Buffalo Bills: Three up and three down after Week 4

Week 4 saw the Buffalo Bills fail to build off of their Week 3 victory and instead get shutout at Lambeau Field by the Green Bay Packers, 22-0.

The Buffalo Bills entered the game as 9.5-point underdogs and many thought they were capable of pulling off another upset, but that was not in the cards as they failed to score at all on Sunday.

It’s hard to place much blame on the Bills defense as they held Aaron Rodgers to 22 points on the road at Lambeau Field despite not getting any support from their offense. The Bills defense played the familiar “bend but don’t break” style and forced two turnovers but the offense was unable to take advantage of either as they got shutout and failed to produce much offense at all.

Week 4 was certainly a performance that you may expect from a rookie quarterback with a sub-par supporting cast, but it was a letdown considering how well they played last week. Is the season over? No, not at all. The Bills sit at 1-3 after 4 games but do have some winnable games on the horizon if they can get themselves back on track.

In the meantime, let’s take a look at our weekly “3 up and 3 down” following Sunday’s debacle at Lambeau.

3 Downs

1. Josh Allen

Allen played the worst game of his short career on Sunday. While he certainly did not get any help from his offensive line or supporting cast, he also looked jumpy and scattershot throughout the contest.

His accuracy looked off and he appeared to hold onto the ball a little too long. That only compounded the problems the offensive line had. He also threw a horrible interception that squandered the Bills only scoring opportunity near the end of the first half.

In the grand scheme of things this will only serve as a learning opportunity for Allen who has only played in a little over three games in his career. Let’s hope he takes a step forward this Sunday and puts this performance in his rearview mirror.

2. Zay Jones

You can’t look at the box score when judging Jones’ performance. Yes, he finished with four catches for 38 yards on seven targets. However, all of those came after the game was long in doubt. Jones was invisible for the majority of the game and now a quarter of the way into his sophomore season he has done little to show that he can be a contributor going forward.

The Bills invested a second-round pick in Jones (trading up to do so) and have given him plenty of opportunities to develop into a reliable wide receiver. While he still has plenty of time left to turn his career around, it has been an underwhelming career thus far for Jones.

3. Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll

Daboll called a magnificent game last week in Minnesota. He called a putrid game on Sunday. I thought Daboll gave up on the run far too early and he failed to call quick timing routes to help his rookie quarterback.

I had a feeling we were in for a poor game plan from Daboll when on third and short early in the first quarter he called for a goal line package and ran with Chris Ivory. The play call lacked imagination and was far too predictable. It only served as a precursor to what the day held offensively for the Bills.

3 Ups

1. Taron Johnson 

Johnson finished the day with four tackles, a sack and a forced fumble which came on his sack of Aaron Rodgers. Johnson has really developed nicely going back to the preseason and is developing into a reliable and consistent defender for the Bills.

Johnson displays good coverage skills and excellent tackling ability and is the picture of exactly what Sean McDermott looks for in his secondary players.

2. Ryan Lewis

Lewis played well in his second career start for the Bills and held his own despite being the target of Rodgers. Lewis was graded by PFF as the Bills’ best defender on Sunday. He forced two fumbles and nearly had a pick-six. If he does not drop the interception he had nothing but green grass in front of him and could have waltzed into the end zone.

Lewis was added to the Bills roster after he was cut by the Patriots following the preseason, only to be cut by the Bills and then signed to the Bills practice squad before ultimately being re-signed to the active roster by the Bills following the Vontae Davis retirement.

Two games into his young career it looks like the Bills may have found a player in Lewis. If he can continue to develop and play well it would provide the Bills with a good corner opposite of Tre’Davious White.

3. Corey Bojorquez 

Bojorquez is another player that the Bills signed off of waivers from the Patriots prior to the season starting. With all of the struggles that the Bills offense has had so far in 2018, Bojorquez has gotten plenty of playing time.

In four games he has punted the ball 27 times for an average of 45.4 yards per punt with a long of 59 yards with 14 of his punts inside the 20-yard line. Punting over half of his punts inside the 20 is great work by Bojorquez. While we don’t like punts because it means the Bills are not scoring, it is nice to know that they have a reliable one with a big leg when need be.

Thus far in 2018, Bojorquez has proved more reliable than ex-Bills punter Colton Schmidt. Bojorquez has proved to be a good find by Brandon Beane.

Week 4 was another down week for the Bills who have been blown out three times and have blown their opponent out once so far this season. It has been an odd season so far to say the least, and hopefully the Bills can get back on the winning side of things this Sunday when they play host to the Tennessee Titans.