It took overtime, but the Buffalo Bills pulled out a 19-16 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon with help from defensive back Jairus Byrd. Byrd intercepted the Cardinals' quarterbacks twice and kept the Bills from blowing a late lead.
Bills vs. Cardinals, Week 6: Jairus Byrd saves Buffalo Bills
After Arizona forced overtime with a 61-yard field goal by Jay Feely, the Bills won the coin toss and elected to receive. Their first drive ended in a punt, giving the Cardinals a chance to win the game outright. Byrd, however, picked off John Skelton, who was inserted after Kevin Kolb left with an injury, and set up Buffalo for the game-winning kick.
For Buffalo Rumblings, Byrd’s forced turnovers were instrumental in a game that the Bills didn’t control:
The turnovers were hugely important, as Arizona ran the ball effectively (182 total yards, including 66 from Kolb and 24 on a fake punt) and really controlled the flow of the game in the second half. They helped make up for an iffy-at-best performance from the offense - Ryan Fitzpatrick (18-of-32, 153 yards) in particular - and erased a lot of mistakes from Bills players and coaches.
The play calling was also questionable on Chan Gailey's part as he dialed up a pass by Brad Smith out of the wildcat formation, which was intercepted by Patrick Peterson and led to Feely's game-tying field goal.
Buffalo is now 3-3 and in a four-way tie in the AFC East. The Bills will return home next week to take on the Tennessee Titans.
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