Bills fans like to think that the referees are always against them, but Sunday afternoon that didn’t seem to be the case.

A controversial call in which Jerry Hughes forced a Matt Ryan fumble that was recovered and returned for a touchdown by Tre’Davious White at the start of the third quarter helped lead to a 23-17 Buffalo victory.

Mirroring last Sunday’s game against Denver, there wasn’t much offence in the first half. Taylor overthrew a wide open Kaelin Clay, which would have put the Bills in scoring position.

Atlanta put points on the board first as Matt Bryant kicked a 28-yard field goal putting Atlanta up 3-0 with 10:35 left in the first half. Taylor showed off his long ball hitting Charles Clay with a 44-yard pass getting the Bills to the 9-yard line. Jordan Matthews caught a pass in the end zone for a touchdown putting the Bills up 7-3 late in the first half.

Devonta Freeman ran the ball in from the 1-yard line putting the Falcons up 10-7 at halftime. Freeman finished the day with 18 attempts for 58 yards. Teammate Tevin Coleman ran for 79 yards on 9 carries. The Bills’ backfield rushed for a combined total of 117 yards.

Leslie Frazier’s top five overall Buffalo defense, which had three turnovers, forced Ryan and his offence to punt the ball late in the second quarter but the Bills weren’t able to capitalize and fans started having hot flashes from the Week 2 game against the Carolina Panthers.

After the controversial “open hand call”, Micah Hyde picked the ball off halfway into the third quarter shifting the tide to Buffalo’s favor. Hyde had two interceptions for the day.

Rick Dennison prepared around his offence’s strengths and Atlanta’s weaknesses by running the ball over thirty times.

Hauschka nailed a 56-yard field goal giving Buffalo the lead 23-17 with 3:06 left in the game. Hauschka is having a legendary year for a kicker hitting 11 straight field goals from 50 yards or more, and has been vital to the team’s success.

The Bills defense was able to stop pro-bowl quarterback Ryan from scoring a touchdown in the dying seconds of the game to seal a Buffalo victory.

Ryan threw for a lousy 24 for 42 for 242 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, compared to Tyrod Taylor, who had an accurate day going 12 for 20 for 182 yards and two touchdowns.

“This is why we count on players to develop in our system,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott explained. “This is a tough place to play the defending NFC champions. We are an extremely resilient group…this is a great organization win.”

Jordan Matthews is having surgery on his thumb and will be out indefinitely for at least a week for an injury suffered during the game.

The Bills head to Cincinnati Sunday to take on the Bengals (1-3) at 1 p.m.