There were very few positives to take away from Sunday’s demoralizing, inept, season-opening 47-3 loss by the Buffalo Bills to the Baltimore Ravens at rainy M&T Bank Stadium.
The Bills managed to go the ENTIRE first half without recording a first down, while allowing Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense to score five times and pile up yards en route to a 26-0 halftime lead.
Nathan Peterman proved once again that preseason stats are meaningless. After putting up one of the best preseasons of any quarterback in the league, Peterman regressed big-time, completing only five of 18 passes for 24 yards, two interceptions, and an abysmal quarterback rating of 0.0.
The vaunted secondary, supposedly this team’s strength, allowed Baltimore to easily convert a 2nd and 26 on the first drive of the game that set up the Ravens’ first touchdown, and looked out of sorts all game against a middle-of-the-road Baltimore offense.
The day after the entire Bills unit seemed to sleepwalk their way through the opener, if Bills fans are looking for the tiniest bit of good news from Sunday’s debacle, it is this: the 47-3 throttling at the hands of the Ravens wasn’t the worst loss in franchise history.
That dubious distinction belongs to the 2007 Bills, who were thoroughly dominated at home by Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and the New England Patriots, 56-10 on Sunday Night Football.
It was, however, the worst opening day loss by Buffalo, “besting” a 27-3 shellacking to the New York Titans (now the Jets) in 1960, the first game in team history when both squads belonged to the American Football League.
Thankfully for Bills fans, Stephen Hauschka’s 35-yard field goal late in the third quarter ensured Buffalo wouldn’t suffer its third season-opening shutout, a feat accomplished in 1977 (a 13-0 loss to the Miami Dolphins) and 1983 (a 12-0 setback to the Dolphins).