ORCHARD PARK — Davison Igbinosun thought he had good coverage, the ball looked overthrown and the wide receiver didn’t seem like much of a threat.
And then he reached with his right arm and brought the ball to his chest, still clutching the ball with one hand as he slammed to red-painted turf.
Standing still, there’s nothing impressive about Efton Chism III. He’s a hair under 5-foot-11. He only ran a 4.71-second 40-yard dash and signed as an undrafted free agent of the New England Patriots after five seasons at FCS Eastern Washington.
Frankly, Chism was only in the game because A.J. Brown is on injured reserve and Mack Hollins injured his calf in the third quarter. And yet Chism caught the go-ahead 23-yard touchdown in New England’s 29-26 win over the Buffalo Bills.
“An elevated guy made a hell of a catch. We probably won’t hear from him again, respectfully,” Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson said. “And I say that with a lot of confidence because (quarterback Drake Maye) didn’t put his confidence in his best player. … They didn’t do s— better than us. We’ve got to play better. And they can mark that. We’ll see them again. … A practice-squad guy made a hell of a play.”
Chism isn’t on New England’s practice squad and it wasn’t his only big play on the drive. He had a 19-yard grab, holding onto the ball as he was submarined by Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston.
The coverage was good on both plays and sometimes the offense is just better than the defense.
“The guy made a one-handed catch. You made him be perfect,” said Bills nickelback Dee Alford, who left the game with an ankle injury and said he feels good but will get an MRI. “It wasn’t a free catch. He caught it with one hand. He gets paid just like we get paid. You got to have the next-play mentality in this league.”
That didn’t matter to Igbinosun, a rookie second-round pick making his first career start in place of veteran Christian Benford (toe).
“I hate to lose,” Igbinosun said. “I hate to lose reps, I hate to lose games, just hate to lose in general. Definitely frustrated.”
What’s likely more frustrating is that the Bills can’t seem to figure out their secondary woes through four games. The Bills already entered the game ranked 27th in pass defense and it didn’t get much better against a struggling quarterback.
Maye entered the game with one touchdown and six interceptions. The Bill picked him off (albeit on a fluky bounce), but Maye also went 22 of 37 for 269 yards and three touchdowns, while scrambling for another 54. Romeo Doubs, a high-priced free agent acquisition, had six catches for 145 yards in the first three games. He had six for 58 and two touchdowns against the Bills.
There are times the Bills had good coverage, but there have been too many instances this season in which a receiver is running free in the secondary. The Bills have diagnosed the problem as technique and communication, but can’t seem to find a cure.
Even on the game-clinching 12-yard pass from Maye to tight end Hunter Henry, the Bills didn’t seem certain. Cole Bishop didn’t play with the proper leverage and stumbled while chasing Henry, while the Bills didn’t have another defender in the flats.
“Sometimes games can be loud and super loud to the point where we’re not able to get the play as fast as we need it,” Alford said. “And those guys are already lined up and we scramble to get the play. Now we’ve got to hurry to line up and sometimes we don’t get the play. But that’s not an excuse. That’s just something we’ve got to continue to grow and get better as a secondary, as far as communication.”
The player New England targeted the most was Hairston, who has struggled frequently in his first season as a full-time starter. Doubs caught both of his touchdowns on Hairston in a pair of rough two-play sequences.
Hairston seemed to get lost in zone coverage on a 15-yard pass to Doubs on fourth and 3 on the opening drive. Doubs beat him clean for a 14-yard touchdown on the next play.
On the opening drive of the second half, Hairston was flagged for holding, which negated a third-down sack. Two plays later, Doubs beat Hairston for a 2-yard touchdown.
“There’s a reason that Maxwell Hairston is out there,” Bills head coach Joe Brady said. “We’re young on defense. We need to be able to work through some things. I trust our defensive coaches. I don’t want to be a micromanager and say, ‘Hey, take him out.’ I’ve got all the confidence in Maxwell.”