Buffalo Bills vs. New Orleans Saints: Risers and Fallers
By DJ Eberle
A look back at the Buffalo Bills’ Week 10 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Woof, was that a rough game to watch.
Trust me, if you thought the Buffalo Bills’ 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints was rough to watch on television, it was much worse to watch in person. Aside from the first drive, the Bills were outplayed on almost every snap.
While it was easy to find the poor performers, it was rather difficult to find the Bills’ standouts this week.
Either way, you know the drill, this column profiles the players who took steps forward and also regressed each week. Welcome to Risers and Fallers.
Risers
Dion Dawkins
The Bills rookie class continues to shine.
Dion Dawkins had another impressive week for Buffalo.
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While the offensive line struggled as a whole, Dawkins stood out among the rest. The rookie left tackle didn’t allow a pressure on 36 pass plays. Dawkins finished with a team-high 84.4 grade on Pro Football Focus.
If Cordy Glenn can’t play this weekend in Los Angeles, Nathan Peterman should still feel comfortable that his blindside will be protected.
Tre’Davious White
While Michael Thomas had his best game of the season this past Sunday, the majority of his production came against defensive backs not named Tre’Davious White.
The rookie continued his impressive freshman campaign, holding the talented Thomas to two catches for 35 yards on three targets. White also had the Bills’ lone pass defense.
The talented first-year corner was given a 81.0 by PFF.
Fallers
Preston Brown
Preston Brown continued his up-and-down season this past Sunday.
The Saints finished with 298 yards on 48 carries. While the entire defense deserves the blame here, Brown was pitiful as well.
The middle linebacker finished with a 29.5 PFF grade. He also received the lowest run grade on the team after he “was sealed off at the second level several times and was even out of his gap on a couple of occasions,” according to PFF.
Buffalo Bills
Rick Dennison
Look, we’ll never truly know if the majority of Tyrod Taylor’s checkdowns came on his own or if they were due to the playcalling of offensive coordinator Rick Dennison.
However, Dennison’s lack of play calls involving rollouts and getting Taylor in open space to pass the ball were questionable decisions at best. Not to mention, Taylor took just one look down field.
But the most disappointing aspect of Dennison’s playcalling this past weekend was his use of Mike Tolbert. The veteran running back would often come in on third down and take LeSean McCoy out of the game. Why?
McCoy is one of Buffalo’s best pass catchers. Why take him off the field on a third-and-long?
Not to mention McCoy only got 11 touches.
Ramon Humber
Ramon Humber struggled again for the Bills.
Missed tackles were the name of the game. The linebacker missed a team-high three tackles against the Saints and now ranks second on the team with 10, according to the BN Blitz’s Chris Trapasso.
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