Buffalo Bills drop in power rankings after Week 5 loss to Titans

This is a recap of where the Buffalo Bills sit in some of the power rankings of other media outlets.

After rising or staying steady every week of the 2020 seasons, the Buffalo Bills take a step backwards in this week’s power ranking round up. It certainly isn’t surprising after they are coming off a 42-16 loss to the Titans in a rare Tuesday night matchup.

While most of these power rankings were done after the game, ESPN had actually released this week’s version of the power rankings prior to the game. This was the only one that ended up keeping the Bills in the Top 5.

ESPN: Buffalo Bills remain at five

Last Week: 5

ESPN was one of the power rankings that were released prior to the game on Tuesday night prior to the Buffalo Bills game. This week, ESPN looked at the biggest weakness and Marcel Louis-Jacques noted the pass defense:

"Death, taxes and an elite Bills pass defense. Those are the absolute truths we have become accustomed to over the past two seasons, when Buffalo finished fourth and first, respectively, in passing yards allowed. In typical 2020 fashion, the Bills are polar opposites from their previous selves in that regard, allowing the fourth-most passing yards per game through four games this season."

This was absolutely on display against the Titans as Ryan Tannehill and A.J. Brown seemed to move the ball with ease. However, they were without Tre’Davious White and linebacker Matt Milano, who is one of the better coverage linebackers in the league.

The Buffalo Bills have a talented secondary and this is something that hopefully can turn around as the season goes on.

NFL.com: Bills fall to seventh

Last Week: 4

The power rankings on NFL.com that are put together by Dan Hanzus, has the Bills fall three spots down to seventh. After the way they played against the Titans, this is expected and not all that surprising.

"The defense struggled mightily in the red zone, playing without starters Tre’Davious White, Matt Milano and Levi Wallace. The Titans scored a touchdown all six times they entered inside Buffalo’s 20-yard line. A night to forget."

That last sentence is key from Hanzus as this is a game that likely can just be forgotten and moved on. The circumstances around this game from being without key starters, including John Brown who was not mentioned, to the uncertainty about whether or not this game would be played likely played a factor. The concern is if this becomes a trend and that won’t be known for a few weeks.

Bleacher Report: Bills almost fall out of Top 10 at ninth

Last Week: 6

For most of the season, Bleacher Report has been the least optimistic about this team and the Bills fall the most out of any of the power rankings down to ninth.

"Against the undefeated Titans, Josh Allen looked less like the potential MVP candidate we saw over the first month of the season and more like the talented but inconsistent passer we saw the first two seasons of his career. His completion percentage was way down, he missed more than one open receiver, and he threw a pair of costly interceptions."

This was not a good game for Josh Allen and there is no question that he did not play at the same level he had over the past four games. However, Allen was not the reason the Bills lost this game.

While Allen did throw two interceptions, one bounced off the hands of Andre Roberts and right up into the waiting arms of a defender. As for the completion percentage, he still completed over 63% of his passes which is significantly higher than his completion percentage of 56% over the first two years.

CBS Sports: Bills drop four to eighth overall

In Pete Prisco’s power rankings for CBS Sports the Buffalo Bills fall from fourth to eighth after the loss to the Titans.

"They got caught in a tough situation because of the Titans’ COVID-19 issues, and it showed. Now they have to try and regroup against the Chiefs."

Prisco is pretty right here that all the outside factors, combined with the injuries to their starters, didn’t really do the Buffalo Bills any favors.

While the game against the Titans was disappointing, the first four weeks shouldn’t be dismissed because of one bad week. There are certainly flaws with how this team has performed and they were magnified against the Titans.

However, they have shown they can overcome them and the coaching staff should be able to get this group refocused heading into Monday night’s matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.