Tag: Buffalo Bills

AFC East standings after Week 11: New England moves into first

The Dolphins are now just two wins behind the Bills.

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Week 11 brought some drastic changes to the AFC East, as the Buffalo Bills are no longer at the top of the division. That spot now belongs to the New England Patriots by percentage points.

Bill Belichick’s team defeated the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night 25-0. Their defense has been one of the best in the league this season, and over the last three weeks, they’ve allowed less than five points per game. With rookie Mac Jones running the offense fairly effectively, the Patriots have won their last five contests.

Buffalo fell to second place due to another disappointing loss, this time to the Indianapolis Colts 41-15. The Bills defense couldn’t stop Colts back Jonathan Taylor who scored five total touchdowns on the day. Their efforts were aided by Buffalo’s three turnovers, including two interceptions from Josh Allen. Head coach Sean McDermott needs to find out what’s going wrong with his team and fix it fast.

The Dolphins remained in third place through Week 11 after defeating the New York Jets who are now two wins back. Miami’s defense continues to show signs that they’ve turned a corner after struggling early in the season. Tua Tagovailoa and the offense were a bit better Sunday, but it could’ve been because of the competition.

New York’s third-straight loss was not their worst. They put up a fair amount of yards with Joe Flacco under center, but they weren’t able to convert those yards into touchdowns. It also didn’t help that kicker Matt Ammendola missed two long field goals. For Robert Saleh, the defense is still an issue. Miami’s offense has been anemic for most of the year, and they put up nearly 400 yards of offense. That has to change.

Week 12 AFC East matchups:

Miami Dolphins (4-7) vs. Carolina Panthers (5-6)

New England Patriots (7-4) vs. Tennessee Titans (8-3)

Buffalo Bills (6-4) vs. New Orleans Saints (5-5)

New York Jets (2-8) vs. Houston Texans (2-8)

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The Patriots trolled the Bills during their loss to the Colts

That hurts:

The New England Patriots got in their punches on the Buffalo Bills.

On Sunday, the Patriots did not play, having done so on Thursday. That night, the Pats shutout the Atlanta Falcons, 25-0.

The win for New England, combined with the Bills’ blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts, 41-15, was good news for the Pats. Who is first place in the AFC East? Not the Bills.

It’s now the Patriots.

The Pats sit a 7-4 record, one game ahead of the 6-4 Bills.

Knowing that outcome would do that, during the second half of Buffalo’s loss, the Pats trolled… and hard.

The Pats social media account on Twitter posted a GIF video of their mascot kicking back with some popcorn… presumably watching the Bills lose.

Ouch.

Here it is:

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Patriots WR Kendrick Bourne laughs hysterically while watching Colts rout Bills

The New England Patriots receiver thoroughly enjoyed this moment.

The Buffalo Bills were absolutely no match for Jonathan Taylor and the Indianapolis Colts in Week 11.

Taylor scored five total touchdowns and the Colts walked away easily with a 41-15 victory. This led to the New England Patriots reclaiming their place atop the AFC East, while it narrowed the gap in the AFC for the top two seeds. It also showed vulnerabilities in a team that the Patriots will square off against twice in the next four games.

Patriots wide receiver was paying attention to the game, and according to his Instagram story, he had plenty to laugh about during the rout.

The Patriots have an extremely tough stretch ahead with the Tennessee Titans, Bills and Colts over the next month. But, as everyone saw this week, the Titans and Bills have weaknesses that can be exposed by Bill Belichick.

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Analyzing Colts’ snap counts in 41-15 win over Bills

Taking a look at the Colts’ snap counts from the Week 11 win over the Bills.

The Indianapolis Colts (6-5) pulled off the upset win over the Buffalo Bills (6-4) at Highmark Stadium on Sunday much in part thanks to the rousing performance of running back Jonathan Taylor.

The second-year back made history in Week 11 with his five-touchdown performance, becoming the first skill player in franchise history to hit that mark in a single game.

