A couple of articles dissecting the Bills losses to the Saints and the Jets, debacles that can not be repeated. As LeSean McCoy said after the Bills-Saints game Q: LeSean, how concerning is it to have back-to-back performances like this that are so uncharacteristic of how you were playing the first seven games?
A: Yeah, this is not Buffalo football. Just all the penalties and so many mistakes, you know we haven’t been doing that. Maybe last year, or the year before that, but not this year. I mean, we are different. So we have to find a way to get back to playing Buffalo football, and we will.
Saints score at will in win over Bills
12NOV17
The Bills have been resilient this season when it comes to stemming the tide following a loss. That wasn’t the case however, on Sunday.
Location: New Era Field, Orchard Park, NY
Regular season records: Buffalo (5-4), New Orleans (7-2)
In a nutshell: The Bills have been resilient this season when it comes to stemming the tide following a loss. That wasn’t the case however, on Sunday. Facing a Saints team coming in on a six-game winning streak, Buffalo was quite literally run out of their own building in a 47-10 defeat.
It was the worst home loss for the Bills since a 56-10 loss to the New England Patriots on Nov. 18th, 2007.
The Bills gave up a season-high 298 yards rushing as New Orleans Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara each went for over 100 yards on the ground. The pair also combined for four rushing touchdowns.
Buffalo’s offense struggled to move the ball. After an opening scoring drive that led to a field goal, Buffalo ran just 23 plays for a total of 48 net yards on their next six possessions. On 10 Buffalo possessions the offense went three and out five times.
For the Bills, it was the first time this season they lost at home and the first time they lost back-to-back games in 2017 to fall to 5-4 on the year.
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Bills vs Saints - Week 10
How it went down:-The Bills got on the scoreboard first when Stephen Hauschka
put a 37-yard field goal attempt up and through to finish a nine-play 57-yard drive just four minutes into the game (3-0).
-New Orleans had little trouble responding with a nine-play scoring drive covering 75 yards. Mark Ingram took it in from a yard out to give the Saints a 7-3 advantage midway through the first quarter.
-The Saints jumped ahead 14-3 when Mark Ingram scored his second touchdown of the afternoon from three yards out to finish an eight-play 48-yard drive with nine minutes remaining in the half.
-New Orleans would get a field goal before the end of the half as Will Lutz put a 23-yard attempt up and through for a 17-3 lead at the half.
-With the first possession of the second half, the Saints marched right down the field getting yards in big chunks before Alvin Kamara took a five-yard carry in for a touchdown with 9:45 left in the third quarter (24-3).
-A pass that went off the hands of Charles Clay deep in Buffalo territory was intercepted by Sheldon Rankins and returned to the Bills three-yard line. One play later Mark Ingram was in the end zone for his third touchdown of the day, but the point after attempt failed (30-3) midway through the third quarter.
-The Saints then proceeded to run the ball and clock on their next possession. New Orleans ran on 10 consecutive plays for 94 yards with Drew Brees taking a seven-yard scramble in for the touchdown at the end for a 37-3 lead at the close of the third quarter.
-Will Lutz added to the blowout win for the Saints with just under five minutes remaining when he hit a 53-yard field goal to finish a 14-play drive (40-3).
-Nate Peterman, on in relief of Tyrod Taylor , threw the first touchdown pass of his career with a seven-yard pass to Nick O’Leary to make it 47-10 with 1:54 left in the game.
Subplots:-Kelvin Benjamin in his first start for the Bills was targeted three times on the opening drive of the game and made one reception for nine yards. He wasn’t targeted again until four minutes left in the game with Nate Peterman in at quarterback.
-LeSean McCoy found running the ball difficult again as he managed just 49 yards on eight carries. Had it not been for his 36-yard run on the team’s first possession he would’ve had one of his least successful games of the season.
-Tyrod Taylor finished the game 9-18 for 56 yards and an interception for a passer rating of 33.6.
-Nate Peterman came on at the end of the game and led a touchdown drive. He finished 7-10 for 79 yards and a touchdown.
-Buffalo’s run defense gave up a season-high 298 yards rushing and six rushing touchdowns.
-The Bills offense converted just two of their 11 third down opportunities. It was a season low in both conversions and conversion percentage for 2017.
-Ramon Humber forced a fumble defending Buffalo’s red zone, jarring the ball loose from TE Josh Hill. Kyle Williams recovered the loose ball at the Bills nine-yard line. It was Humber’s first career forced fumble on defense.
