Buffalo Bills Are Thoroughly Overwhelmed By Atlanta Falcons

The Brian Brohm era officially began in Atlanta on Sunday, as the Buffalo Bills were thoroughly defeated by the Atlanta Falcons 31-3. That Brohm finished the game and was still in one piece is something of a moral victory, as both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Trent Edwards had just suffered injuries from the previous game and were unable to play.

Brohm wound up getting sacked just two times and went 17 of 29 for 146 yards. He did not throw a touchdown pass but was intercepted twice, which resulted in a passer rating of 43.2 rating.

Brohm kept the passes short, mixing in screens and quick tosses to prevent Atlanta's pressure from resulting in more sacks. The end result was that his longest completion went for only fifteen yards. He did target the duo of Lee Evans and Terrell Owens 16 times and completed 9 of those for 82 yards.

Since it is clear that Brohm has some talent and upside, I would hope the Bills let him finish out the season by starting him against Indianapolis on the final contest next Sunday. Let him continue to build on this momentum and go in to the off-season with some additional confidence and experience to continue his development and growth.

Brohm's counterpart Matt Ryan had three touchdown passes, fumbled twice, and completed roughly 50 percent of his passes (18 of 35) for 250 yards. Ryan's passer rating was 103.

How Bad Was It?

This game was pretty bad from a stats perspective. Atlanta had the ball for 26 more plays (75-49) and controlled the clock for nine more minutes (34-25). The Bills average starting field position for the game was their own 19 yard line. and they never got inside the Atlanta red zone for the entire game. Furthest drive in the game ended at the Atlanta 23.

That is pretty bad. Another telling stat was that the Bills had three turnovers, and Atlanta had none. You need help from the defense when you have a young QB making his first start, but no help was to be found today from the defense in creating any turnovers.

The Bills rushing game went nowhere as the team had 40 yards, which was a season low. Jonathan Scott was injured early, and that forced former practice squad member Andre Waters in to the game for his first true extended playing time of the season.

The seemingly never-ending carousel of new offensive lineman forced in to game action continues to add new members to the supporting cast role this year. This is one season to forget as the Bills have never seen a campaign like this before, due to all of the injuries that have shredded their offensive line.

Jamon Meredith was inactive for this game, and Demetrius Bell had already been placed on I.R., so the pickings were pretty slim for a replacement for Scott.

The main highlight play of the first half was the final play of the half, when Atlanta tried a 55-yard field goal that was blocked by Spencer Johnson. That is when the fun started.

Reminiscent of the Stanford vs. Cal famous lateral play and running in to the Stanford band, this play resulted in George Wilson picking up the second lateral and running it in to the end zone for an apparent score. However, the officials ruled that the play was dead when Reggie Corner was ruled down by contact and his lateral was deemed a fumble.

Wilson demonstrated his running skills, considering that he was a converted wide receiver, and might have made a case to be considered for some type of return specialist chances with what he showed on that play.

Something is missing in the team's return game, as the Bills have not had one return this season for a touchdown. That is something you normally count on from the Bills special teams units.

Some Bills Milestones and Other Bits of Interest

Terrell Owens was able to notch his 1,000th career catch in the game. He now is one of only six receivers in the history of the NFL to reach that plateau. Congratulations T.O.

Lee Evans has now become the third leading receiver in Bills history as he passed Elbert Dubenion on Sunday. The Bills' all-time list reads like this for career yardage in receptions: Andre Reed (13,095), Eric Moulds (9,096), Lee Evans (5,307), and Elbert Dubenion (5,294).

Aaron Schobel has been hinting lately that he is thinking of retirement after this season. Although nothing is official, he proved that he still has plenty of fight in him, as he registered a season-high three sacks and forced two fumbles. The ball never bounced the Bills way all day long, as Atlanta recovered both of Matt Ryan's fumbles.

James Hardy was active for his first game of the season and caught one pass in the game. Brohm was not able to complete a single pass to his tight ends, going zero for three.

Nic Harris had a very active game, leading the team with 12 tackles. Good to see Harris getting a chance to play and to demonstrate some of his talent.

Finishing Out the Season and Ultimate Draft Slot To Be Determined

Coming in to the season finale, the Bills could be looking at drafting anywhere from 5-10 depending on the final weekend results and tiebreakers used to establish ultimate draft pick slots. What we do know so far is:

1 win - St. Louis

2 wins - Detroit

3 wins - Tampa Bay and Kansas City

Those are the first four teams right now. There are two teams with four wins each, Washington and Cleveland, that could win on Sunday, putting them even with Buffalo. Cleveland is hosting Jacksonville, and Washington is playing at San Diego.

There are quite a few teams sitting there even with the Bills at five wins, which includes:

Chicago - two games left, tonight hosting Minnesota, and Sunday at Detroit.

Seattle - is hosting Tennessee

Oakland - is hosting Baltimore 

So that is the rundown of the teams that could move up or down the list based on how they fare this Sunday. These outcomes are a good reason to tune in this weekend to see what happens. You also will hopefully see some more development from Brian Brohm as well, provided the Bills let him finish out the final game.