ORCHARD PARK — When NFL players and coaches spend the week watching film, they aren’t watching players. They are looking for movements, formations, tendencies and any other morsel of information that might provide an advantage.
Sometimes what seems useful before the game proves to be fruitless afterwards. And sometimes it can change the trajectory of the game. C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s game-changing interception showed that in the Buffalo Bills’ 24-16 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Bills safety and Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert had been playing a game throughout the contest, each trying to bait the other into a mistake. It was Gardner-Johnson who stayed patient longer.
“What’s that word you use to catch fish? It starts with a ‘B.’ Bait. It was a great fishing play,” Gardner-Johnson said. “He was giving us opportunities all day.”
Well before Gardner-Johnson’s fourth-quarter pick, he nearly came up with another in the second quarter. It was a two-man route and a play the Chargers ran against the Arizona Cardinals Week 1.
Once Herbert took his eyes off his first read — and only read on the left side — Gardner-Johnson knew he was going to wide receiver Quentin Johnston, who was cutting across the middle of the field. He jumped the route and knocked it away from Johnston along the sideline.
Sixty-two seconds into the game from the Buffalo 25-yard line, Herbert threw a wheel route to fullback Alec Ingold that was nearly intercepted by cornerback Maxwell Hairston in the end zone. But before Herbert released the ball, he made a subtle shoulder movement that made the aggressive Gardner-Johnson jump into the path of receiver Tre Harris, who was running across his face.
Herbert had no intention of throwing to Harris, but it was enough to ensure Hairston didn’t get any help in coverage, not that he needed it on that play.
“He’s a good quarterback, but he trusts his arm and thinks he can get everything in there, which is not bad for a quarterback of his caliber,” Gardner-Johnson said. “I felt like I had to capitalize on the tight throws and I think I capitalized today on a good one.”
That set up the interception on a third and 5 from the Buffalo 23. Herbert had three receivers to his left, but he locked onto wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling early in the route.
The Bills were playing zone on the left side of the field, with Gardner-Johnson in the middle. There were no other Chargers threatening his area, so when Herbert squared his body to make the throw, Gardner-Johnson made his break and undercut the ball.
“There’s times where formational tendencies will show up on their situational plays,” Bills safety Cole Bishop said. “Once you start getting into more of the fringe red zone, more tendencies start to show up.”
On the FOX broadcast, color commentator Tom Brady called the throw a “meatball sub.” The ball was lobbed dangerously down the middle, just as if a pitcher threw a meatball down the middle of the plate to an eager batter.
Not only was Herbert’s decision bad, but it was a bad throw. The only way the ball would have had a chance to be completed is if Herbert threw it toward the right goalpost and let Valdes-Scantling run under it, but even that would have been a low-percentage throw. Throwing it on a line guaranteed an interception.
Gardner-Johnson also had a 41-yard return, which should have included a 15-yard facemask tacked onto the end. But the play flipped the game, as the Bills were on the verge of potentially going down 20-10 to cashing the turnover in to take a 17-13 lead.
It was also Buffalo’s first interception of the season, a slow start for a franchise that ranked in the top-10 in 15 of the previous 20 seasons. Hairston nearly had two interceptions, while nickelback Dee Alford almost had one and Gardner-Johnson had one called back due to a penalty.
“These turnovers on defense are going to come in bunches,” Bills head coach Joe Brady said. “We had some plays on the ball that some of the guys want (back). (Gardner-Johnson’s play) was huge.”