By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Bills mustered together a late last-ditch effort against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14, but ultimately fell 24-17 to the AFC leaders.
A loss brought the Bills to 9-4 overall on the year, which puts Buffalo still in a prime position for the postseason. But the loss, at times, was ugly.
With that, here’s the latest stock report on the Bills following their loss to the Ravens:
Stock up
DC Leslie Frazier
This one goes with an asterisk, of sorts. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier has a part in the Bills defense, but so does head coach Sean McDermott. We’ll give Frazier the nod here because McDermott was questionable with clock management in the game, and we have Frazier calling the plays. Man, did he call a heck of a game.
The Bills defense did what many haven’t this year, shut down quarterback Lamar Jackson. Jackson did have three touchdown passes, but he had his first interception since Week 5, only 145 yards passing and 40 yards rushing, his lowest total in a complete game played this season. Frazier might get head coaching sniffs this offseason, we’ll see. He deserves another crack at it.
LB Tremaine Edmunds
As the leader of the Bills defense, like Frazier, give the Bills’ second-year linebacker in Tremaine Edmunds deserves some credit, he came to play against the frontrunner for the NFL MVP Award. Edmunds finished with eight total tackles, two tackles for loss, one pass breakup, and the only interception of the game. His sniffing out of a busting handoff early in the game really put his athletic abilities on display during one of his tackles for loss, which helped keep the game close late.
LB Lorenzo Alexander
Like Edmunds, Lorenzo Alexander had a heck of a game. He plays far less in games than his linebacker counterparts, which also includes Matt Milano, but Alexander had the biggest defensive play of the game for the Bills. Jackson would’ve extended a drive with a pass to receiver Seth Roberts, but Alexander, seemingly out of nowhere, got a hand on a pass that likely would’ve gone for a first down in the Ravens’ final offensive drive (aside fron kneel downs) in the game. That drive was also a three-and-out, giving the Bills offense even more time to attempt a comeback.
RB Devin Singletary
Rookie Devin Singletary was the game’s leading rusher. Yes, the entire game which also included Jackson and Ravens rusher Mark Ingram. Singletary had 89 total rushing yards on 17 carries and another 29 yards on six catches. That adds up to 118 total all-purpose yards and Buffalo’s offense, overall, had 209 yards of offense. That’s… a lot of that. Singletary’s couple of big chunks of yards provided a spark, too. Worth noting: He did have one dropped pass.
K Stephen Hauschka
We harp on him when it’s bad, so we have to give praise when it’s good. The Bills confirmed they went after kicker Chase McLaughlin last week via the wavier wire but didn’t get him. Did that light a spark for Stephen Hasuchka? He converted on three attempts, including kicks of 47 and 48 yards, no chip shots on those two. No missed extra points, either. Helps that he didn’t have to attempt any of those.
Stock down
TE Dawson Knox
Unfortunately some drop issues continue to plague the rookie and he’s really got to work on his hands in the offseason. Sure, tight end Dawson Knox did lead the Bills in receiving on the day, but the passing offense was terrible, overall. His lone catch for 37 yards helped him top the catching charts, but… he had four total targets. In addition, he was brutal as a blocker as the Ravens saw a strip-sack from linebacker Matt Judon where he just blew by Knox.
QB Josh Allen
It wasn’t all on Josh Allen, but he wasn’t good, either. Early, Allen undoubtedly missed open targets which was tough to see after he had recently found at least one deep ball score to John Brown. But he was 1-for-7 to start the game passing and struggled to get rid of the ball and took some sacks. Again, not all on him, but Allen and the Bills offense crumbled early and often. The only thing salvaging things for the Bills was his late connection on a score and two-point conversion to Cole Beasley. Allen completed 43.5 percent of his passes (17-for-39), had only 146 passing yards and his long score. Plus, he did lose a fumble. The interception problem might be gone but the fumble issue is far from it.
RB Frank Gore
The feel good story of Frank Gore is certainly over for the Bills. Every time he’s on the field, opponents just know any running play is going up the middle and they sniff it right out. The Bills need to scheme different plays for Gore to get him more successfully involved in the offense. His leadership is undoubtedly still there off the field, but he had four carries for six yards, which included a long carry of six yards. Yikes.
S Jordan Poyer
While the Bills defense did play well, the lone blemish on them was their defending of big plays the Ravens made. Sometimes it’s hard, but like with Stephen Hauschka, if we’re going to mention one end of the spectrum, we’ll mention another.
Safety Jordan Poyer did lead the Bills with 10 tackles against the Ravens. Two more than the next closest (Tremaine Edmunds). But two of the Ravens’ scores saw Poyer right there. Jackson scored on a flip pass to tight end Nick Boyle. On the play, Poyer was in pursuit of Jackson and didn’t realize Boyle was open until a second before the pass. Then Jackson was hit as he threw the ball to tight end Hayden Hurst and on that play down the seam, there was some sort of mix up between Poyer and fellow safety Micah Hyde as that one went down as a 61-yard score. If anything, we’re holding the Bills safety to an elite level of expectations, something he’s earned.
Offensive line
And the easiest saved for last. Numerous members of the Bills offensive line looked bad in this one. This comes down to scheming by offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, too. But the Bills did little on-field adjusting or just did a really bad version of it as Josh Allen was sacked six times and hit 12 times, in total, in the game. Mitch Morse was supposed to come in this offseason and help with these on-field adjustments. Quinton Spain took a crucial late penalty which nearly stalled a drive, too. The interior of the Bills line was manhandled at times.
Some holes were found in the running game, but overall, a yuck performance from the offensive line which saw 12 tackles for loss to go along with those 12 quarterback hits as well.