Stock up, stock down following the Bills’ win over the 49ers
The Buffalo Bills (10-2) came into Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers (5-7) looking to clinch the AFC East for the fifth straight season with a win over a 49ers team that has largely struggled with injuries this season. Despite the Bills dealing with the losses of rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman and tight end Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo managed to overcome those losses and accomplished what they wanted.
The Bills beat the 49ers 35-10 on a snowy, cold night with Buffalo playing in front of a national TV audience on “Sunday Night Football.” While San Francisco was not used to playing in cold weather like that, the Bills have been there and done that. It showed with star quarterback Josh Allen throwing for 148 yards and two touchdowns while also scoring two more touchdowns, one on the ground and through the air.
Given the weather, Buffalo focused on the ground game and that meant riding the coattails of running backs James Cook and Ray Davis. Without further ado, here is the Bills stock report following Sunday’s win over the 49ers:
Stock Up: QB Josh Allen
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As mentioned above, Allen was the star of the game for the Bills and none of that should be surprising at this point of his career. Allen did appear to hurt his left (non-throwing) hand, but he powered through that to give Buffalo an all-around effort, including him catching a touchdown pass to put an exclamation point on what could be an MVP year for him.
Stock Down: WR Amari Cooper
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Despite Cooper coming off a solid game in Buffalo’s last game against the Kansas City Chiefs, he did not have that kind of performance against the 49ers on Sunday. Cooper did receive seven targets, but it amounted to just three catches for 12 yards as the weather put a damper on the Bills’ passing attack, from which Cooper suffered by way of production.
Stock Up: CB Rasul Douglas
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As Douglas has been all season, he has been virtually a lockdown corner on the perimeter and that extended to Sunday. While Douglas got some help from the weather, he did a good job of disrupting Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings enough for neither receiver to have a great day for a San Francisco team that needed a win to stay alive for a playoff berth.
Stock Down: DE AJ Epenesa
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Epenesa has had his good games for the Bills over the course of this season, but Sunday was not one of them as he didn’t have much of an impact on the game. Epenesa normally can apply a lot of pressure onto the opposing team’s quarterback, but he wasn’t able to replicate that kind of performance, but part of that can be explained by the bad weather.
Stock Up: RB James Cook
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After an up-and-down game against the Chiefs almost two weeks ago, Cook stepped up big time as he ran all over the 49ers in the snow. Cook notched his second 100-yard game of the season and has a shot of eclipsing 1000 yards for the season, but he will have to keep up these performances if he is going to do so.
Stock Up: RB Ray Davis
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It was a big day for Buffalo’s running backs and Ray Davis was no exception as he had his second-most productive game of the season. Despite James Cook being involved within the offense, Davis was involved heavily due to the nature of the weather and Buffalo committing to the run given the success of the ground game.
