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Buffalo beat Cleveland 31-7 in Week 2 of the preseason, and the single biggest play of the game belonged to a receiver most fantasy managers haven't heard of. Josh Allen didn't appear in the box score at all. This was entirely a backups-and-roster-bubble game, which makes the individual performances underneath the score the whole story.
Maclin caught just two passes, but they went for 108 yards, a 54.0-yard average, capped by a 71-yard touchdown from Shane Buechele. Buechele himself was sharp in relief: 5 of 10 for 111 yards and the score, a 123.3 rating. Kyle Allen handled the other stint at quarterback and was even more efficient by the numbers (10 of 12, 128 yards, a touchdown, 138.9 rating).
Ian Wheeler led Buffalo's backfield in carries, 14 for 56 yards, a 4.0 average. Frank Gore Jr. did more with less: nine carries for 54 yards, a 6.0 average and a long of 18. Neither separated the backfield picture cleanly, but on a per-touch basis Gore was the more explosive back Saturday.
Shedeur Sanders threw a touchdown but also an interception, going 9 of 11 for 74 yards, an 87.1 rating. Deshaun Watson struggled in his own stint: 5 of 12 for 36 yards and an interception of his own, a 14.6 rating. Dillon Gabriel barely saw the field, going 0 of 1. None of Cleveland's three quarterbacks did enough in this game to end the competition behind center.
Explosive receiving lines built on one long touchdown are the trickiest kind of preseason evidence to read, and Ja'Mori Maclin is the perfect test case. Two catches for 108 yards looks like a breakout, but almost all of it came on a single 71-yard connection with a backup quarterback against defenders who may not make a roster. That does not make the play meaningless, since the speed to take the top off a coverage is a real trait, but it does mean the yardage total overstates the week-to-week outlook. The honest read on Maclin is that he flashed a skill worth monitoring, not that he earned a draft pick. In deep dynasty formats he is a name to log; in redraft he is a preseason highlight and little more.
The more actionable Buffalo story is the backfield, where Frank Gore Jr. and Ian Wheeler split work without either seizing it. Gore's efficiency edge on fewer carries is the kind of detail that matters if the committee stays muddy into September, because per-touch production tends to earn a back more chances over time. Cleveland's side is a cautionary tale for anyone eyeing the Browns pass catchers: when three quarterbacks rotate through a game and none separates, the receivers downstream inherit that uncertainty. A wideout is only as stable as the arm throwing to him, and an unsettled quarterback room caps the ceiling of everyone catching passes in it until the job is decided. That uncertainty is the single biggest reason to treat every Browns pass catcher as a wait-and-see hold rather than a confident draft pick this summer, and to revisit the room only once a starter is locked in.
Ja'Mori Maclin's one huge catch and Frank Gore Jr.'s per-carry efficiency are the two real, specific things to remember from this blowout. Check the rookie rankings to see where names like Maclin and Gore currently sit, and use the best ball tool to see how Cleveland's still-unsettled QB room is being priced heading into the season. Full box score: ESPN.
