The Bills have some major tweaks to make on the offensive side of the football.
In a mundane 13-7 loss to the Ravens, Buffalo mustered a pedestrian 160 total yards. Tyrod Taylor averaged just 5.0 yards per attempt, and as a team, the Bills accumulated 65 yards on 24 rushes.
While the defense wasn’t spectacular, holding a team to 13 points in its home opener is more than respectable.
Although the Bills were given a gift when Joe Flacco fumbled a snap, Buffalo’s first quarter was abysmal, and the Ravens took a 3-0 lead on a Justin Tucker 50-yard field goal.
In the second quarter, speedster Mike Wallace took advantage of having safety Duke Williams covering him one-on-one and blew past him for an easy 66-yard touchdown on a nice throw from Joe Flacco.
Buffalo found it’s only offensive rhythm of the afternoon in the second quarter, when Taylor orchestrated a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ate 7:09 of clock and ended with a LeSean McCoy touchdown plunge from a yard away on 4th and goal.
Neither team did much of anything on offense in the second half, as each team’s pass-rushes were able to frequently pressure the opposition’s quarterback. There was minimal semblance of an effective run game from either side. Baltimore averaged 3.0 yards per carry on the afternoon.
With under eight minutes to go in the fourth quarterback. there was a peculiar “leverage” penalty on Jerel Worthy when he jumped and landed on the shoulders of a Ravens offensive lineman on a Tucker field-goal attempt. While the Bills defense ultimately held, it took more two minutes off the clock in a critical juncture of the game, especially with Buffalo wasting two timeouts in the third quarter.
The newly minted Taylor was disappointing in his 2016 debut, although Buffalo’s offensive line was bad against a team that, on paper, doesn’t have a stellar pass rush. The Bills quarterback was noticeably conservative throughout. His best play was a double spin out of two potential sacks and a connection with Charles Clay on a third down during the club’s only touchdown drive.
Going into the season, the defense was thought to be the unit that needed the most improvement, which based on 2015, that assessment made sense. However, the Bills must get to the proverbial drawing board to work out a plethora of kinks on offense.
Notes: Cordy Glenn left the game with what appeared to be an ankle injury. Sammy Watkins was targeted six times and had four catches for 43 yards. Neither team cracked the 5.0-yards-per-play mark on offense. Taylor was sacked twice. Flacco was sacked four time. Baltimore was hit with six flags. Buffalo was penalized eight times.