It was a tale of defensive prowess and offensive ineptitude for the Buffalo Bills in Sean McDermott‘s return to Carolina.
The former Panthers defensive coordinator suffered his first loss as a head coach, with Buffalo falling 9-3 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Defense ruled the day for both teams, as indicated by the dearth of points on the scoreboard at game’s end. It marked the first time the Bills gave up single digit points in a loss since Oct. 11, 2009.
What are the three biggest storylines that emerged out of this game for the Bills? Are there any bright spots that evoke confidence moving forward? If so, do they outweigh the concerns heading into next week’s return to New Era Field agains the Denver Broncos, especially on offense?
Week Two Buffalo Bills Takeaways
Bills Offense Sputters…Big Time
Heading into Sunday’s game, a major question mark surrounded the Bills ability to move the football against the Panthers defense. This is a unit that held the San Francisco 49ers to 217 total yards and 13 first downs in a 23-3 week one victory. Two quarters into the game and it became readily apparent that Buffalo had no answers.
After holding Carolina to a field goal on its first possession, the Bills offense took the field and immediately went three and out. Punting the football after drives prematurely ended became a recurring theme in the first half. All four offensive possessions for the Bills resulted in punts, resulting in a paltry 6:53 in time of possession over the first 30 minutes.
That lack of ball control puts a ton of pressure on the defense. And though the Bills performed admirably on that side of the football (we’ll get to that later), the lack of sustained drives in this game is of major concern. Losing a game where your defense holds the opponent to nine points is simply unacceptable.
All in all, the Bills finished with 176 yards of total offense, 72 of which came on the final two drives. That’s the lowest total since the 2016 season opener against the Baltimore Ravens where they managed 160. LeSean McCoy‘s nine yards rushing was the lowest total of his career since December 4th, 2009. And Tyrod Taylor managing 7.4 yards per completion doesn’t inspire confidence about his downfield passing ability.
With the Bills facing another stout defense in week three when the Broncos come to town, this unit has some significant issues to iron out.
Pass Rush Frustrates Cam Newton
Last week, the Bills ability to defend the run while also forcing late turnovers out of Josh McCown paved the way to a season-opening win. Though the pass rush did its part in precipitating those mistakes, they only sacked McCown once. Getting to a much more mobile quarterback in Cam Newton without letting him escape the pocket was paramount in week two.
Early on, the defense failed in that regard. On the Panthers’ first possession, Newton scampered for 15 yards to convert a third and long. The following drive, on second and ten, he took off once more and got the required yardage for the first down. But after that, it was slim pickings for the seven-year veteran.
Buffalo got to him early and often for the remainder of the game. They sacked Newton six times overall, including once late in the third quarter where it appeared he suffered an injury. Though he gingerly walked off the field, Newton played the entire fourth quarter.
McDermott is only a few years removed from coordinating a defense that made it all the way to the Super Bowl. In that sense, it isn’t very surprising to see the Bills making plays on that side of the football. The first-year Bills head coach certainly has the unit on pace to replicate those dominant pass rushes from 2013 and 2014 that tallied 111 sacks over that two-year span.
Jordan Poyer Continues to Impress
The Bills essentially hit the reset button with most of their secondary in the off-season. It included bringing in Jordan Poyer from the Cleveland Browns. And two games in, he’s among the more impressive players among the Bills defensive backs.
Last week, he made a heads up play in picking off McCown in the fourth quarter. It was one of two late interceptions which sealed the Bills 21-12 victory over the Jets. Though the fifth year man out of Oregon State couldn’t do the same against Newton on Sunday, he did the next best thing by showing up all over the field in varying capacities.
Not only did Poyer exhibit great work rate in leading the team with 11 tackles, he also showed immense versatility with regard to his playmaking skills. His three pass breakups was also tops for the Bills, and he also functioned as a nuisance in the backfield on safety blitzes. He added a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit in a hugely impressive team performance from the Bills defense.
Last Word
There’s no doubting the impressive play of the Bills defense. They held the Panthers without a touchdown during all three of the their trips to the red zone. But not being able to outscore a team who put up just nine points on the board is immensely concerning.
It’s doubly so given their next opponent. The Broncos will come into next Sunday’s game at New Era Field brimming with confidence after their dominating 42-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys in week two. It included holding last year’s rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott to a minuscule eight yards rushing.
For a run-centric team like the Bills, that’s a problem. And when you consider how well the Panthers did in shutting down McCoy, it’s pretty clear the team has a lot of work to do this week. One thing’s for sure: the offense as a whole and run game in particular must improve. Or else the final result in week three won’t look much different than Sunday’s offensive debacle.
