Buffalo Bills: Three up and three down after Week 2
The Buffalo Bills were once again on the losing end of the scoreboard in Week 2, dropping their home opener 31-20 to the Los Angeles Chargers.
As we will do each week, let’s take a look at three Buffalo Bills who were “up” and three who were “down” after the Week 2 loss.
Starting with the positives.
Ups
Where else would we begin after the rookie quarterback’s first career start? Allen showed a little bit of everything on Sunday.
He showed off his big arm, athleticism and his big body. He made a few rookie mistakes, but never looked like the game was too big for him or that he was overwhelmed by the moment. At one point in the second half Allen was shown on the sidelines firing up the defense after the Bills scored their first touchdown of the game. It was leadership qualities like these that were one reason why the Bills invested so highly in Allen.
Allen finished the game 18/33 for 245 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran for 32 yards on eight carries. For the game Allen was sacked five times, some of which can be due to the Bills poor offensive line, and some of which can also be due to Allen holding on to the ball to long.
All in all it was a solid showing for the No. 7 overall pick, and he certainly gave a level of excitement to a game that may have otherwise been lacking it in the second half. It will be up to Allen to learn from the mistakes and continue to grow as a quarterback, but Bills fans have a lot to be encouraged about after his debut start.
Second-half defense
The Bills defense started the game where they left off after Week 1: playing poorly and allowing the Chargers to score touchdowns on 4 of their 6 first half possessions. Then the 2nd Half started and the Bills defense looked more like the unit we expected it to be entering the 2018 season. Sean McDermott notably took over defensive play calling in the 2nd Half and it seemed to make immediate dividends. The Bills held the Chargers to 3 points in the 2nd Half, which came on a field goal after a Josh Allen interception let the Chargers start in the Buffalo red zone. The Bills 2nd Half defense also held the Chargers to under 70 total yards and sacked Philip Rivers 2 times and pressured him constantly throughout the half. Hopefully the 2nd Half is something for the defense to build on because they have to play better for the Bills to have any chance to win games this season.
For the second straight week Alexander was the Bills best defensive player. Alexander was all over the field registering seven tackles and a sack.
On his sack, Alexander also stripped Philip Rivers of the ball, but the officials determined that Rivers was “in the grasp” denying the Bills of a possible fumble return for a touchdown. The veteran’s leadership is extremely valuable to this Bills team and he continually backs it up with his play on the field. His leadership and veteran experience is going to be invaluable to Bills rookie middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.
Downs
What else is there to say about this loser? And yes, he is a loser, and that is being quite kind to him. To quit on your team in the middle of a game speaks volumes about your character and the type of person that you are. And it’s not good.
If you have any questions about that, just read and listen to some of the things that Davis’ now ex-teammates had to say about him. If you are honestly thinking you should not be out there and want to retire after the game, that’s fine but the least you could do is have some class and respect for your teammates and stand on the sideline and cheer them on and help as best as you can until the game is finished.
But he did not do that because it was not about retiring, it was about him being selfish. The Bills are better off without Davis and that’s not just because he has been terrible even when he has been on the field going back to the preseason. A type of person with that character is not someone who the Bills want anywhere near their locker room or organization. The Bills veterans and players said as much after the game. Good riddance, Davis.
Frazier was stripped of defensive play-calling duties in the second half and considering how much better the defense played after Sean McDermott took over the play-calling, that does not say much for Frazier’s performance thus far in 2018.
At his Monday afternoon press conference McDermott did not get into too much details as to whether or not it would be a permanent switch, but one could easily deduct that it will be a permanent switch based on the results and how mum McDermott as on the issue on Monday.
It certainly has been a rough start to the 2018 season for Frazier, but as a DC he is as safe as they come right now. It’s only his play-calling that he has lost for now. We will have to wait and see if more comes from the one game switch but we may not know more until we see who is calling plays on Sunday.
Miller lost his job after four games in 2017 and he is on his way there again after two games in 2018.
Miller has been dreadful thus far in 2018 and should be benched in favor of rookie guard Wyatt Teller. Miller has been brutal in the run and pass protection side of things and has shown slow feet when facing pressure. Until the problem is corrected, look for defensive coordinators to continue to throw pressure right at Miller much like the Chargers did on Sunday.
Most of the time Miller moves so slow it is as if his shoe laces were tied together. We will wait and see what Sean McDermott does with his starting offensive line this week, but hopefully he gives Teller a chance over Miller because it is highly unlikely that Teller could perform much worse than Miller has.
The first two weeks of the 2018 season have been fairly forgettable for Bills fans, but at least at this point they get to watch their rookie first-round quarterback learn and develop. That may not sound like much but if the season is going to be a down one in terms of wins and losses, it will serve the organization better for 2019 with Allen having an entire season of developing under his belt.
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With that being said, the 2018 season still has 14 games left and the Bills have nowhere to go but up.