In a season in which it seems as though the Buffalo Bills' offense has consistently been the stronger half of the team, it was their defense that stole the show in their 30-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 10. It was flat-out domination for the unit against the Joe Flacco-led Colts offense; four sacks, a forced fumble, and three interceptions, which included a pick-six courtesy of nickel cornerback Taron Johnson.
Johnson looked like the best player on the football field on Sunday -- the veteran corner lit up the scoreboard to the tune of the pick-six, a sack, a quarterback hit, and two passes defended. The first-quarter pick-six was the third in Johnson's career and his first since the 2020 season when he had his other two.
The seventh-year defensive back was made available to reporters following his big game. He was asked what he thought Flacco saw -- or in this case, didn't see -- before throwing his interception to Johnson.
"I'm not sure what he was seeing," Johnson said. "But I've seen that play before . . . against a different team, and I played it differently. I mean, we [were] in a different call too. In the game I've seen it, I played it differently, and I feel like they were expecting me to play it a different way. And, I took the ball. After that, I scanned the field and took it to the house."
Later on in his press conference, Johnson was asked if the early pick-six changed the mentality of the defense or adjusted their mindset. "I'll speak for myself, definitely yeah we can make those plays, but at the same time when it happens that early I'm like, 'okay, onto the next play.' I mean, that was the first play of the game, so I'm like 'I still got a whole game to play,' so my mindset was just focused on the next play."
Johnson and the Bills avoided the perceived "trap game" and now move onto their biggest game yet, a home matchup against the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11. Kickoff at Highmark Stadium will be at 4:25 p.m. next Sunday.
