Buffalo Bills CB Christian Benford sparked dominant win over Steelers

The Buffalo Bills dominated time of possession with methodical drives that eventually led to a pretty decent scoring day. That’s gotten a lot of rightful attention, but none of that would have happened if it weren’t for a dominant defensive performance that defines “complementary football.”

The Bills managed a meager three points in the first half and committed two turnovers. Despite that, Buffalo’s defense held Pittsburgh to only seven points to keep things close. After halftime, they decided they didn’t want to wait for the offense to wake up and the Bills’ first touchdown was scored by their defense on the first play from scrimmage after the break.

That wasn’t all either, with the Steelers’ second drive also resulting in a turnover, and precisely zero Pittsburgh drives in the second half ending in a score. Leading the charge was cornerback Christian Benford whose efforts we’ll celebrate/analyze with three highlights, two of which I’ve already hinted at.

Tackle for loss

If I have one mission in life, it’s to convince the world that a tackle for loss is just as good as a sack and worthy of attention. By the way, Benford recorded one of those in the first half, helping force a punt on the Steelers’ first drive. For this play, Pittsburgh had three eligible players bunched to the right side of their formation. Oddly, the Bills didn’t appear to be matched up well to account for all three.

Pre-snap motion from Pittsburgh was likely partially intended to diagnose Buffalo’s intention, which drew Benford wide with the motion. Even more oddly than above, is that Benford failed to truly man up with the receiver with the motion. We know with the benefit of hindsight that Benford was blitzing. Maybe Aaron Rodgers knew it, but if so it was too late to stop Benford.

I also want to point out that the Bills did in fact have a good plan to cover all those receivers.

Fumble recovery/touchdown

If you just looked at the play-by-play description, you might ponder why a cornerback was the first one to the ball on a strip sack. You might have guessed corner blitz. Especially if you’re a Bills fan because head coach Sean McDermott’s teams have loved defensive back blitzes. Also, you’d be right in this case. On this snap, Benford did a better job of selling the look of man coverage.

I would be a bit remiss if I didn’t talk a little bit about defensive end Joey Bosa here, who forced the fumble after knocking Rodgers around.

Interception

Sometimes a little luck isn’t a bad thing either. Benford was in zone coverage and started off heading deep to support the safeties. Benford broke off and headed to the intermediate routes and then toward tight end Darnell Washington to prevent any RAC should Washington have come down with the ball. Backup quarterback Mason Rudolph overthrew his target, which was right where Benford stood.