The defense was extremely banged up, and it showed as they gave up some big plays throughout the game. Overall though, they gave up just 6 points and only 307 yards of total offense. They had an easier day than was expected all year though, as top offensive threats Tony Romo and Dez Bryant did not suit up. The defense needs more depth and needs to adapt to this new scheme still, all of which will be addressed in the offseason.

Overall, this game wasn't the prettiest game to watch. Both teams were playing for nothing, and both teams had many key starters out. Still though, it's a win for Buffalo. The Bills go into next Sunday's game against the New York Jets, hoping to spoil the Jets, Ryan Fitzpatrick's and Chan Gailey's playoff hopes. It will be big game for Buffalo, as big as a meaningless game with no playoff implications for them can be. They will hope to play spoiler. Injuries have riddled this Bills team all season, and Lesean McCoy, along with Charles Clay will be missing against the Jets. It will be an interesting game anyway. Thanks for reading, and as always, let's go Buffalo!

Sources:
Stats: http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=400791535
Image #1: http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/16/files/2015/12/karlos-williams-nfl-miami-dolphins-buffalo-bills-850x560.jpg
Image #2: http://a4.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2016%2F1227%2Fr39372_1296x729_16-9.jpg