Here’s our weekly look at where individual Buffalo Bills players moved on the league leaderboards after their 23-17 upset win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Passing
Another week, another drop in the rankings for Tyrod Taylor in passing yards. Taylor now sits at 28th in total passing yards, remaining in the company of guys like Blake Bortles and Case Keenum. His yard-per-attempt of 7.5, however, does put him in a more respectable 10th place among quarterbacks with more than 40 attempts on the year. He’s tied for 20th in touchdown passes with five, making him one of seven quarterbacks with at least five touchdowns and no more than one interception.
Taylor is completing 65.7% of his passes, good for 13th in the NFL. That’s helped him post a quarterback rating of 100.7 so far in 2017, which ties him for seventh with Aaron Rodgers. That’s some good company to be in.
Rushing
LeSean McCoy had a merely average outing after two sub-par performances, doing well enough to move to 16th in the NFL with 216 rushing yards. Only Jonathan Stewart of the Panthers (230) has more rushing yards this year without a touchdown.
Mike Tolbert surpassed Taylor as the team’s second-leading rusher last week, as he’s now at 42nd in the NFL with 119 yards on the ground. Taylor is only one yard behind, which ties him for 43rd with Chris Ivory of the Jets. His 118 yards is third among quarterbacks, behind Russell Wilson (138) and Deshaun Watson (148).
Receiving
Jordan Matthews left the win over the Falcons with a thumb injury that will cost him at least the next three games, and as a result he lost the team lead in receiving yards to Charles Clay. Clay’s big day through the air (112 yards) ties him with Mike Evans for 25th in the NFL and is good for fourth among tight ends behind Travis Kelce (255), Rob Gronkowski (318), and Zach Ertz (326). His two touchdown receptions ties him with Andre Holmes for the team lead and is part of a sea of players at 7th in the NFL.
For all of McCoy’s issues on the ground, he continues to pace the Bills in receptions with 21, tied for 16th in the NFL. Among running backs, he still ranks behind Tarik Cohen (24) and is now also behind Christian McCaffrey and James White (both 22). Clay’s 18 catches ties him for sixth among tight ends and 33rd among all players.
Defense
Ramon Humber continues to lead the Bills in tackles with 37, tied for sixth in the NFL. Unfortunately, he’ll also be missing a handful of games after undergoing hand surgery, so he likely won’t finish among the league leaders there. Next up on the tackle list is Preston Brown, whose 30 ties him for 21st in the league.
Jerry Hughes was credited with a sack on the controversial forced fumble that led to Tre’Davious White’s touchdown, giving him the team lead outright with three sacks. That ties him with a handful of players for 13th in the NFL.
Micah Hyde had a big day in picking off Matt Ryan twice to help seal with win in Atlanta. He now has three interceptions on the year, tied with Colts rookie Malik Hooker for most in the NFL.
Special Teams
Stephen Hauschka is on fire, and he’s now tied with Matt Prater for the NFL lead in 50+-yard field goals with four. (Prater’s have come on five attempts, while Hauschka is a perfect 4-for-4.) He’s tied for 11th in field goals of any distance, and his team-high 31 points is tied for 15th in the NFL.
Colton Schmidt nudged himself up both the gross and net punting leaderboards, moving from 17th to a tie for 15th in the former (46.1 yards per punt) and from 24th to a tie for 23rd in the latter (40.4). He is tied for fifth in the league with seven punts that led to a fair catch, which is the result of both a strong coverage team and good hangtime.