Top 3 Things We Learned

Top 3 things we learned from Bills vs. Browns | Preseason Week 2 2026

Aug 22, 2026 at 06:59 PM

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Cleveland Browns vs Buffalo Bills, Preseason, August 22, 2026 at Huntington Bank Field.

The Buffalo Bills won their second preseason game of the 2026 slate, going into Cleveland and leaving with a 31-7 victory. Here's what we learned from the performance.

A complete effort from Buffalo after early rain delay

The last time the Bills traveled for a joint practice followed by a preseason game was last year's trip to Chicago where Buffalo was shut out by the Bears in a 38-0 drubbing. This year, the Bills were up for the challenge just two days after their joint practice in Cleveland, putting forth a dominant 31-7 effort against the Browns.

"Everything that we kind of embody and talk about — it was great to see it in action," Bills head coach Joe Brady said. "And is there stuff for us to clean up? Absolutely. But I was more proud of the mindset and the mentality that they kind of took it on."

With most of the starters resting, it was a prime opportunity to see Buffalo's depth pieces shine. What wasn't shining early on, however, was the sun as a weather delay two minutes into the first quarter forced an hour-long stoppage. Brady was encouraged by how his team didn't let the delay affect the play on the field once the game resumed.

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"There was a lot of stuff going on before the game and handling it, but I was just so proud of the guys just in general, of our team, our quarterbacks," Brady said. "We've had rain since the first day of training camp and we knew we were going to play in these types of conditions and boom, a weather delay and they came in and it was like, 'Hey boys, we're going to start at 2:15.' They were like, 'Cool, let's put the ball down and let us go.'"

Led by quarterback Kyle Allen, Buffalo marched down the field after the delay, covering 41 yards in six plays capped off by a 1-yard TD run from running back Ray Davis.

From there, the Bills kept their foot on the gas, outgaining the Browns 368-194 in yardage. Buffalo averaged 6.5 yards per play; Cleveland managed just 3.7. The Bills also recorded 20 first downs, compared to 12 by their opponent.

Kyle Allen and Shane Buechele show command of the offense

After participating in roughly 50 snaps during Thursday's joint practice, Bills star quarterback Josh Allen did not play in Saturday's contest. That left QBs Kyle Allen and Shane Buechele as the remaining signal-callers on the roster, each playing a half and leading two touchdown drives.

Kyle Allen went 10 of 12 passing for 128 yards and a touchdown. His best drive of the day came during a two-minute drill where he led the Bills on a four-play, 62-yard scoring drive in just 47 seconds. He made consecutive throws to WR Mecole Hardman for 6 yards, WR Ja'Mori Maclin for 37 yards, TE Shane Zylstra for 10 yards and a 9-yard TD to Hardman to take a 14-7 lead into the break.

"This week it was great to be able to get down there, make that big play by J-Mac (Maclin)," Allen said. "He ran a great route, and then getting in the end zone is awesome."

Allen, who spent the 2024 season in Pittsburgh and 2025 in Detroit, shared that "the offense has changed a lot" since returning to Buffalo under Joe Brady and it was beneficial to have days like Saturday with this many live reps.

"It's tough to bounce around to a bunch of places, but I mean that's the job of a backup quarterback," Allen said. "I feel like I'm just continuing to work on little things in the game, trying to master the game, master defenses. Defenses have changed so much over the last couple years, and preseason is just all about executing, playing within the offense and trying to score points. It's been fun."

Buechele took over in the second half, completing 5 of 10 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown pass. That TD pass came on a 71-yard strike over the middle of the field to Maclin, who ran roughly 55 yards after the catch past the Cleveland defense.

"He works hard, he's got some juice to him. It's fun playing with him," Buechele added.

Not known for his scrambling ability, the QB put the exclamation point on the victory with a five-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. Buechele praised the in-game communication between Brady, the quarterbacks and the offense to help things run smoothly from an operational standpoint.

"It's nice to have Joe on the sidelines so we can kind of communicate with him," Buechele said. "Communication's really good now that he's on the sideline, and he's done a good job with it."

Defense makes splash plays

The Bills got the most out of their defense Saturday, holding the Browns to just one scoring drive. Along the way, Buffalo recorded two takeaways, forced four three-and-outs, seven pass breakups and five tackles for a loss.

A couple standout reps included one by defensive lineman Landon Jackson who showed his power on a play in the first quarter, getting past a block inside the 10-yard line to stuff Browns RB Raheim Sanders for a 3-yard loss to force third down.

In the second quarter, inside linebacker Joe Andreessen had great coverage on a Browns pass catcher and deflected the ball that was caught by safety Damar Hamlin for an interception on a throw by QB Shedeur Sanders. A similar play happened with Deshaun Watson at QB for Cleveland in the second half as DB Jordan Dunbar tipped a pass thrown over the middle and a leaping INT was made by DB Te'Cory Couch who was getting reps at safety.

Through two preseason games, the Bills are allowing 197.5 yards per game and 3.62 yards per play. The defensive unit also has 3 takeaways, 5 sacks, 11 pass breakups and 13 tackles for a loss.