Now, we’ll be taking a look at the offensive, defensive and special teams snap counts from the Week 11 win:

Offense

Analysis

  • RB Jonathan Taylor led the backfield with 83% of the snaps while Nyheim Hines saw a 19% snap share. It has been all JT over the last two months.
  • QB Carson Wentz played 90% of the snaps, marking the first time he hasn’t played 100% in a game this season when healthy.
  • RG Mark Glowinski continues to lead the rotation with Chris Reed as it has been the last few weeks.
  • TE Kylen Granson saw a career-high 35% snap share.

Defense & Special Teams

Analysis

  • S George Odum led the way with 91% of the snaps. It worked well as he came away with an interception and nearly had another before the ball hit the ground. It was a two-man rotation with Andrew Sendejo.
  • CBs Rock Ya-Sin and Xavier Rhodes split snaps almost equally on Sunday. Rhodes returned from a calf injury and it was expected he might be limited.
  • CB Isaiah Rodgers took back the CB4 role from T.J. Carrie, seeing 52% of the snaps.
  • Rookie DL Dayo Odeyingbo continues to see work as a sub-package rusher in a limited role.

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Bills’ Josh Allen: ‘We’re not hitting the panic button’

#Bills’ Josh Allen: ‘We’re not hitting the panic button’

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Those who support the Buffalo Bills might be hitting the panic button, but the team itself is not.

On Sunday, Week 11 saw the Bills (6-4) get smoked. The Indianapolis Colts, highlighted by five touchdowns from running back Jonathan Taylor, beat Buffalo, 41-15.

Sure he’s concerned, but Bills quarterback Josh Allen didn’t think he saw enough bad from his team to worry him.

“What we put on that field is not who we are,” Allen said via video conference. “It’s no secret we need to do a better job on all fronts. There’s no way around it. But at the same time, it’s not panic mode. We got to learn from this one and move on because we play on Thursday night.”

Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott did not say he’s not panicking… however, he echoed a similar sentiment to Allen. The coach said he knows what’s wrong and knows what his team must to do avoid such games again.

“We’ve gotta get that (run defense) fixed,” McDermott said. “There’s a formula to win and there’s a formula on the other end of it too and when you’re giving up and we’re getting beat at the point of attack, obviously I’ve gotta do a better job there.

“We have to do a better job just fundamentally,” McDermott added. “I mean, how many chances did we have just to throw and catch out there today, and just on a check down, and then we’re turning our eyes too quickly, going to make the run before we catch the football, secure the football. So, just fundamentals, point of attack on the defensive side, and again, turning the ball over, it’s a rough life when you do that.”

Don’t turn the ball over and stop the other team.

McDermott certainly makes it sounds easy, the problem is, his team hasn’t found it easy to do these things in certain games this season.

The Bills shouldn’t hit the panic button, they’re right about that.

But they’ve got to hit the refresh one.

Buffalo cannot afford to keep stacking any more losses, especially one to teams in the AFC postseason race.

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WATCH: Highlights from the Bills’ loss to the Colts

WATCH: Highlights from the #Bills’ loss to the #Colts:

Big yikes.

That’s the way to describe the way things went for the Buffalo Bills in Week 11.

The Bills (6-4) lost to the Colts (6-5). Things got ugly as the final score was 41-15.

Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor more than led the way. He had five total touchdowns.

The silver lining for Buffalo was Stefon Diggs. The wideout did score twice.

If you missed any of the action and are curious (and have a high pain tolerance), check out the highlight package below:

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Report card: Bills stomped by Colts, 41-15

Report card: #Bills stomped by #Colts, 41-15 (via @NateMendelson);

Not sure many, if any, people saw this one coming. The Buffalo Bills have failed to win consecutive games for six weeks now and their schedule only gets more difficult.

The Indianapolis Colts (6-5) ran all over the Bills (6-4), literally, with running back Jonathan Taylor scoring five touchdowns.

