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Archives for October 15, 2020

Upon further review: Penalty problems plague Bills in loss

‘After being flagged 14 times Tuesday – 10 of which were accepted – during a 42-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans, the Bills have entered the top five in the NFL in penalties against. Through five weeks, the team has had 33 accepted penalties, which is tied for fifth most in the league.’

Position grades: Bills defense won rushing battle, lost the war

‘They gave up a third-and-20 conversion on the Titans’ second TD drive. They were called for a pass interference foul on a third-down pass that likely would have been incomplete whether or not a penalty was called on the third TD drive. They committed a personal foul to negate a third-down stop on the fourth TD drive. They jumped offsides on a third-and-7 situation on the fifth TD drive.’

Column: Bills fans suffered enough without hearing Feely’s overpraise of Titans

‘If there was one thing harder for Bills fans than watching how poorly the team played on a national stage, I imagine it was listening to Feely repeatedly praise the Titans for everything they had to overcome because of a Covid-19 outbreak that prevented them from playing a game for 16 days and from practicing more than once.’

Music City mauling shows Bills defense is playing out of tune

‘Right now, the Bills defense is not good. Not at all, and that came to light when it got smoked by a team that had barely practiced for two weeks. This once-respected defense has been reeling dating back to the second quarter of the Week 2 victory over Miami, and it finally came back to bite the Bills at Nissan Stadium.’

Bills’ Sean McDermott diagnoses what’s wrong with his defense after blowout loss vs. Titans

‘“As we talk about all the time, being one of 11. Doing your job, being where you’re supposed to be, taking away – if it’s coverage, taking away the leverage the defense is meant to take away and without trying to do too much,” McDermott said. “So it’s a fine line there to balance. And there’s always things we can do differently call-wise, and so we’ll evaluate that as well.”’

Performance of Bills’ defense keeping McDermott up at night

‘Through the first five weeks, the Bills defense has been a shell of its former self, currently ranked 24th in passing yards allowed per game (263.2) and 21st in points allowed per game (28.4). All of the Bills’ deficiencies were on full display during Tuesday night’s 42-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans, but despite his lack of sleep, McDermott still has confidence that his unit, once ranked near the top in the NFL, can turn things around.’

Bills’ leaky defense exposed in blowout loss to Titans

‘With both starting cornerbacks, including 2019 All-Pro Tre’Davious White, and starting linebacker Matt Milano sidelined, the 42 points allowed were the most by Buffalo since a 47-3 season-opening loss to Baltimore in 2018. The Titans scored touchdowns on six drives inside the red zone — also the first time an opponent’s done that since the Ravens.’

McDermott updates Bills key injuries

‘Head coach Sean McDermott told the media on Wednesday that linebacker Matt Milano (pectoral), wide receiver John Brown (calf), cornerback Tre’Davious White (back), and offensive guard Quinton Spain are all improving, but didn’t have any specific update on any of their status.’

Opinion: A night to forget

‘The Bills laid an egg in prime time, which was disappointing. The offense didn’t score enough points. The defense was bad. Special teams had a couple of mistakes. The Bills also hurt themselves with 10 penalties, seven of which were pre-snap. They had four false starts, three coming on the same drive, on a night when there were only 8,400 fans in the stands.’

Opinion: Woof

‘Pass coverage was horrendous without cornerbacks Tre’Davious White and Levi Wallace. Slot corner Taron Johnson got lost a few times, and if Josh Norman has had a worse outing in the NFL, that game tape probably should have been destroyed to protect the innocent.’

Lot owners calling for tailgating return

‘Hundreds of Bills fans were at Transit Drive-in in Niagara County. They parked their car, stayed in their groups and watched the Bills fall to the Tennessee Titans. Lot owners around the stadium, who are not allowed to host tailgaters, are wondering why they can’t do the same thing?’

Bills defense knows there’s work to do

‘“We’ve got some work to do, there are some new pieces, and we’ve had some things, lack of continuity you could say because of the bumps and bruises we’ve had at times defensively, but that’s kind of all the different variables that have been into the bucket of improving our defense. At the end of the day, I thought we did some good things, then obviously some things we could improve as well,” McDermott said.’

Bills defense trending toward historic lows

‘But the numbers are there, and it continued a troubling trend from the opening four wins. The Bills, who were second in the NFL in points allowed last season with 16 per game, are currently tied for 22nd in the league in scoring defense at 28.4 points a contest.’

Bills aren’t using schedule change as an excuse for poor performance vs. Titans

‘“We can’t use that as an excuse, we can’t do that as a team. Our mindset all week was we’re gonna play and we’ll adjust to anything else. Obviously it’s a different situation that sucked to be in quite frankly but we gotta be better, we gotta be prepared and we gotta come out swinging early,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said after the game.’

Injury Report: Injured Bills “all improving” says McDermott

‘“They’re both improving, that’s really all I know right now after getting off of film here in the first day after the game. That’s all I know, they’re both improving, we’ll just have to see how the next days go, that goes for John Brown as well,” McDermott said on Wendesday.’

Josh Allen says he has to be better; Bills defense confident moving forward

‘”I have to be better on that first drive,” Allen said. “Obviously putting that ball in front of Andre (Roberts) and letting him make an easier catch. In the second half, I have to be better on that, but I don’t feel the Titans defense fooled me too many times. Credit to them because they came out ready to play and they made more plays than we did.”‘

Bills silver lining from Titans beat down

‘”We have a game that was uncharacteristic of ourselves but at the same time certainly things underneath that we need to get fixed. We have to pay attention to those things and continue to improve and make the adjustments we need to make,” said McDermott. “We had 10 total penalties and nine of which were pre-snap. That’s unacceptable, it’s something we talk about all the time. I can handle aggressive penalties, but I can’t handle lack of discipline penalties.”‘

Bills’ defense game appears to be slipping

‘”We got to make sure we’re coordinated so if we’re taking an inside move we need to make sure someone covers us on the outside,” McDermott said. “It also means getting teams into third and long and situationally getting stronger in those thirrd down and long situations. So, there’s a lot that goes into it, but it starts with the mentality, a physical, nasty mentality on early downs.”‘

6 numbers to know about the Bills from Week 5

‘”We’ve got to find a way to get off the field on third downs,” said Jerry Hughes. “That way we can give our offense the football with good field position so they’re not having to drive the full length of the field. We’ve just got to answer the bell a lot better on defense and just help our team out. I think that’s just our biggest concern right now is to figure out a way to get off the field on third down.”‘

Bills Today | Sean McDermott on moving past an uncharacteristic game

‘”I think at the end of the day there’s a benefit if you’re wired the right way and how you handle the week-to-week approach of the NFL,” McDermott stated. “You get in a position where we were 4-0 and we have a game that was uncharacteristic of ourselves but at the same time, there are certain things kind of underneath that we have to get fixed. That was brought front and center to our attention, so we have to pay attention to those things. Make sure we continue to improve and make the adjustments we need to make. As you mentioned, turn the page, it’s on to the Kansas City Chiefs, which is a very strong football team and a team that I think the whole NFL is chasing right now.”‘