Bills defense critical post-Vikings: ‘We knock the [expletive] ball down, we win’

Sunday afternoon the Bills walked out of Orchard Park on the heels of a 33-30 loss to the Minnesota Vikings every bit deserving to have been beaten.

What felt like a whirlwind of emotions from the end of the 4th quarter through Overtime, thanks to a series of improbable and head-scratching plays/decisions, dropped the Bills to 6-3 on the season.

While there is plenty of blame to go around, including the play of quarterback, Josh Allen, the coaching decisions from Sean McDermott, Leslie Frazier and Ken Dorsey and the overall play of the defense, often times there are plays in a game like this that feel as though they led, or at least greatly contributed to the unraveling of a team. Enter, Cam Lewis.

The third year defensive back, who got his first career start at Safety thanks to a rash of injuries to the Bills secondary, was tasked with defending Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson late in the game and let’s just say it did not go as planned.

With just under 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter and the Bills up 27-23, the Vikings found themselves in a 4th and 18… then the implausible happened. Minnesota QB, Kirk Cousins aired out a deep ball to Jefferson, who somehow went up and pulled the catch in, in what some are calling the best reception they’ve ever seen.

Perhaps the most frustrating part is the fact Lewis appears to go for an interception when all he needed to do was knock the ball down to end the game. A lesson you’d think the Bills would have learned a couple seasons ago in Kansas City.

After the game, Lewis, as one would expect, took the play pretty hard.

“Thought it was… thought it was over his head, but just gotta be more aware in that situation,” Lewis said at his locker after the game.

“F****ing 4th & 22. Knock the ball down, bro. Like, I’m not a selfish player. I don’t try to be a selfish player. I’m always trying to put the team before me. Just gotta knock the f***ing ball down, plain and simple. Gotta know the situation, we knock the f***ing ball down we win. You know what I’m saying? That’s all I can say about that.”

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When asked how much that moment hurt, Lewis was in no mood to dive further into his emotions.

“Man, you know it hurt,” Lewis continued. “You know it hurts. Don’t do that.”

During his post-game press conference, McDermott was asked more broadly about the Bills defense seemingly losing it’s edge at the end of the last few games. McDermott referenced the 4th and long conversion.

“I believe in this team. I believe in the team,” McDermott told the media. “They made more plays than we did down the stretch. Obviously we turned the ball over. Got a team in 4th and 19 and they made the play. We gotta get the ball knocked down there. So, opportunities to win the game and again, today we didn’t get it done.”

With the loss the Bills now find themselves in third place in their own division, a far cry from the Super Bowl favorites many had coined them as earlier in the year.

While games like this are very tough to swallow, even more so coming off a tough loss the week before to a division opponent, these are the moments the Bills will try to learn from, especially a young player like Lewis.

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Story originally appeared on Bills Wire