The Buffalo defense is a disgrace after the loss to the Rams

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – On Sunday afternoon at SoFi Stadium, we were once again reminded why Josh Allen is the NFL’s MVP in 2024.

During a crazy 44-42 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, on a day that horribly redefined the Buffalo defense, Allen put together a performance that was absolutely astounding.

And yet, even after scoring six touchdowns and 424 yards of total offense, Allen stood in front of reporters and said, his face serious and sad, “I don’t know how well we did on third down or completion percentage, I don’t know.” “knows anything about it. All I know is that it wasn’t good enough to win a football game. I just have to find more finishes to get better for our guys.”

Sign up for the Bills Blast newsletterDelivered straight to your inbox, additional billing analysis, insights, stats, quotes and team history from Sal Maiorana

The only thing more ridiculous than that statement was the way he played, but that’s Allen – the ultimate teammate, the guy who sits on a grenade after every loss instead of relying entirely on Aaron Rodgers and everyone else to blame.

Allen couldn’t have done more. He scored 42 points, giving all of his fantasy football owners the most points ever by a quarterback, and he became the first player in NFL history with three passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns in the same game.

“Unbelievable,” said coach Sean McDeremott, whose own performance was far from it. “Unbelievable. We have to do a better job around him. If you look at the game, it’s the line of scrimmage and the ability to run the ball with our running backs. It’s a battle line on defense, it’s Special teams giving up big plays.

“When you lose two out of three points and the line of scrimmage overall, you make it really difficult – you have to score 40 points and even then you’re holding your breath to win.”

Or, in this case, still lose.

The Bills haven’t lost too many this year, but this one was just inexplicable because you can’t lose a game if you score 40 points and let your quarterback play the way Allen did.

And now, with a daunting challenge looming in Detroit next Sunday, the Bills’ pursuit of the No. 1 seed in the AFC could be in grave jeopardy, and their control of the No. 2 seed is also in serious doubt.

Yes, this was an away game on the West Coast, a week after an emotional AFC East win and against an opponent that played like it was a playoff game. Doesn’t matter. The Bills had to win, should have won and didn’t.

“Sometimes this can be as difficult as it is, a good reminder of what you have to do every week in this league and how we have to adapt as a football team,” McDermott said. “Next week will also be a challenging game – they’re all challenging – against a really good football team playing away, so we’ve got a lot of work to do this week.”

This is how I evaluated the bills:

Passing offense: A

There was nothing more Allen could have done to win this game. He put on a superhuman performance and the only reason this isn’t an A+ is because the Bills didn’t win the game, which may not be fair, but that’s the deal.

Allen completed 22 of 37 for 342 yards and three touchdowns, not taking a sack or turning the ball over. Without him this game would have been a blast. He didn’t get off to a great start in the first half, helped by a beautiful 41-yard catch-and-run TD from Ty Johnson, but in the second half he almost gave the Bills a monumental comeback victory as they started We trailed 38-21 at the end of the fourth quarter.

Khalil Shakir was outstanding with five catches for 106 yards, including a 51-yard TD, and Amari Cooper had his best game as a Bill with five catches for 95 yards, and each of them drew high pass interference on Buffalo’s final TD drive -penalties. Curtis Samuel was once again useless and Dawson Knox was invisible with just one catch for five yards, but you can’t even say the Bills ultimately missed Dalton Kincaid because they scored 42 points.

RUN OFFENSE: C-

Allen was essentially the entire running game as he rushed for a season-high 81 yards, matching his output in last season’s high-scoring OT loss to the Eagles. His scrambles were crucial in the second half as he gained 80 yards after halftime, the highlight being a 30-yarder in the fourth quarter. All three of his TDs came on one-yard sneaks, but the last one came after he was stuffed on the same call with a minute to play, and that forced the Bills into a terrible decision to call a timeout. More on that later.

Otherwise, the running game was a failure as James Cook only managed 20 yards and Samuel had one yard on the receiving end. Ray Davis and Ty Johnson didn’t even get transfers, which is strange because the Bills seemed unwilling to find anything and that was a misstep. Cook’s six carries were the only ones by an RB.

Pass Defense: F

Awkward. There’s no other way to describe how a normally solid pass defense played in this game. Matthew Stafford completed 23 of 30 for 320 yards and two touchdowns, he was never sacked because there was no pass rush, and he pitched to WRs who ran wide open on far too many plays.

Puka Nacua was unstoppable as he caught 12 of 14 targets for 162 yards with one touchdown. Whenever the Rams needed a third-down conversion, it felt like Nacua got the ball every time, and the Bills were powerless to stop him, whether they were in man or zone.

Rasul Douglas played terribly, perhaps his worst game as Bill, and after he got injured, Ja’Marcus Ingram fared just as badly, getting nailed for a critical pass interference against Nacua and burned for Nacua’s touchdown, which proved to be the game-changer Winning goal with 1:54 remaining. On kicks, Cooper Kupp had five catches for 92 yards and a TD.

RUN DEFENSE: D

When the Rams needed to escape, they did. Throughout the game, they pounded the Bills on first and second downs, often putting them in manageable third-down situations, which was one of the reasons the Rams went 11-for-15 on third downs.

Kyren Williams finished the game with 87 yards, and although he needed 29 carries, most of his short runs came later in the game when the Rams were trying to run out time and the Bills, expecting that, were able to to make stops.

The defensive line was consistently terrible. In addition to there being no pass rush, there wasn’t nearly enough penetration in the run game and the Rams’ offensive line, not a great unit, came out on top.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D

The only reason this isn’t an F is that Tyler Bass made all six of his extra points, including the last one from 47 yards after a personal foul penalty after the Bills’ final TD with a minute left, and Sam Martin’s two punts got out, both beauties.

But then there was the blocked punt, and that overshadowed everything because it led to a touchdown that gave the Rams a 17-7 lead. It was the first time since Week 14 of 2022 against the Jets that the Bills were able to recover a blocked punt for a touchdown.

And how about this? On the Rams’ final punt, the Bills only had nine men on the field, an inexplicable mistake and a borderline offense for Matthew Smiley.

COACHING: F

Okay, I’ve already written about the punting issues, so Smiley is in for a terrible day of film reviewing, assuming he still has a job on Monday morning. But Bobby Babich will have an even longer day reflecting on that shameful performance, in which his defense gave up 28 first downs, 11 of 15 third downs and 457 yards without registering a sack or a turnover.

Give Joe Brady his support on offense. Although his unit scored 42 points and was the reason there was some intrigue at the end, even Brady made a terrible mistake. He called on Allen to sneak the ball on first-and-goal with 1:06 left and Allen didn’t make it, so instead of rushing for the next play or even shooting the ball, Sean McDermott called a timeout.

Breaking News

Dellupodisabato

The Buffalo defense is a disgrace after the loss to the Rams

Leave a Reply Cancel reply