The Buffalo Bills overcame a 17-3 hole in the first half to come back and defeat the Arizona Cardinals 34-28 to begin their 2024 season with a win.
In doing so, there were several players who saw their stock rise, and those who will need to have a big bounce back on Thursday against the Miami Dolphins. Buy, sell, or hold - here is the Bills' stock report after Week 1.
Stock rising
QB Josh Allen
Well, yeah, obviously. He's the second-best quarterback in football. He very well may be the most talented quarterback in football. He is now the NFL record-holder for the most games with two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns. He is one of a kind.
EDGE Greg Rousseau
Greg Rousseau has arrived as a premier edge rusher in the NFL. He had a career-high three sacks, including a strip sack that was recovered by Dorian Williams and led to the Bills' go-ahead touchdown. Buffalo has longed for a legitimate edge rusher that could be looked at as a reliable disruptor to opposing offenses, and Rousseau seems to have finally taken that step forward.
New WR corps
How about Mack Hollins and how fast he has won over the fans in Buffalo? His free-spirit personality won the Bills' fans over during training camp, and his play on Sunday has his stock rapidly on the rise.
Hollins didn't have unreal numbers, but he was on the receiving end of Josh Allen's first touchdown pass of the season, running a good in-breaking route to get open in the end zone. Hollins didn't catch a touchdown a year ago in Atlanta, but is very clearly carving out a role in the Bills' offense, and that role is to catch a few passes a game and run block on the outside. So far so good for the shoeless wonder.
Khalil Shakir should get more touches going forward. He had three catches and battled to the goal line for the touchdown that gave the Bills the lead. He isn't afraid to put his head down and get his hands dirty in order to get extra yards. He led the NFL in catch percentage last season, so we already know how reliable he is. More Shakir will be a good things for this offense.
Keon Coleman led the team with four catches and 51 yards, including a 28 yard catch down the right sideline to set up Buffalo in the red zone. Curtis Samuel added two catches, as well. This new-look Bills corps is off to a great start.
LB Dorian Williams
Williams wasn't perfect. He obviously isn't Matt Milano, and he had a bad penalty called against him for an invisible hit on a sliding Kyler Murray. However, he had eight tackles and recovered the fumble forced by Greg Rousseau to set up the Bills' go-ahead touchdown.
CBs Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford
Douglas and Benford were targeted a combined three times all games. Three. They gave up two catches for four yards, per PFF. That is the definition of lockdown cornerbacks.
Stock sinking
LB Terrel Bernard
Bernard had 11 tackles, but wasn't great in pass coverage. Per PFF, he allowed four catches and also wasn't great against the run. Kyler Murray ran all over the Bills' defense, which isn't solely on Bernard, but he certainly shoulders some blame. This isn't a "the sky is falling" type of thing, either. He's a terrific linebacker and a leader of this team. He's just shouldering more of the load.
CB Ja'Marcus Ingram
Ingram allowed two catches on three targets and a touchdown. Taron Johnson went down and Ingram did his best to step in, but Buffalo found out quickly how important Johnson is to their defense.
Run defense
The Cardinals racked up 124 yards on five yards per carry, including 57 yards by Kyler Murray, who had multiple long runs, the longest of which was 29 yards. It's hard to label any one player, but Ed Oliver wasn't great, Terrel Bernard could have been better. If you wanted to put Dorian Williams in the stock sinking category, I wouldn't argue much. Overall just a less than optimal performance, especially in the first half when the Bills seemingly couldn't stop anything the Cardinals threw at them. They'll need to clean that up quickly ahead of their Thursday night matchup with the Miami Dolphins.