Here’s how Bills Wire graded Buffalo after their 41-15 loss in this week’s report card:

Colts dominate Bills, 41-15: Here’s how Twitter reacted

Here’s how Twitter reacted to the Colts’ upset win over the Bills.

The Indianapolis Colts (6-5) strolled into Highmark Stadium on Sunday with something to prove against the Buffalo Bills (6-3) and they did just that with a dominating 41-15 win on the road.

In the thick of the playoff hunt, the Colts need to continue stringing wins together, but it’s nice to see the team compete against the type of squads that most believe are playoff worthy.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to the Colts’ pulling off the impressive statement win:

Bills hope to use quick turnaround to rebound from ugly loss to Colts

#Bills hope to use quick turnaround to rebound from ugly loss to #Colts:

Following the Buffalo Bills’ 41-15 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, there isn’t much to feel good about.

The team has officially dropped out of first place in the division and trails the 7-4 New England Patriots. They could also lose their Wild Card spot by the end of the night, depending on how the other AFC games go.

But while the cards are down, the Bills are using their short week, thanks to a Thanksgiving matchup vs. the  New Orleans Saints, as a way to look forward and not back.

“We got a game on Thursday, short turnaround. So we’re able to come back tomorrow and obviously, 24-hour rule and get ready to play on Thursday night,” Bills safety Jordan Poyer said to the media following today’s loss. “We’re excited to get back and get back to work and play Thursday night.”

Bills quarterback Josh Allen also emphasized the short week as something the Bills are fortunate to have in this moment.

“It’s a terrible feeling, but we gotta play Thursday, so this ones gotta be out of our system before tomorrow and we gotta be ready to go on Thursday,” Allen said. “I think that’s a fortunate thing for us that we get to play on Thursday and try to get this taste out of our mouths.”

While the Bills have now lost four games this season, including two of their last three, Allen maintains the Bills are better than what we saw on Sunday.

“What we put on that field today is not who we are,” Allen continued. “I got a lot of trust and a lot of faith in our team… It’s not panic mode. We gotta learn from this one and move on as quickly as possible, because again, we’re playing on Thursday night.”

Bad games like this really leave a team with two choices, do you write it off as a fluke and forget about it? Or do you try to actually taken away some teachable moments?

Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins, feels the team needs to do a little bit of both.

“I think it kinda goes in the category of flush it and just let it go and move on,” Dawkins stated during his postgame press conference. “The good thing is we have another game coming where we can show our best ball. It’s not really that concerning. I have high faith and high trust in our team and our players. Happens, happens to the best of all people… best of all teams. There ain’t really much we can do, but flush it, learn from it quick as possible and move on.”

When asked whether or not having a short week off a blowout loss is a blessing or curse, Dawkins again said it’s a little of each.

“It’s both ends. It’s a disadvantage and it’s an advantage cause we don’t have to let this one sit on us for a full week, you know, like we can flush it fast and keep it going naturally, but the best thing that we have to do is just recover as fast as possible get our mind and our bodies ready for this Thursday night game.”

While the Bills players seem to fall into the category of liking the fast turnaround due to the emotional nature of dwelling on losses, Bills head coach, Sean McDermott, looks at it from more of a logical standpoint.

“There’s some bad to short turnaround because you can’t really get back on the practice field for all that much time,” McDermott told reporters. “Then there’s some good to it so you can move on and move forward. I’m not really sure which one I like more to be honest with you.”

Regardless of whether or not having a game four days after a loss is a good or bad thing, the Bills don’t have a choice in the matter.

The Bills will continue their toughest stretch of the season when they take on the Saints, Thanksgiving night, followed by the division leading Patriots, the Super Bowl defending Buccaneers, the Panthers and then a second matchup vs. New England.

What was originally a season where the were Bills fighting for a one seed/bye week in the playoffs, has now turned into a fight for the division and even further perhaps, a fight to just make the playoffs in general.

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