This offseason, the primary storyline for the Buffalo Bills was slated to be the addition of defensive-minded head coach Rex Ryan taking an already stout defense and inserting them into the historical elite conversation. Hardly uncommon over the summer were written and vocal comparisons to the 2000 Baltimore Ravens (a team Ryan was on staff for), and even the 1985 Chicago Bears.

We’re now 360 regular season game minutes into 2015 and that narrative now looks solely fictional. Buffalo has taken substantial steps back from former coordinator Jim Schwartz’s unit of a year ago and Mike Pettine’s the season before that.

Elite? Right now, overrated is a term more accurately fitting the bill. At present, this defense is a glorified dime a dozen unit.

Quarterback Andy Dalton torched the Bills defense for 243 yards and three touchdowns on 22-of-43 passing without being sacked to lead the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals to an easy 34-21 victory over the 3-3 Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The defense has now given up an astounding 98 points over their last three home games, all loses.

As you’ve come to expect, Ryan was extremely defensive and excuse-oriented in his post-game assessment of his troops

"Well the opponent is one of the problems," Ryan said. "That team has lit up everybody in the league. It looks terrible when you give up 17 points in the first half and that is like you are getting crushed. Gave up like 120 yards it wasn’t like…believe me I thought we were competitive. It is just the starting drive point was killing us. You know so obviously that team is difficult. You take away this guy, take away that guy, and this other dude beats you."

Irritated, defensive end Mario Williams was far less diplomatic in the locker room after a third straight home whupping. He told NFL.com’s Albert Breer essentially that he’s unhappy with the Bills scheme.

"I don't know if it's the look, what they're putting us in, but you have four guys who've been known to get after the quarterback and are disruptive against the run and making tackles for losses and all that," Williams told Breer. "Now, 90 percent of the time, you only have three of us. Either one guy is gone or ..."

Breer then asked Williams if it's mainly a case of players missing assignments. Williams made it quite clear he didn't feel that’s the reason for the struggles.

"No, it's the call," he said.  "You got three guys going, you got three guys. Obviously, we're gonna go back and look at it and see how many times that guy drops or how many times I drop, how many times there are just three of us doing this or that. That's the difference. I mean, it is a difference. I'm not using it as an excuse, but it is a difference. It's not the same as far as that goes."

Nine of the 11 Bills defensive starters, and everyone in the rotation sans rookie Ronald Darby were on this defense a year ago. It’s inexcusable to lay an egg three times in four home dates.

With quarterback Tyrod Taylor out with a knee injury, E.J. Manuel got the start for Buffalo and did zilch to mute critics who don’t think he has what it takes to be a capable NFL quarterback, and in the process brought more heat to general manager to Doug Whaley, whose vote in confidence in Manuel led to Matt Cassel being cut, re-signed and ultimately traded to Dallas.

Manuel’s stat line on the surface looked respectable; 25-of-42 for 263 yards with a touchdown pass, one interception and a short touchdown run.  However, many throws were off, he checked down too often in throwing short of the sticks, and showed precious little poise in the pocket.

A starter for the first time in his five-year career, Taylor did everything he could in practice all week to get on the field Sunday presumably in part out of fear a strong Manuel performance could create a quarterbacking controversy. Taylor can sleep easy tonight. If the Bills have any chance of competing for a wild card spot come end of the regular season, they need Taylor back.

As if an overvalued defense and barely serviceable quarterback play wasn’t enough, undisciplined penalties yet again reared its ugly head.  The league-leading flagged at Bills committed nine more penalties for 83 yards, compared to just three (20 yards total) for Cincinnati. Among those were a pair of special team personal foul infractions--- a mindless taunting call on Ron Brooks and a facemask on Marquise Goodwin.

"You know some of these other penalties we are getting a majority of them are on special teams, and I just don’t understand it," Ryan said. "I mean we talk about them over and over. And it is just…we had a facemask and you know sometimes that happens when you make a tackle. We got to really look at it and ask ourselves why.  Like I don’t understand how we can keep getting penalized."

The most inauspicious thing about Buffalo’s loss is how well they started, as Buffalo took the opening kick and drove 80 yards over 11 plays, capped by a two-yard Manuel touchdown run.

From there though, the Bengals dominated both sides of the ball, particularly on offense as they answered Buffalo’s scoring drive with a Dalton touchdown pass to Jeremy Hill and then took the lead for good in the second quarter on a 17-yard Gio Bernard touchdown run.

Buffalo cut the lead to 17-14 before halftime on a Manuel 22-yard touchdown to Sammy Watkins, but the Bengals outscored the Bills 17-7 in the second half for the statement win.

Not only did the Bills lose the battle of the scoreboard, they were yet again decimated by injuries.  Already without Taylor, Percy Harvin (hip), Karlos Williams (concussion) and Aaron Williams (neck) coming in, several key players went down, were unable to return and suffered injuries that could be serious.  Defensive tackle Kyle Williams left with a knee injury and WGR’s Sal Capaccio reported via a source it’s a PCL that could keep him out 3-4 weeks.  Watkins returned after missing two games with a calf and injured his leg making his touchdown catch in the second quarter. He was spotted on crutches.  Also, starting right tackle Seantrell Henderson left with a concussion and Goodwin (stop me if you’ve heard this before) also left the game with injured ribs.

