The Buffalo Bills were annihilated on Sunday, losing 47-10 to an even better than advertised New Orleans Saints squad that finds itself on a seven-game winning streak. As embarrassingly awful as Buffalo played, their fantasy football numbers are as low as I’ve ever seen for a team overall. There were literally no bright spots. Here were the best performers on the day.
RB LeSean McCoy
Buffalo’s number one tailback was the team’s leading fantasy point producer, and he scored 7.5 points on the afternoon. Almost half of those points came on a 36-yard run in the first quarter. Overall, McCoy ran 8 times for 49 yards, and he caught 3 of 5 targets for 11 yards receiving. This means that he carried the ball 7 times for 13 yards after his big first quarter scamper. The game was out of hand fairly early on, so it’s understandable that McCoy did not have more touches. However, fantasy managers with him on their roster would still like to see more production out of a player they invested a high draft pick in this season.
TE Nick O’Leary
Buffalo’s backup tight end was targeted twice, and he made one seven-yard catch in the end zone in the fourth quarter to provide the entirety of his 7.2 fantasy points. Nathan Peterman was the quarterback who found O’Leary, as Tyrod Taylor had been removed earlier in the fourth quarter.
WR Kelvin Benjamin
Buffalo targeted their newest receiver three times on the opening drive. He made a nine-yard catch on a quick slant that appeared to be a run-pass option (which I’m told is a newfangled concept popular with the kids in college these days), and then could not corral two off-target throws from Tyrod Taylor on consecutive plays. The first one was a jump ball into the end zone where Benjamin was well-covered, but Taylor threw the ball out of bounds, giving Benjamin no chance at making the grab. The next was a third down throw where Benjamin was open at the first down marker, but Taylor threw the ball well behind him. Benjamin was not targeted again until the fourth quarter, and it was Nathan Peterman who targeted him. He finished the day with 3 catches on 6 targets for a team-leading 42 receiving yards, good for 5.7 fantasy points.
QB Tyrod Taylor
Buffalo’s starting quarterback scored 3.94 fantasy points on the day. Three-point-nine-four. He completed 9-of-18 passes for 56 yards and an interception that glanced off of Charles Clay’s chest before being hauled in by defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins (because of course a defensive tackle had an interception on Sunday). Taylor added three rushes for 27 yards, with the majority of the yardage coming on a designed quarterback draw that began with a running back motioning out of the backfield (which I’m told is a newfangled concept popular with the kids in college these days). Taylor was so incompetent on the day that he was outscored by his backup, rookie Nathan Peterman, who was 7-of-10 for 79 yards and a touchdown on two fourth quarter drives. That’s right: if you started Buffalo’s backup quarterback in your fantasy league, he scored you more points than Buffalo’s starting quarterback. Taylor was every one of these synonyms for awful on Sunday, as the Saints’ defense added him to the list of quarterbacks it has devoured so far this season.