-For just the second time this season, the Bills scored on their opening possession with a 37-yard Stephen Hauschka field goal. Buffalo has just six points scored on opening possessions this season.
-Dion Dawkins made his fourth NFL start at left tackle in place of the injured Cordy Glenn .
-Inactive for Buffalo on Sunday were Cordy Glenn, Zay Jones , Conor McDermott , John Miller , Travaris Cadet , Khari Lee and E.J. Gaines .
Up next: The Bills travel to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers on Nov. 19th for a 4:05 pm kickoff.
Top 3 things we learned from Bills-Saints
Giving up yards in big chunks continues, as do the third down woes on offense and it might take a little time to put Kelvin Benjamin's abilities on full display.
1 – Giving up yards in chunks continuesA week after there were more missed tackles than usual and Buffalo gave up a season-high 194 yards rushing to the Jets, the Bills defense repeated the practice in a lopsided loss to New Orleans. For the second straight week head coach Sean McDermott saw a loss at the line of scrimmage and the result was giving up yards in big chunks to the Saints on Sunday.
“We know it starts up front. You’ve got to win at the line of scrimmage,” said McDermott. “That’s where this game is won, is up front and we’ve got to do a better job there.”
The Saints offense did almost anything they wanted. In the first half they exploited the middle of the field with top receiver Michael Thomas, who had seven catches on seven targets for 91 yards. Then in the second half, when Buffalo tried to close down the middle of the field, RB Alvin Kamara was deployed to exploit the edges of the Bills defense.
Kamara finished with 138 total yards from scrimmage and a touchdown.
All the while fellow back Mark Ingram pounded out yards right up the middle and had three rushing touchdowns.
“They were able to do whatever they wanted to do,” said Jordan Poyer . “Any down, any distance. It’s hard to stay in rhythm as a defense. That wasn’t us. That wasn’t us in back to back weeks. We’ve got to find a way to play better. I’ve got to play better, speaking for myself. We’ve all got to play better, as a team, as a unit, as a secondary. We’ve all got to play better.”
Six offensive plays for New Orleans went for 20 yards or more and there were another dozen plays that went for between 10 and 19 yards.
“We got off to a bad start and it snowballed,” said Kyle Williams . “We got beat physically, we’re out of our gaps and aren’t where we’re supposed to be and it just snowballed into a nightmare.”
2 – Third down woes persist
Following Buffalo’s opening field goal drive, the offense couldn’t get much going at all. On 10 possessions the Bills went three and out a total of five times. And they can point to their third down conversion rate for much of the reason why.
Buffalo converted just two of their 11 third down opportunities for a season low conversion rate of just 18 percent. It’s part of a troubling trend for the Bills attack.
Since Week 1, the Bills third down conversion rate has declined with each passing week. In the opener they converted at a rate of 62.5 percent (10-16).
In Week 2, in a 9-3 loss, that was considered an offensive struggle, they still converted on third downs at a rate of 47 percent (8-17).
Against Denver in Week 3, 46.2 percent in a victory and in Week 4 at Atlanta a respectable 40 percent conversion rate (6-16).
From Week 5 onward however, Buffalo has not reached the 40 percent mark on third down conversions. Here’s a look at the steady decline.
Week 1 – 62.5%
Week 2 – 47.1%
Week 3 – 46.2%
Week 4 – 40%
Week 5 – 37.5%
Week 7 – 37.5%
Week 8 – 33%
Week 9 – 31%
Week 10 – 18%
Week 2 – 47.1%
Week 3 – 46.2%
Week 4 – 40%
Week 5 – 37.5%
Week 7 – 37.5%
Week 8 – 33%
Week 9 – 31%
Week 10 – 18%
“We put ourselves in bad situations,” said Tyrod Taylor. “A couple of penalties early on in first and second down. Also, just not getting movement on first and second downs put us in third and longs. We’ve got to be better on third down for sure.”
. “A couple of penalties early on in first and second down. Also, just not getting movement on first and second downs put us in third and longs. We’ve got to be better on third down for sure.”
“It was part of the plan, but I was also taking what the defense gave me too,” said Tyrod Taylor. “The defense started rolling toward him in some situations too. But just a lack of execution across the board. Passing game and running game. That starts with me.”
Benjamin, who finished with three catches for 42 yards to lead the team, was eager to make an impact.
“I ain’t going to lie, I was excited,” he said. “First game in the Bills uniform with the guys. They go out there and leave it all out on the field. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way.
