ince Taron Johnson returned from a broken forearm in Week 6 against the New York Jets, the Buffalo Bills are undefeated.
The Bills (8-2) have won five in a row and earned another gritty road win on Sunday afternoon by taking out the Indianapolis Colts, 30-20.
The Colts had played in 11 straight one-score games going back to last season, but the Bills suffocated their offense and shut down the run-and-pass game in the second half.
Johnson started the party in the first quarter on the Colts’ first play. He tricked quarterback Joe Flacco, who probably thought Johnson couldn’t react quickly enough on a pass over his head. Johnson admitted after the game he screwed up on a similar play earlier in this season against a different opponent.
“I’m not sure what he was seeing,” Johnson said. “I feel like they were expecting me to play it a different way, and I took the ball. And after that I just scanned the field and took it to the house.”
Johnson became the first Bills defensive player to record an interception for a touchdown and a sack in the same game. The interception was impressive, but Johnson’s immediate understanding of where he was on the field to quickly push for the end zone turned the play into a spectacular highlight.
Once Johnson came down with the ball, he ran at Colts receiver Alec Pierce and set up teammate Dorian Williams to spring him with a hard block. Johnson reversed course to the left side of the field and patiently waited for cornerback Rasul Douglas to get out and front, seal his block, and allow Johnson to glide into the end zone untouched.
Since Johnson returned against the Jets, the Bills defense has allowed just one of their five opponents to score more than 20 points in a game (the Dolphins in Week 9 with 27). Johnson nearly had a second interception in the game but just dropped it. He might have been able to run that back for a touchdown if he could hang on.
Johnson forced a fumble last week against the Dolphins when he ran up behind Miami running back Raheem Mostert and punched the ball out. He has a knack for making game-changing plays. The Bills’ defense isn’t the same when he’s not on the field.
“He’s super important. He does everything,” Bills middle linebacker Terrel Bernard said. “He can cover their best guys in the slot, he can play in the run game, and he can take the ball away. Whether it’s a punch out or a pick, he got a sack today too. I think his versatility, his ability to do everything at the nickel position gives us an edge on pretty much everybody.”
Johnson was a second-team All-Pro selection in 2023 and might be on his way to earning first-team honors for the first time in his career. Bills defensive end A.J. Epenesa said Johnson’s pick-six set the stage for the Bills’ defensive performance. They held the Colts to just a garbage-time touchdown in the second half and running back Jonathan Taylor to only seven yards on the ground after he went over 100 in the first half.
“That’s first play of the game and at least for us on defense just to start off like that, you can’t really start off any faster,” Epenesa said. “Just gives us momentum as a defense and as a team. We try to carry that through the entire game. We had some takeaways throughout each quarter, and that’s something we’ve been hammering like crazy (as a team) just because that’s a huge.”
The Bills had three interceptions in the game, and Greg Rousseau forced a fumble with a strip-sack in the third quarter. Buffalo ranks second in the NFL with 19 takeaways on the season. Only the Minnesota Vikings have more with 20.
Bills coach Sean McDermott said that Johnson’s ability to self-correct allows him to be a great example to other players on the defense. Taking a play where he made a mistake and making a game-changing play the next time he got that look earned him Sunday’s game ball.
“He’s one of our leaders,” McDermott said. “When you lead by example — everyone’s gonna make mistakes. But when you can learn from it … this is a copy cat league where people try the same plays sometimes week to week, even though it might not be in their repertoire normally. Right away the first play was one of those plays and he picked it.”
The Bills now lead the AFC East by five games. The New York Jets lost to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. The Miami Dolphins play tomorrow night. Next up for the Bills is the game of the week against rival Kansas City Chiefs.