Alright folks, buckle up because today was a deep dive into that Bills vs. Colts matchup stats, and man, it got messy. I just wanted a clear picture of who actually showed up and who kinda ghosted. Simple, right? Ha.
Where I Started (And Why It Was a Pain)
First thing, cracked open the laptop around like, 10 AM, coffee steaming. Figured I’d hit up the usual suspects for official stats, you know? Headed straight to *. Big mistake. That site is a maze. Tried finding the player stats section for the game, kept getting bombarded with highlights, news snippets, ads for jerseys… took me a solid 15 minutes of clicking around like a lost puppy before I even found the game center page. Even then, it wasn’t obvious how to get to the detailed player numbers. Ended up clicking the little stat icon next to each team name on the box score section. Felt like solving a puzzle.
The Spreadsheet Tango Begins
Okay, finally got some raw numbers. Copied the big chunks for both teams – Bills offense/defense, Colts offense/defense. Pasted it all into my trusty Google Sheet. Looked awful. Stuff was all over the place. Columns didn’t line up right, names were jumbled, some stats were abbreviations I had to guess at. Spent probably another half hour just cleaning it up: deleting extra spaces, renaming columns so they made sense, sorting players into positions I could understand. My eyes were already starting to hurt squinting at those tiny numbers.
Actually Trying to Find the Story
This is where the coffee refill happened. Just stared at the sheet, flipping between Bills passing and Colts defense. Kept asking myself, “Okay, who killed it?” Started sorting columns:
- Sorted Bills receivers by receiving yards. Top guys popped up… but who else caught something?
- Sorted Colts linebackers by total tackles. Dugard looked busy… but did he actually make plays behind the line?
- Went hunting for QB pressures and sacks against Josh Allen. Dude got hit. A lot. That jumped out immediately.
- Looked at Jonathan Taylor’s rushing attempts. How many yards after contact?
Kept bouncing back and forth like this, comparing what should have mattered based on pre-game talk versus what the cold numbers actually screamed at me.
The “Aha!” Moments (and the “Duh” Ones)
After maybe two hours? Patterns started slapping me in the face:
- Diggs did Diggs things: Saw his targets, catches, yards. No surprise. Consistent as ever.
- Allen got beat up: Sorted by sacks taken, hits, pressures. Bills O-line stats? Not pretty. Allen sacked 4 times? Oof.
- Taylor kept them alive: His attempts and yards, especially in key moments later. Felt like every Colts drive needing a boost went through him.
- Where was the Bills’ Run D?: Taylor averaged… good chunks per carry. Checked their tackle leaders – lots of safeties near the top? That usually means the front guys didn’t stop it early.
- Colts Secondary Depth?: Pass catchers beyond Pittman? Checked the receiving stats. Saw Pierce had… almost nothing. Depth wasn’t clicking yet.
Wrapping Up the Mess
Honestly, by this point, my desk was covered in scribbled notes and empty coffee mugs. Spent another 30 minutes just trying to summarize the obvious winners and losers based purely on the stat sheet. Had to resist adding my own hot takes too much! Stuck to what the numbers yelled:
- Winners: Taylor (workhorse), Allen’s legs (still dangerous even if pressured), Diggs (reliable), maybe Milano/Taron on the Bills tackling wise.
- Losers: Bills Pass Protection (ouch), Bills Run Defense (especially early downs), Matt Gay missing that FG (stats don’t lie!), Colts wideout depth behind Pittman.
Finally saved the cleaned-up spreadsheet (might peek at it later) and shut it down. Felt like I wrestled the data into submission, kinda. Mostly I learned that finding those specific stats online is way harder than it should be, and that raw numbers only tell you so much… but man, do they tell a story if you stare long enough.
