ORCHARD PARK — Uh-oh!
You know that phrase “once is an aberration, twice is a trend?”
Well, the Bills are trending … downward.
After they were handled by the Jets, 34-21, a week ago Thursday at the Meadowlands, in a game that was not nearly that close, it was easy to call that wretched performance an outlier after seven solid efforts.
That would never happen at home where the Bills were 4-0 under first-year coach Sean McDermott.
Except it did on Sunday afternoon at New Era Field.
Before a mostly-disgusted crown of 67,501, Buffalo was manhandled — literally — in a 47-10 defeat by the Saints.
This effort(?) ranked with the worst performances put out by the teams of Rex Ryan, Doug Marrone, Chan Gailey, Dick Jauron, Mike Mularkey and Gregg Williams who all coached during Buffalo’s 17-year playoff drought.
Even more bothersome, it appeared the Bills ‘D’ quit as New Orleans’ ground game steam-rolled defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier’s crew for 298 yards on 48 carries with five rushing touchdowns.
McDermott maintained “the effort was there” but that’s a tough sell to those who watched the game.
Indeed, veteran defensive tackle Kyle Williams contradicted that assessment, maintaining, “I don’t think there was emotion there.”
The Saints main running backs — Mark Ingram II and Alvin Kamara, a rookie from Tennessee — each ran for over 100 yards.
Ingram finished with 131 on 21 carries and scored three times while Kamara totaled 106 yards on a dozen totes and had one TD. Even third-stringer Trey Edmunds scored … a 41-yarder and the Saints longest of five carries of at least 15 yards.
And, most telling, New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, one of the most prolific passers in NFL history, never threw a touchdown pass. He didn’t have to, of course, he ran for one.
Only two kneel-downs by backup quarterback Chase Daniel dropped the Saints under 300 ground yards.
At one point, New Orleans was rushing the ball so confidently it ran the ball on 24 straight plays en route to three touchdowns.
Recalling that, Williams allowed, “It (was) terrible … the whole thing sucked today.”
So pathetic was Buffalo’s effort against the run that when a streaker raced onto the field with just over three minutes to play, only to be dragged down by security, it was suggested in the press box that maybe they should conduct a tackling clinic for the Bills defense.
Indeed, missed tackles factored into the loss to the Jets.
“Again, we didn’t tackle well,” linebacker Lorenzo Alexander understated. “We couldn’t stop the run against a team with Drew Brees at the helm.
“You don’t want to start creating bad habits or start doubting yourself and that’s what happens when games like this kind of go back-to-back. We’ve lost the last two games … got whooped physically … guys are disappointed, frustrated.”
To which safety Jordan Poyer added, “(It’s) a tough loss … especially in back-to-back weeks like that.”
And his fellow safety, Micah Hyde added, “It’s a little concerning. Obviously we didn’t come out with the energy we’re used to playing with. We’re not playing our brand of football. It’s embarrassing to go out there and put that on film.”
NO MATTER how McDermott spins it, the Bills are in trouble.
That Buffalo’s rushing defense was defrocked by the Saints is merely one problem. Equally concerning is the fact the Bills offense, other than a game-opening 57-yard drive that fizzled into a field goal, was non-existent, outgained in yardage by more than double 482 to 198.
New Orleans also ran 73 plays to the Bills’ 45 and owned nearly a 23-minute edge in time of possession.
Afterward, McDermott looked a bit shell-shocked.
“They beat us us … we’ve got to coach better, we’ve got to play better, that’s obvious,” he said. “It’s not what we expected and we’ve got to take a hard look at things.”
Especially on defense, where Buffalo has surrendered 81 points in the last two games.
“There’s no excuses, we weren’t good,” middle linebacker Preston Brown said. “They killed us in every single stat. We’ve got to find a way to get better or we’ll have five wins at the end of the year … 5-11.
“I don’t know if it’s cause for concern, but we have to fix it or it’s going to happen week-after-week. If it happens two weeks in a row, something’s wrong.”
As McDermott concluded, “This is not easy to take … not an easy pill to swallow, especially at home. Our fans deserve more.
“We got out-coached, that starts with me, and we got out-played. We’ve got a certain standard and that wasn’t up to (the one) that we’ve set for ourselves.”
And that’s trending.
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
