Bills’ Devin Singletary: ‘The grass felt like concrete’
The Buffalo Bills continued to win in the cold this week, gifting one another and their fans with an AFC East-clinching 35-13 victory on the frozen tundra of- Chicago.
The win over the Bears was a cold one, forecasted at kickoff to be around eight degrees with a -14 wind-chill.
The frigid weather resulted in some hard ground for the teams to play on at Soldier Field, and the difference went noticed by members of the Bills offense.
Guard Ryan Bates, playing in place of starting center Mitch Morse (concussion) was among those to speak about it after the game.
“You felt like you were playing on a basketball floor, just cause the ground was so hard,” Bates said to the Buffalo News. “You couldn’t really get your footing, you couldn’t really drive off of it, because you would just slip. So, credit to the backs, for keeping their center of gravity under themselves, keeping their shoulders (over) their feet, and just playing the adversity of the weather.”
Among those backs who had a big day, was the Bills’ Devin Singletary, who went 100+ yards rushing and combined with fellow back James Cook for total yards on the cold ground.
“It was cold, the grass felt like concrete so at times it was hard to get your footings,” Singletary said following the win. “But it was still fun.”
Though the weather did factor into the playing conditions on the field, it didn’t appear to have too much impact on the Bills overall offensive game plan. When asked whether the weather was a factor, Singletary was to the point.
“It wasn’t a big factor,” the RB added.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen echoed Bates sentiment in crediting the running backs, and the difference they made on a day in which the conditions were affecting shotgun snaps a bit.
“It helped a lot,” Allen said to the press. “They relieved a lot of pressure, skipping a lot of third downs, and yeah when you can hand the ball off and tote the thing for 40-50 yards and score touchdowns, that makes everybody happy. I’m proud of our guys, our running backs for running the way they did. It was good to see them get some results like that they’ve been working their tails off all season long.”
Head coach Sean McDermott also made a special mention after the game about the effort that the two backs and line had in the winning effort for Buffalo.
“Credit to the offensive line and Motor and James, they did a great job,” McDermott said postgame.
Allen joined his coach in heaping praise on and throwing support behind the difference-makers at the line and in the backfield as well.
“It was awesome,” Allen said. “They ran it so hard. And we’ve been hoping for performance like that for a while and to get our O-line going like that and opening holes and they were super excited and happy about that.”
Freezing cold dubs. ❄️#BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/a7ew1KcEyh
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 24, 2022
