Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘Bills 19, Titans 13.’

‘When the schedule was announced back in April, you may have looked at this Week 5 game at home against Tennessee and penciled it in as a Buffalo victory. Hopefully you did indeed use pencil because the way the season has gone, the Titans are clearly the better team as they come into New Era Field sporting a 3-1 record and riding a three-game winning streak that includes a win in Jacksonville, and a defeat of the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles last week.’

‘As celebratory a day as that was, it wasn’t really rooted in reality, and the Bills’ hierarchy fully understood the regression that was likely to occur this year. Given the constraints created by all the dead salary cap money, some unexpected deletions from the roster, and the capital that had to be used to draft the quarterbacks of the future for the offense (Josh Allen) and defense (Tremaine Edmunds), they knew this was going to be a tough season.’

‘”I was the worst player in all of football … and I just don’t want to see that happen to other kids,’’ Dilfer said. “Josh Allen right now is the one that’s ripping my heart out. Darnold should be playing. Rosen should be playing. Baker should be playing. I don’t think Josh Allen should be playing.’’’

‘“Yeah, I mean that’s definitely something that I would like to be referred to as,” said the fourth-round pick who has been one of the scant few feel-good stories of Buffalo’s 1-3 start. “I mean I want to play like that, that’s just my main goal; I want to play physical, I want to play fast, I want to play smart.”’

‘That first day at Fisher in late July of 2000, no one could have foreseen the coming agony of the next 17 years because the Bills had been to the playoffs in 10 of the previous 12 seasons. Back then, the playoffs were almost a given, and on that initial day of camp, the Bills were anxious to get going on making it 11 trips in 13 years.’

‘“We didn’t do well enough in any area, that’s my responsibility,” he offered after watching the film of the dispiriting 22-0 loss to the Packers, the Bills first shutout loss in 10 years. “We’ll work hard to get it fixed, but at the end of the day, just not good enough.”’

‘“I’m sure we’ll find some ways to figure that out,” Vrabel said of handling success. “I have some experience in my past with things like that, so we’ll try to point out the good, fix the bad and move on … to Buffalo. If you don’t play well in this league, I don’t care where you play, I don’t care who you play, you lose — that’s the NFL.”’

‘He started all 16 games for San Francisco last season and registered career highs in passes defended (7) and tackles (77).’

‘Look at what happened in the NFL, Thursday through Sunday: There were five quarterbacks who topped 400 yards passing – Jared Goff of the Rams, Kirk Cousins of the Vikings, Andrew Luck of the Colts, Derek Carr of the Raiders, and Matt Ryan of the Falcons.’

‘If that’s progress, so be it, but for the third time in four games, the Bills were completely outclassed in the first half Sunday, and their no-show in every phase set the stage for what became another beat-down loss, this one 22-0 at the hands of the Green Bay Packers in front of 78,312 leather-lunged fans at Lambeau Field.’

‘McCoy carried only five times for 24 yards in his return from a one-week hiatus due to a rib injury. The Bills utilized him on two of the first three plays, but they went three and out on that series, quickly fell behind 13-0 by early in the second quarter, and he touched the ball just six more times the rest of the day.’

‘For the third time in four games, the Bills were completely out of their league. They looked like a double-A team trying to compete in the majors, and what was so disappointing is that this came on a day when Aaron Rodgers wasn’t even great. Far from it, in fact. Sure, he was a million times better than his counterpart, Josh Allen, but it wasn’t vintage Rodgers. Of course, that may have been because he didn’t need to be. The Bills were horrific on offense, not very good on defense, and the result was a third one-sided loss before September ends. Yes, it’s going to be a long year.’

‘Packers 27, Bills 16.’

‘The Packers have one significant injury as DT Muhammad Wilkerson is out for the season due to an ankle injury, and that hurts their run defense. Also, TE Jimmy Graham has limited in practice due to a knee injury and his status may be questionable.’