Bills vs. Giants second-half open thread

With six minutes left in the second quarter of tonight’s game, Buffalo Bills running back Damien Harris was injured during a running play. The news was immediately concerning and things began to unfold similarly to what football fans witnessed last season when safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. Harris was transferred to a stretcher and loaded into the team’s on-site ambulance, which then left to take Harris for additional care.

NBC sideline reporter Melissa Stark reported that Damien Harris has a neck injury and does have feeling in his extremities. We’ll have updates on Harris’ injury and condition when that news becomes available.

For now, all of our thoughts and prayers remain with Damien Harris and his family.

Things aren’t going well for the Bills tonight. I take that back — things aren’t going well on offense for the Bills tonight. On defense, head coach Sean McDermott has done a great job getting guys ready to play this week — no small feat considering the shoes they’ve had to fill and the situation returning home jolly-less from England. The cherry on top was of course kicker Tyler Bass missing his first field goal of the season... wide right.

Somehow, the Giants are winning 6-0 in front of Bills Mafia. With edge rusher Von Miller playing, and quarterback Josh Allen routinely targeting wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Nothing’s really working on offense, and if you’ve been on social media at all you probably found more than a few people suggesting that offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey is behind the team’s struggles tonight. And through 30 game minutes, that’s not an unreasonable theory. But, again, we don’t have full knowledge of what goes on between Dorsey and Allen in calling the offense. At the end of the conversation, it needs to be Dorsey implementing and directing Allen to do what’s best for the team. That’s play action.

Where is the running game? It’s not that they’ve failed when calling run plays — it’s that they’ve failed to call run plays. Running back James Cook has run well when his number’s been called — but strangely he was absent the first few plays of the game, despite being announced as the starter. It was running back Latavius Murray who lined up near Allen, bringing some to wonder if that was designed to provide blocking within the frame of play action.

Allen hasn’t made much of an effort to target anyone other than Diggs, and when he has, it’s gone poorly. Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale has called a masterful game, and even with Diggs getting his, they’ve done little damage. Just before the two-minute warning, an errant pass meant for Knox (one of the few on the night) resulted in an interception. Additionally, Allen missed a couple plays after having to be evaluated for a head injury. Thankfully, Allen was cleared to return.

Buffalo’s defense made a goal-line stand near the end of the half, stopping running back Saquon Barkley short of the end zone. Play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico rightfully called out the terrible clock management by the Giants in allowing the clock to run out without getting any points.

In the second half, it would be great to see Allen tuck the ball and run. Hopefully Dorsey can convince him to play a little bit of that backyard brand of football that ignites the offense. You know, be Allen.

Let’s hope the second half goes far better for the Buffalo Bills. There are no excuses in professional football. Zero points by one of the league’s best offenses against one of its worst defenses. This is painful to watch.