Chargers @ Bills · Week 3

WEEK 3 · FINAL

THE READ

Bills win the turnover battle and the game

The Chargers lost 54-37 to Buffalo on the strength of Josh Allen's 4 touchdown passes and a defense that sacked Justin Herbert 5 times without being sacked in return. Los Angeles had the better ground game, outrushing the Bills 208 to 127, and Herbert completed 18 of 24 passes for 268 yards, but 3 turnovers against just 1 for Buffalo decided this one. The Chargers need to protect their quarterback and take care of the football if they're going to stay competitive.

Jordan Hayes The armchair coach

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Chargers	+10.5	+1.2	+9.3	+2
Bills	+3.5	+2.6	+0.9	+5

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Chargers — AFC #3 · division · 6-2 Playoff picture →

In the MVP race

#3 Derrick Henry HB · Chargers · 13.6% of the field

The whole board →

IN THE BOOTH

Sierra Vaughn Analyst

Los Angeles came in with more total yards and dominated on the ground with 208 rushing yards—Derrick Henry alone had 210—but 3 turnovers against Buffalo's 1 erased every advantage they built. Josh Allen threw 4 touchdown passes and didn't need to run the offense through the ground game the way the Chargers did; Buffalo's turnover margin of plus-4 and a defense that generated 5 sacks made this a 17-point gap that felt wider than the yardage said it should.

Ava Collins Beat reporter · replying

Buffalo's season looks nothing like Los Angeles's—a 14-point gap in strength of schedule adjustment tells you these teams don't belong in the same conversation, and this game proved it. Allen's efficiency on 68% pass plays against Crosby living in the backfield is exactly what separates a 2-1 team built to stay there from one that got to 2-1 by accident.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Josh Allen

Bills

13/17, 302 yards, 4 TD

Justin Herbert

Chargers

18/24, 268 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT

Maxx Crosby

Bills

3.5 sacks

THE STORY SO FAR

⭐ James Cook III has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Keon Coleman has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Justin Herbert has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Derrick Henry has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ George Kittle has not had a better afternoon this season.

WHAT DECIDED IT

On the ground Chargers 208, Bills 127 Chargers

Total yards Chargers 476, Bills 429 Chargers

Through the air Bills 302, Chargers 268 Bills

Pressure Bills 5 sacks, Chargers 0 Bills

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 3 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Run-heavy Pass 38% · Rush 62% · 40.4 scored, 31.1 allowed

10.6 yds/att 60.0% completions 10.9 yds/carry 386.3 yds/game 1.6 giveaways/game 8.7% sack rate last 5: 3-2

Primary weapon: Sincere Brown WR — 42% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY VERY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 63 · Aggressive Balance 72 Ball security 56 Back usage 60% QB runs 0.7/game

Most exposed: pressure -- sacked on 8.7% of dropbacks

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 95 WR 77 TE 99 RB 88 OL 85 DL 84 LB 76 DB 82

Best: Derrick Henry HB 99 Fastest: Brenen Thompson WR 97 SPD 9 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

𝓔𝓵𝓲

Bills · his last 7 games

Balanced Runs the quarterback

Pass / run57% / 43% Points for / against28.1 — 27.3 Margin+0.9 Giveaways a game1.1 Sacks taken7.9% of dropbacks Lead backJames Cook III · 11.7/g Top targetDJ Moore · 27% QB carries5.3 a game

TheDJ

Chargers · his last 7 games

Runs it One back One target

Pass / run38% / 62% Points for / against40.4 — 31.1 Margin+9.3 Giveaways a game1.6 Sacks taken8.7% of dropbacks Lead backDerrick Henry · 21.6/g Top targetSincere Brown · 42% QB carries0.3 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES TheDJ against 𝓔𝓵𝓲 — the men, not the teams

𝓔𝓵𝓲 leads it 1-0. 𝓔𝓵𝓲 won the last one.

