Even an experienced spinmeister couldn’t find a way to put lipstick on this pig.

If you’re a Bills fan and aren’t worried, you haven’t been watching.

In Thursday night’s 20-16 loss to the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field, the fears that sprouted in last week’s preseason-opening home loss to the Vikings were in full bloom at Philadelphia.

Yeah, the only score that counts was 3-3, first-team-to-first team, as it was a week earlier against Minnesota.

But quarterback Tyrod Taylor, no better than mediocre against the Vikings, was perfectly awful against the Eagles. His stats, while speaking loudly, actually screamed when submitted to further scrutiny.

Officially, he was an underwhelming 8-of-18 passing for 53 yards with two interceptions. But, alas, two other potential picks were dropped, both with the potential of being returned for touchdowns.

It was a disquieting performance for a player heading into his third season as Buffalo’s starting QB. Taylor, while admittedly under persistent pressure from an Eagles defensive unit that isn’t exactly going to be confused with the ‘85 Bears, was out of sync with his receivers and disturbingly inaccurate even when he had time.

“I was disappointed in the rhythm of the offense,” coach Sean McDermott admitted. “Tyrod, obviously, had some plays he would like back. (But) there’s a lot of hands that go into that cookie jar.

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting off to a faster start on offense and taking better advantage of field position when we have it.”

Taylor’s effort was disappointing enough that impulsive fans are likely ready to end the Tyrod experiment and replace him with rookie fifth-round draft choice Nathan Peterman, who has played encouragingly against both the Minnesota and Philadelphia scrubs.

Of course that’s not going to happen, at least right away, but if Buffalo gets off to a slow regular-season start, especially if Taylor’s struggles are part of the reason, that switch wouldn’t be far-fetched.

“We’re always going to (assess) every position and that includes quarterback,” McDermott said. “(Tyrod’s) done some good things … last week he moved the offense (but) we had some penalties. I’ve got to evaluate the job I did tonight and evaluate the job each of us did.”

But Taylor’s abysmal effort was only half the concern that came from this loss.

A week after we were appalled by Buffalo’s 10 penalties for 106 yards against the Vikings, the Bills shattered that against Philadelphia.

Buffalo had nine infractions for 66 yards … in the first half. Three others were declined, one because there were actually two different flags on one play and another because the Eagles intercepted, anyway.

For the game, Buffalo was flagged 22 times, 15 of them accepted for 136 yards, six were declined and one was off-setting.

Two straight games of double-figure penalties is undeniably disquieting … those are Rex Ryanesque numbers.

They break down this way: offense 12, special teams 7, defense 3.

Of the penalty-fest  McDermott said, “It’s 100 percent unacceptable. Good teams don’t beat themselves and obviously we need work on technique.

“Sometimes you see this early in the season (but) I’m not happy about it at all.”

Just wondering. The only holdover Bills coach from last season is special teams coordinator Danny Crossman and, in two games, his units have committed 12 penalties, hardly a resume booster and it likely hasn’t gone unnoticed by coach Sean McDermott.

Disappointments aside, there were some encouraging efforts in the loss:

— Starting running back LeSean McCoy looked in midseason form with 21 yards on four carries.

— The first-team defense, for the second straight game, was formidable.

“When you look at the defense, particularly the first group, they did a pretty solid job across the board (no third-down conversions),” McDermott said. “They took the ball away a couple of times and forced a field goal attempt that was missed. So, overall, I thought there were a lot of great things defensively. Two games in a row, those guys have done an awfully nice job.”

— Peterman looked solid again for a second straight game.

“Nate’s done a good job, he’s had a good camp,” McDermott said. “He’s very poised and does a good job of being very decisive in the pocket. I did like how he moved the offense when he came in and he’ll continue to develop.”

— Second-round draft choice Zay Jones, the prolific wide receiver from East Carolina, caught three balls and barely missed a touchdown reception when his foot clipped the sideline in the end zone.

— Wideout Rod Streater made two solid catches for 40 yards, but the former Alfred State star left the game on a cart with a seemingly severe foot injury in the second half.

— Undrafted wide receiver Brandon Reilly, playing against Philadelphia’s third-stringers, had four catches, including a TD reception.

— Lorenzo Alexander, the 34-year-old outside linebacker, looked like the Pro Bowler he was last year with a team-leading five tackles plus a forced fumble and a defensed pass.

— Cornerback E.J. Gaines, acquired from the Rams in the Sammy Watkins trade a week ago, had three tackles and two defensed passes.

(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)