SECOND QUARTER
Gaining traction
The Bills’ running game lives! Trailing by 13-0 and with their young quarterback reeling from a horrendous start, the Bills went to some runs to settle down.
Fred Jackson ripped off runs of 19 and 17 yards to finally get the Bills’ offense moving. Both runs came on draw plays out of the shotgun formation. They moved the Bills down to the Cleveland 17-yard line.
Then a great run after the catch by Marshawn Lynch got the Bills back into the game. It was a short swing pass that Lynch caught at the line of scrimmage. It looked like Lynch broke a bunch of tackles. But actually it was just nifty cuts toward the middle of the field and a burst of speed up the middle that allowed him to elude at least five Browns. Lynch bulled into the end zone for an 18-yard TD catch. It was Lynch’s first TD reception of his career.
Key stat: The Bills got a 26-yard field goal by Rian Lindell at the end of the half to cap a 54-yard drive that lasted 4:42. It was Lindell’s 48th straight successful field goal inside 40 yards, the longest such streak in the NFL.
Wildcat: The critical play of the field-goal drive was a great extra-effort run by Jackson, who gained 5 yards on a third-and-4 play.
