The Buffalo Bills defense was supposed to be improved after the off-season promotion of coordinator Dave Wannstedt, the switch to a 4-3 scheme, the free agent additions of pass rushers Mario Williams and Mark Anderson, and the drafting of starting cornerback Stephon Gilmore. After giving up 97 points in back-to-back weeks, however, the Bills' defense has been nothing but an embarrassment.
Here are some "fun" facts to take from the season so far:
- There have been 122 games in NFL history with 300-plus rushing yards and 2,316 with 300+ passing yards, but that feat had never been recorded in the same game until the San Francisco 49ers against the Bills in Week 5.
- Against the 49ers, the Bills had a yardage differential of -417 yards. That's the 12th-highest total since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
- Only three teams since the merger have allowed 550plus yards in two games in a single season. Buffalo did it in consecutive weeks to become the fourth. The last team to do it in consecutive games was the 1950 New York Yanks.
- Per the last bullet, the 1,201 yards allowed in the most given up by any team in consecutive weeks.
- Only one team has allowed 45 or more points in four separate games of a season since the merger. Buffalo has already allowed three teams to do it in five games this season, and they play two of them (the New York Jets and the New England Patriots) again.
- The last team to allow more than 97 points in consecutive weeks was the 1980 49ers team that allowed 107 points in Weeks 5 and 6.
I'm sure there are more nauseating stats you folks can find and put in the comments section. Which do you think is the most damning?