1 meeting avg 37.0 — 54.0 biggest: 17 pts to 𝓔𝓵𝓲

S1 · week 3 TheDJ 37 — 54 𝓔𝓵𝓲 𝓔𝓵𝓲

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Chargers receivers vs Bills secondary 77 v 83 BILLS

Bills receivers vs Chargers secondary 83 v 82 EVEN

Chargers line vs Bills front 85 v 86 EVEN

Bills line vs Chargers front 79 v 84 CHARGERS

Chargers backs vs Bills run defence 88 v 82 CHARGERS

Bills backs vs Chargers run defence 86 v 81 BILLS

Chargers passer vs Bills secondary 95 v 83 CHARGERS

Bills passer vs Chargers secondary 99 v 82 BILLS

TOP PERFORMERS

Josh Allen QB Bills 302 pass yds

Justin Herbert QB Chargers 268 pass yds

Derrick Henry HB Chargers 210 rush yds

Keon Coleman WR Bills 167 rec yds

James Cook III HB Bills 116 rush yds

George Kittle TE Chargers 96 rec yds

Sincere Brown WR Chargers 75 rec yds

DJ Moore WR Bills 67 rec yds

Maxx Crosby LEDG Bills 3.5 sacks

Davison Igbinosun CB Bills 2 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

CHARGERS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Justin Herbert QB	18/24	268	3	2	5	43	115.9

BILLS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Josh Allen QB	13/17	302	4	0	0	48	157.4

CHARGERS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Derrick Henry HB	23	210	9.1	2	5	143	65	0
Brenen Thompson WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Justin Herbert QB	1	-2	-2	0	0	1	0	0

BILLS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
James Cook III HB	6	116	19.3	1	0	6	65	0
Josh Allen QB	2	11	5.5	0	0	0	15	0
DJ Moore WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1

CHARGERS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
George Kittle TE	5	96	19.2	1	54	43
Sincere Brown WR	7	75	10.7	1	63	29
Brenen Thompson WR	2	43	21.5	0	18	33
Derrick Henry HB	2	11	5.5	0	2	8

BILLS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Keon Coleman WR	5	167	33.4	2	23	48
DJ Moore WR	4	67	16.8	1	11	35
Dalton Kincaid TE	2	40	20	1	13	30
James Cook III HB	2	28	14	0	10	14

CHARGERS

PLAYER	TKL	PD	FF
Caleb Ransaw FS	4	1	0
Cam Hart CB	3	0	0
Daylen Everette CB	2	0	0
Genesis Smith SS	2	0	1
Akheem Mesidor LEDG	1	0	0

BILLS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	FF	TD
Kaleb Elarms-Orr WILL	5	0	0	0	0
Toriano Pride Jr. CB	4	0	0	0	0
Maxwell Hairston CB	3	0	0	0	0
Cole Bishop FS	3	0	0	0	0
Maxx Crosby LEDG	3	3.5	0	0	0
T.J. Sanders DT	3	0	0	0	0
Davison Igbinosun CB	2	0	2	0	1
Bradley Chubb REDG	2	1	0	0	0
Jordan Hancock SS	2	0	0	0	0
Greg Rousseau DT	1	0.5	0	0	0
Jalon Kilgore SS	1	0	0	0	0
Terrel Bernard MIKE	1	0	0	0	0
Joe Andreessen MIKE	1	0	0	0	0
Jimmy Ciarlo MIKE	0	0	0	1	0

CHARGERS

nothing recorded

BILLS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Tyler Bass K	2/2	6/6	24

RECENT FORM

Chargers

W 35–28 vs Raiders WK 2

W 31–6 vs Cardinals WK 1

Bills

W 42–13 vs Lions WK 2

L 9–21 vs Texans WK 1

TEAM STATS

Chargers		Bills
476	TOTAL YARDS	429
268	PASSING YARDS	302
208	RUSHING YARDS	127
5	SACKS ALLOWED	0
0	SACKS MADE	5
3	GIVEAWAYS	1
1	TAKEAWAYS	3

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

0 CHARGERS — 1 BILLS

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