The Buffalo Bills, a football organization from Orchard Park in Western New York, were introduced to the world of professional football today, being beaten down 47-10 by the New Orleans Saints. The Saints are a club from the National Football League, which is the top gridiron football league in the world, and they showed it, extending their current winning streak to seven games.
The Buffalo Bills, who encouraged their hometown fans with a hot start and a roster punching above its weight class, have fallen back to Earth once they encountered a top class NFL team (and also the Jets). No player or coach in the Bills organization can feel comfortable with today’s performance, except the ones who didn’t participate.
Tyrod Taylor was undoubtedly putrid today, rapidly flexing from a good week to an awful one in a way only he is capable of. He finished 9-of-18 passing for 56 yards and an interception. Either he couldn’t see any of the open receivers downfield, or he didn’t care, opting to target Mike Tolbert and Patrick DiMarco as often as the team’s high-priced trade acquisition Kelvin Benjamin.
LeSean McCoy had a 36 yard run on the team’s opening drive, then vanished like the Ghost of Christmas Past for the rest of the game. The offensive line has a mediocre game, neither opening up holes for the running game nor giving defenders a free pass at Taylor.
Offensive coordinator Rick Dennison came out with an opening script that was just what the doctor ordered, featuring several option looks and designed quarterback runs, and schemed passes for Benjamin. Then he threw that away for more slow-developing runs and swing passes.
The Saints didn’t punt. They scored six rushing touchdowns and a field goal, and a lost fumble in the red zone was their only blemish on the day. As a team, they rushed for nearly seven yards per carry. Drew Brees didn’t need to carry the offense today, but he still completed 75 percent of his passes.
The vast majority of Buffalo’s front seven played like hot garbage on a day where they were needed most. The Saints offensive line mauled them up and down the field. They blew gap assignments, missed tackles, and overran players in the backfield. The Saints ran 24 consecutive times in the second half, and the result was three touchdowns and no punts (ended by a completed pass on fourth and three up by 34 because Sean Payton doesn’t care about your feelings).
MVP: Nobody
No one gets an MVP award today. Not even the individual players who might have had good performances. The team doesn’t deserve it.
LVP: Everybody
Everyone, from the individual players, to the coaching staff who punted while down 27 points and organized this disgusting gameplan, to the general manager who decided to trade away a run stopping defensive tackle and add a wide receiver his QB wouldn’t use, should be embarrassed by how badly their team lost today.
Injury report
Defensive end Jerry Hughes left the game with a shin injury just before halftime.
Notes
- Nate Peterman entered the game at the end of the fourth quarter and got a few yards against a prevent defense, then tossed the ball to a fullback on 4th and 1 to shut down the first drive. On his second drive, he found room against those defenders and scored his first touchdown with a throw to Nick O’Leary.
- This was Buffalo’s annual “we played so badly we allowed the other team to set franchise records” performance on the season.
- I watched NC State play against Boston College yesterday and it was way more entertaining than this garbage. And those teams couldn’t even kick field goals properly.