“I ain’t going to lie, I was excited,” he said. “First game in the Bills uniform with the guys. They go out there and leave it all out on the field. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way.
“Our first drive they played a little bit more man. We started attacking them and then they started switching up on us. They started going more cover-2, cover-6, they were playing a little bit of three. Kind of like they were saying we’re just going to sit back and let our D-line get to you.”
The Bills only ran 45 offensive plays in the game.
What they're saying: Bills look to regroup after consecutive losses
HC Sean McDermott, QB Tyrod Taylor, WR Kelvin Benjamin and other discuss what needs to happen for the team to get back on the winning track after back-to-back losses.
Head Coach Sean McDermott
Q: What do you think has gone wrong, though, up front? I don’t see much that goes on there but why are you guys getting blocked? It looks pretty easy when they chop up the middle like that.
A: Yeah. There’s technique, fundamentals, it’s always a combination of that. Effort. I thought the effort was there. The guys prepared all week long just like they have in the past. They prepared, they put the time in, and again, give them credit, but we’ve got to look at the tape. Hand balance up front in order to stay in your gap. The gap integrity, I’ve mentioned to you guys before. We’re getting knocked out of our gaps and then we’re not fitting the run all the time the way we need to. That’s where it starts, is at the line of scrimmage.
Q: Sean, this team has gotten a lot of high marks on resiliency and character early in the year. Is this the biggest test they’re going to face now, coming back from this?
A: Yeah, you’re right. Yup, you’re right. This is, this is not easy to take. Not an easy pill to swallow, especially at home. Our fans deserve more and so we go back hard at work to give them more. We’re building and we’ve got to continue to be honest with ourselves when we look at the tape. Like I said before, we got out-coached. That starts with me and we got out-played. Got to take a hard look at it.
Q: Any key words you can give us from the speech in the post-game locker room? What did you tell them?
A: Just that we’ve got a certain standard. That wasn’t up to our standard. Really, that standard is not changing. It’s what we look every day to accomplish, is to play at that standard, to do our work at that standard and today was not indicative of the standard that we’ve set for ourselves around here.
Q: How difficult is it to come off of a loss like this and then have to play on the road twice in the next two games?
A: You take them one game at a time. One game at a time. You look too far ahead [and] you get yourself in trouble. The biggest thing, we’ve got to regroup. We’ve got to hit the reset button, regroup, and I look forward to doing that this week. We’re 5-4 and nobody said, like I told you before, nobody said this is easy. This is how you get tested in this league. We’ve got to hang together and get things corrected. Get things corrected and we’re building to do that. We’ve got to take a hard look at this film, learn from it, and coach better, play better, and most importantly hang together as a team.
Quarterback Tyrod Taylor
Q: What happened out there, it looked like a disaster almost from beginning to end?
A: Yeah that pretty much sums it up. Horrible game. Our offense didn’t get anything going and that starts with me. Just an overall bad game. Something as a team we have to learn from. I definitely have to learn from this one. Just a bad game overall.
Q: Tyrod, you targeted Kelvin three times on the opening possession but then I don’t know that he had another target the rest of the way, how did you feel about working him into the offense? Was it maybe a plan to try and do it more and it just got away from you, or did you just take what the defense gave you?
A: It was part of the plan but it was also taking what the defense gave me. The defense started rolling towards him and some situations as well too but just a lack of execution across the board passing game, running game, like I said that starts with me.
“It was a horrible game. As a team, we need to regroup. We know that we have the talent to compete with anyone.” #NOvsBUF
Q: Sean said this would be your biggest test of resiliency, and character of this team, which you’ve had a lot this year. Would you agree?
A: Absolutely. Two tough losses back to back. We still sit 5-4 right now. As a team we have to regroup, refocus, and find a way to correct what we are doing wrong, bounce back. We know we have the talent to go out there and compete with anyone but it’s just about us honing in on what we do the best and going out there and making it happen.
Running Back LeSean McCoy
Q: You were 5-2 now you’re 5-4, you’re right back in the middle of all these teams. Do you feel like you kind of let something slip away here?
A: Well, it means that we lose games. Obviously you want to win them. I don’t know but the only thing we can do right now is fight and win games. We’re still in a solid position. So we’ll go out there and next week we’ll pick up a win. We just got to get one and let it keep rolling.
Q: Were you surprised at all just by how quickly it all slipped away?
