Buffalo Bills 10, New Orleans Saints 47: whose stock is up, whose stock is down?

The Buffalo Bills got their clocks cleaned by the visiting New Orleans Saints this past Sunday. The final score, 47-10, tells you all you need to know about the game as both sides of the ball were shellacked from start to finish. Someone put out an APB for McDermott’s jar of dirt.

Luckily, the AFC is mediocre, as is the AFC East. The Bills are still in possession of second place in the division and the 6^th seed in the AFC, even after two consecutive blow-out losses. If the season were to end today the Bills would be still be in the playoffs.

Here is our Week ten stock watch:

Stock on the rise

OT Dion Dawkins
The Bills rookie tackle didn’t have a dominant game by any means, giving up a couple pressures in the passing game, but he was one of the few linemen on the team able to get some traction in the run game. Early in the first quarter, he flew down the field to help spring LeSean McCoy for his 36-yard scamper. He was also Johnny-on-the-spot in recovering a Shady fumble later in the first half. Aside from the previously mentioned pressures, Dawkins also had a decent game in pass protection. He didn’t give up a sack of Tyrod Taylor all game, despite facing Saints pass rusher Cameron Jordan who has 7.5 sacks on the year.

RB LeSean McCoy
The Bills running game woes had much more to do with the struggles of the offensive line than the team’s starting running back. The Saints defense has been susceptible to big runs this season and after his 36-yard run early in the first quarter it looked like McCoy was going to have a productive day. But from that point on, the Saints kept him bottled up long enough that the Bills were forced to abandon the run after falling behind by three scores. McCoy finished with 49 yards rushing on only 8 carries for a respectable 6.1 yards-per-rush and also contributed three catches in the passing game.

QB Nate Peterman
Peterman entered the game in the fourth quarter facing a vanilla zone defense and did what was expected of him. He successfully delivered the ball on time on several comeback routes, moved the ball down field and scored the Bills only touchdown on the day. He continued to demonstrate many of the positive traits he flashed in the preseason. Hopefully Peterman won’t see much more game action but this is another positive performance to carry into the offseason.

Stock down

DTs Cedric Thornton/Adolphus Washington
Both Bills defensive tackles have had their moments earlier in the year, but against the Saints they were completely blown off the ball when faced with double teams in the run game. Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara racked up 237 rushing yards between them. They were equally as ineffective in the passing game, failing to register any sacks, hits or hurries of Drew Brees. This performance is most likely why the team recently went out and signed Deandre Coleman, a 341 pound nose tackle, on Tuesday, releasing Jerel Worthy.

LB Preston Brown
All three starting linebackers had sub-par outings but Brown was the worst of the bunch. He was unable to take on blocks and compensate for poor play of the two aforementioned defensive linemen. Early in the game he committed pass interference against Michael Hoomanawanui in the red zone which kept a Saints touchdown drive alive. His lack of speed to the edge was exposed on several outside runs. Uncharacteristically, his tackling was atrocious. If Brown wants to get re-signed by the team this offseason he should find where they store game tape at One Bills Drive and burn any record of this game.

OC Rick Dennison
Rumblings writer Dylan Zadonowicz recently stated that Rick Dennison should be on the hot seat based on his how the offense has looked this year. I’ll do him one better: Dennison should be on the hot seat based on this game alone. The Saints sat in cover-two for most of the game and the Bills were unable to attack the defense in ways you’d expect from a professional NFL offensive coordinator: with passes up the seam, with slants to the running back, or with deep dig routes. Immediately after the game, the players talked about "keeping ahead of the chains" but when your offense is forced to essentially give up in a 3rd and long situation, you're being much too conservative. If the offense continues to be this ineffective for any more games, I’d expect Dennison to be served his walking papers after the season.