The Buffalo Bills didn't have much to play for except pride on Sunday against the Washington Redskins with the playoffs almost completely out of reach. The Redskins came out strong on the teams' first possession. Kirk Cousins led a 10-play, 84-yard drive in a little more than 5 minutes capped off with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Reed.
The Bills' first drive wasn't impressive. Tyrod Taylor basically did everything himself from running, passing, and even blocking. The Bills were forced to punt and even the punt wasn't pretty. As a result, the Redskins got good field position and marched down the field. The end result was the same as the Redskins' first possession, a touchdown. This touchdown came on a 12-yard Kirk Cousins run to put the Redskins ahead 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Buffalo had a chance to get things going on the team's next possession. It was another punt for the Bills.
The next possession for the Redskins ended the same way as the rest of them: with a touchdown. This drive was five plays for 56-yards ending in a 18-yard Cousins' pass to Jordan Reed (again). The score in the second stood at 21-0.
The Bills went three and out on the next series but managed to get a first down after the Redskins fumbled the punt return. The series included runs from Tyrod Taylor and even an E.J. Manuel run (yes you read that right). It ended with no score after trying to get in the end zone at the goal line four times. The score as 0-21 at the half.
When the Bills took the field in the second half, the team couldn't have expected things to get much worse but on the first series, LeSean McCoy went down after a Redskins' defender's helmet went right into the side of McCoy's knee. McCoy left the game when the team needed their big play makers the most. Karlos Williams and Michael Gillisee came in for an injured McCoy and helped move the ball down the field. The drive only ended in the field goal making the score 3-21 midway through the third quarter.
Back came the Redskins on the next drive much to the Bills chagrin. Kirk Cousins threw a deep pass down field to DeSean Jackson. The 77-yard play made the score 3-28 Redskins.
The next play the Bills showed some signs of life when McCoy's replacement, Michael Gillisee ran 60-yards for the touchdown putting the Bills a little closer to the Redskins with the score of 10 - 28 in the third.
Late in the third, the Buffalo Bills kept the momentum going. Tight end Nick O'Leary caught a short pass from Tyrod Taylor and ran for 37 yards to the Washington 48. The next play, Taylor threw a 48 yard touchdown pass to Sammy Watkins putting the Bills within 11 with a score of 17-28.
As they have all year, penalties killed the Bills. As the Bills offense was coming alive, the Bills defense committed enough penalties and had enough poor coverage to allow the Redskins to march down the field, again. The drive ended in another touchdown for the Bills on a Cousins to Pierre Garcon pass extending Washington's lead to 17-35.
The Bills managed to add another touchdown after a Tyrod Taylor to Sammy Watkins connection. With the two-point conversion, it made the score 25-35 Washington with less than two minutes to go in the game but it proved to be too little too late. With the loss, the Bills fall to to 6-8. The Redskins improve to 7-7. The loss officially eliminates the Bills from the NFL playoffs for the 16th straight year.