A: Right, like I said. I mean the first drive I thought we were about to really roll. I thought we could’ve run the ball well this week with the different plays we had. I felt real confident about it, I really did. But then like I said, the first drive we made some plays, and after that it kind of just went downhill, fast. As on offense, going up against another offense like that, you got to put points up and you got to have the long drives, and put points up. If you don’t, that’s what happens.
Q: LeSean, how concerning is it to have back-to-back performances like this that are so uncharacteristic of how you were playing the first seven games?
A: Yeah, this is not Buffalo football. Just all the penalties and so many mistakes, you know we haven’t been doing that. Maybe last year, or the year before that, but not this year. I mean, we are different. So we have to find a way to get back to playing Buffalo football, and we will.
Left Guard Richie Incognito
Q: Do you feel like with these two losses now you guys have kind of entered the danger zone here? I mean, 5-2 was a nice start, but now it’s getting to the nut time now. Are you feeling like you’re in a dangerous spot here?
A: Yeah, you know it’s about that time in the season where teams start separating themselves, and at 5-4, we just put ourselves right back in with the rest of the pack. We have seven more opportunities to go out and earn as many wins as possible and try to get back in the win column.
Wide Receiver Kelvin Benjamin
Q: Your first game in a Bills uniform obviously not going the way you wanted to. How did you feel out there and working with your team for the first time?
A: I felt good. Very comfortable with the playbook. Just trying to play fast and with my teammates. Unfortunately it did not go our way. Will get the film, find out the mistakes from them and move on.
Q: You were targeted three times on the first drive and had one catch. Then it wasn’t again until much later in the game when the score had pretty much gotten away from you. Do you have any idea to as why the offense may have went away from you or the ball wasn’t coming to you for a long stretch there?
A: I think when we came out there on that first drive, we were more man and then they switched the coverages and started playing a lot of six and a lot of two. Just switching it up and rolling more to my side I guess. I think we tried to come out fast and we did. It just kind of slowed down for us.
Q: Would you like to see a little bit more of it coming your way after that though? Were you getting frustrated at all?
A: No, I’m not here for that. I’m here to play football and help the team win. I’m not trying to take all the targets. I’m not trying to do that. We have other receivers that can make plays too. Like I said, it just wasn’t going our way today.
Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander
Q: Can you just talk about the effort of the defense and what the Saints were able to do to you guys?
A: The effort was there. We just, again, didn’t tackle well. Couldn’t stop the run against a team like that with Drew Brees at the helm. They’re going to put up points, like they did. I don’t have no answer for you as far as what we can do. We’ve just got to continue to work and get back to the basics of every man being in a gap and making a play when they can. Guys rallying to it and knocking guys down.
Q: What is the emotional and mental state of this team right now?
A: We lost the last two games. Got whooped physically. I mean, I guess guys are disappointed, frustrated, but at the same time, you can’t let that affect you day-to-day so you have to get over it and move forward and just come out with better energy and focus for four quarters.
Safety Micah Hyde
Q: Last week, you could say it was just one game, just one bad game. This is two in a row now, how much more concerning is this one?
A: A little concerning. Obviously, we didn’t come out with the energy that we’re used to playing with. Simple as that. You can call it concerning just because we’re not playing our brand of football. It’s disappointing, we understand that. It’s embarrassing to go out there and put that on film.
Q: This defense has looked completely different the last two weeks, giving up almost 500 yards combined on the ground. What’s changed, is there anything you can put your finger on was you think has been different?
A: I could play better. I’m not really into talking about what anybody else can do and what not. I could play better, I could help this defense out a little bit, which in turn would help the team out. If we had the answers, we would have corrected it after last game, so it’s tough.
Safety Jordan Poyer
Q: I think the defense knew that it was going to be a challenge against Drew Brees and the Saints’ offense. Are you a little surprised at how today went though?
A: That’s a tough loss, especially in back-to-back weeks like that. It wasn’t us. It wasn’t us [in] back-to-back weeks, we have to find a way to correct our mistakes. I have to play better. It starts with myself, I have to play better. We all have to play better as a team, as a unit, as a secondary, we just have to play better.
Q: You say, ‘that’s not us,’ and it didn’t look like you guys until the Jets game. Then, the Jets game happens, [then] this game happens. What’s changed the last two games?
A: Nothing’s changed, nothing’s changed at all. We have to be more disciplined, [and] have to play better. [We] have to play better all-around. Like I said, starting with myself, I have to play better. There’s really nothing else you can say other than we just have to play better.
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