One-Stat Recap: Buffalo Bills make NFL history defending rushing champ

The Buffalo Bills’ defense managed to eliminate one of their main weaknesses in the team’s big win over the Las Vegas Raiders and defending rushing title holder, Josh Jacobs.

In Week 1, the Bills gave up 172 rushing yards to a very one-dimensional New York Jets offense. Many fans were wondering how the team would do against Jacobs, who ran for a league-high 1,653 yards last season.

Well, the Bills certainly answered the call on Sunday at Highmark Stadium. They held Jacobs to a Reggie Bush-esque total of negative-two rushing yards on nine carries. According to ESPN Stats & Info, this is the first time since the AFL and NFL merged in 1970 that a defending NFL rushing champion has finished a game with negative rushing yards.

This is a very welcome improvement to a defense that seemed built to stop the pass and hadn’t shown the flexibility to also shut down the run when required.