Josh Allen and James Cook bury the 49ers and win the AFC East

ORCHARD PARK – If you saw Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott lying on the snow-covered turf at Highmark Stadium late Sunday night watching Snow Angels play alongside quarterback Josh Allen, you’d be in for a treat.

It was a night for the Bills as they defeated the overmatched and out-of-control San Francisco 49ers 35-10 in a snowball game to clinch their fifth straight AFC East Division title.

It was a rollicking moment for a coach who doesn’t often show a more lighthearted side to his often buttoned-up, uptight personality, but there was plenty of emotion flowing through as the Bills extended their winning streak to seven games and improved to 10-2.

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“We were coming through the tunnel at halftime and Zach Davidson tapped me on the hip and said, ‘Hey, if we win this game, you’re going to have to make a snow angel,'” McDermott said. “I said, ‘Okay, you got it.’ I think I kept my promise.”

Allen happened to be in the area and McDermott asked him to come down and join him.

“Honestly, no,” Allen said when asked if he ever thought something like this would happen. “He’s the one who made me do it. I just tried to give him some flowers. He was on live TV and yeah, I mean, every time the coach asks you to do something, do it. I am a good soldier. I’m not the biggest fan of snow angels because you get cold down there; My toes are freezing right now. I’m just trying to get in the shower, but it was fun.”

Oh, it was a lot of fun to have the Bills and their frozen-to-the-bone, sellout crowd spending the night in a freezer watching their team destroy a proud but bedraggled group of 49ers, the one with the Bills just couldn’t cope, nor the weather.

This is how I evaluated the bills:

Pass offense: B+

The conditions made it extremely difficult to move the ball through the air, but when the Bills needed it, they were able to make just enough plays to stay balanced and keep drives moving. Allen completed 13 of 17 passes, a pretty good rate in the snow, for 148 yards and two touchdowns, one of them for himself on a crazy play with a lateral from Amari Cooper.

Dawson Knox, ably deputizing for Dalton Kincaid, accounted for two of the game’s three longest balls. His 39-yarder was a big hit on the Bills’ 97-yard drive before the end of the first half, and he added a 17-yarder that set up Buffalo’s final touchdown early in the fourth half.

Khalil Shakir had two catches, none bigger than an 18-yarder on a fourth-and-2 play in the third quarter that preceded Allen’s pass to Amari Cooper, which Cooper then passed back to Allen, who then ran into the end zone. This play was oddly scored by an Allen-to-Allen TD pass.

Up front, the offensive line didn’t allow Allen to be sacked, and he wasn’t even really under pressure as it was clear that both teams’ pass rushers were struggling to get upfield.

RUN OFFENSE: A+

On a night when the running game needed to take over, it did. The Bills’ 220 yards were easily a season high, surpassing the 164 yards they had in Seattle. James Cook had 100 at halftime thanks to a 65-yard TD run that gave the Bills a 14-3 lead. He finished with 107.

Ray Davis played about a third of the snaps and contributed 63 yards on 11 attempts with a touchdown, and even Ty Johnson got in the game with 28 yards on five attempts.

The Bills’ line was outstanding all night as they punched holes in San Francisco’s front that was missing DE Nick Bosa and star LB Fred Warner was out for a few series. Nobody touched Cook on his long TD run.

Pass Defense: A

Brock Purdy never had a chance. He played with a sore shoulder and has never played in such weather. He completed just 11 of 18 for a paltry 94 yards and was really hampered when star RB Christian McCaffrey left in the second quarter with a knee injury after being sorely missed in the short passing game.

Star TE George Kittle was invisible with just one catch for seven yards and Deebo Samuel had four for 20 yards. The only player who was productive was Jauan Jennings, who had three for 56, but most of that came when the game was decided.

The Bills sacked Purdy twice, Greg Rousseau getting one, while the other was called a team sack because Purdy lost a fumble behind the line of scrimmage that was recovered by Rousseau. Damar Hamlin should have intercepted, but this was negated by a ticky-tack holding call to Hamlin before he made the catch. It was a bad call.

RUN DEFENSE: C-

At the start of the game it looked like the 49ers would manage to win the game as McCaffrey and Jordan Mason combined for more than 100 yards rushing in the first quarter, but then McCaffrey left and the 49ers offense was paralyzed after that .

He had 53 yards on just seven carries before exiting, and Mason had 78 yards as the 49ers finished with 153 yards and a 5.7 average per attempt. The Bills’ grade is slightly higher due to the conditions and the difficulty of wrapping up ball carriers.

Terrel Bernard led the Bills with nine tackles, while Taron Johnson and Taylor Rapp each had six and Matt Milano had five tackles in his return to action.

One of the biggest plays of the game came when Rapp forced a Kyle Juszczyk fumble at the Bills 4 and CB Christian Benford returned it 43 yards to thwart a 49ers scoring opportunity in the third quarter.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C

Man, a lot happened in the kicking game. Let’s start with the good. Tyler Bass may have missed a 49-yard field goal, but that was completely understandable. What was impressive was that he made all five of his extra points, none of which were easy.

Cole Bishop forced a fumble from Deebo Samuel on a kickoff return that was fouled by Jalen Virgil. And punter Sam Martin averaged 46.7 yards on three kicks and one down at 6.

Now the bad. Samuel averaged 34.7 yards on six kick returns, including 60- and 43-yarders. And Brandon Codrington’s 75-yard punt return TD was called back due to a holding penalty against Bishop.

COACHING: A

The Bills dominated in every phase, no small feat against Kyle Shanahan and his team. Sean McDermott deserves to perform Snow Angels next to Allen on live television afterwards.

McDermott was smart about it, choosing not to take too many risks because it was so difficult to pull off cleanly, and that philosophy worked well. And the one gamble he took on a fourth-and-2 in the third quarter paid off and led to the Bills’ fourth touchdown.

Defensively, things started out a little rough as the Bills were mishandled in the run game at the top, but they made adjustments and when McCaffrey went out, they began to control the line of scrimmage. And their zone packages, coupled with the conditions, kept Kittle and Samuel at bay.

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Josh Allen and James Cook bury the 49ers and win the AFC East

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