The Buffalo Bills had a dominant start to their preseason game against the Colts, then the backups came in and allowed Indianapolis to turn the tide. With a minute and change remaining and no timeouts, Cardale Jones drove the Bills down all the way to the endzone, but a failed two point conversion left the team a point shy of the lead.
The team jumped out to a nine point lead in the first quarter largely thanks to Chris Gragg. The tight end blocked a Colts punt to create a safety, then caught an EJ Manuel pass for a touchdown on the ensuing drive. Buffalo's starting defense locked things down, and Indianapolis didn't even cross midfield until there were only a few minutes left in the second quarter.
As always a few players on each side were dinged up, but outside linebacker IK Enemkpali appeared to suffer a major knee injury when he was awkwardly knocked over by a Colts lineman. With Shaq Lawson and Manny Lawson already out for the start of the year, the Bills may be looking for a new signing in the next few days.
Unfortunately, Buffalo's penchant for penalties reared its ugly head again. While a couple of the calls were questionable, the team racked up 11 penalties for 101 yards. The usual suspects were to blame - holding in the return game, and presnap infractions on defense. Before his injury, Enemkpali was responsible for a few of those.
A major bright spot was the performance of Buffalo's rookie class. Although the top two names were missing (Shaq Lawson due to shoulder surgery, Reggie Ragland from a recent ACL injury), the rest of the first-years came to play. Adolphus Washington was disruptive on the defensive line, earning multiple pressures on the night. Cardale Jones looked extremely comfortable in his first NFL appearance, going 11/21 passing with 162 yards and a touchdown. Jonathan Williams led the team with 8 rushes for 44 yards. The star may have been Kevon Seymour, though, who locked down the sideline with the exception of a tripping pass interference, and had a key pass breakup to prevent a two point conversion.
The Bills will return to Rochester and resume training camp practices on Monday morning.