In every conceivable physical and emotional manner, the Bills were bruised, battered and beaten.

Play of the Game: Down 7-0 in the first quarter, Dalton took a first-and-10 from the Bills 13 yard line and calmly dumped a pass off in the left flat to Jeremy Hill. The running back broke a tackle from IK Enemkpali and then hopped over Stephon Gilmore into the end zone to tie the score. It set the tone for Cincinnati offensively the rest of the game and Buffalo could hardly stop them.

Stat of the Game: Zero Buffalo sacks. Yep, the vaunted Buffalo defense failed to drop Dalton once. After leading the league with 54 sacks a year ago the Bills have just nine through six games, and are on pace for just 24.

MVP: Lesean McCoy may not be 100%, but he was far and away Buffalo’s best player.  Shady rushed for 90 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown, and often looked like the one Bill on the field the Bengals were worried about. If he can play like he did Sunday the rest of the year, the backfield is in great shape.

LVP: I’m not sure who had a bigger hand in Sunday’s scheme, Ryan or defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman, so they can share this.  As mentioned earlier, every starter and contributor on this defense minus Darby were on this team just one year ago. It’s verging on humiliating how much they’ve degenerated when you consider that side of the ball is allegedly supposed to be the forte of this team.

Three Things to Like:

♦ Even with Taylor out, the Bills offense looked categorically better in the first half when Watkins was on the field.  Before his injury late in the second quarter Watkins had four catches for 47 yards and a score, and the Bills put up 14 points.  Ryan was evasive when discussing the extent of his injury. Realistically the best-case is it keeps him out against Jacksonville in London and he can return following their bye.

♦ I said it earlier, Manuel proved (at least to me) yet again that he can’t be a starting caliber quarterback, but the offense at least performed well enough to stay in the game. Granted, a chunk of their stats came in garbage time down 20 in the fourth, but Buffalo controlled the ball for exactly half the game, produced 368 yards and 22 first downs, and converted 5-of-13 third downs.  Condemning Manuel and Whaley at the watercooler tomorrow morning is the easy way out, but this game is on their defense.

♦ Charles Clay has been worth the hefty offseason investment.  The only reliable weapon for a second time in three weeks, Clay caught nine passes for 62 yards against Cincinnati, to match his nine receptions against the New York Giants two weeks ago.  Clay is on pace for 83 receptions this year, which would obliterate Scott Chandler’s team-record 53 in 2013.

Three Things To Not Like:

♦ Don’t underestimate Henderson’s concussion. The right tackle hasn’t been a world-beater, in fact he’s been pretty lousy, but he may be Anthony Munoz compared to Cyrus Kouandjio.

♦ The Bills defensive scheme is deservedly getting disparaged, but the unit would help themselves by rediscovering the art of tackling.  The defense has whiffed on far too many ball handlers in their three losses.

♦ Robert Woods may be one of the league’s best blocking wide receivers, unfortunately he’s also become on if its more notorious holders.

Random Observation: Ryan had bracelets and had his team doing extra pushups a short time ago to remind his team  to cut the penalties down. If he wants to send a real message to his team, Ron Brooks should be on the waiver wire tomorrow morning. In my book, the last thing a guy on the bottom of the roster has a right to do is take ignorant taunting penalties after making a special teams tackle. If I’m Whaley, Brooks is going bye-bye this week. Time to take action instead of words and gimmicks, Rexy.

What’s Next: There were many fans, and probably players that dreaded having to go play a game in London.  After this fiasco, getting on a plane and going overseas may be the best thing that could happen to this team. It’s an opportunity to get away and not get caught up in the denigration that’ll rain down on them all week, deserved I might add after their third home debacle in four tries.  With Jacksonville on the docket and all the injuries mounted, the Bills are playing the Jaguars at an opportune time and with a bye to follow, the perfect time to get an extra week to heal up.

Wrap Up: First, let’s give credit where it’s due—the Cincinnati Bengals are a very good football team and it’s no accident they’re undefeated a half dozen games into the season. They’re stout and loaded with talent on both sides of the ball and if Dalton doesn’t regress later in the season there’s no reason the Bengals aren’t legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Having said that, it’s intolerable for the Bills to be this flawed on defense.  There’s $50 million endowed on the defensive line alone, and they’ve traumatically floundered in half their showings. It feels preposterous, and makes the Bills appear obnoxious that they ever likened themselves to that Ray Lewis-led Ravens defense of a decade and a half ago.

However, I’m still confident the defense will pick their jock straps and considerable egos off the ground and perform closer to expectations over the balance of the season. They’re simply too good to be this bad.

What I’m not confident in is the team’s ability to overcome the plethora of injuries. Watkins, Kyle Williams and Henderson are all of utmost importance to the team, and each seem like an absence could be prolonged.  Couple them with Taylor, Harvin, (Aaron) Williams, (Karlos) Williams and a less than fully healthy McCoy, and I could easily see the win-one, lose-one pattern continuing for the foreseeable future.

It’s a shame too, because 2015 seems like the year a wild card spot for the Bills is there for the taking. It still is, but if they don’t handle their business and turn it around after the bye, they’ll fall short of the postseason for a 16th straight year.

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