In a game Ron Rivera had called a measuring stick, the Washington Football Team found out it has a long way to go as the Buffalo Bills soundly beat them 43-21 in Orchard Park, New York.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen carved up the Washington defense, completing 32 of 43 passes for 358 yards and four touchdowns.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” head coach Ron Rivera said after the loss. “The truth of the matter is we got beat today, and the things we have to correct we most certainly will work on.”
Once again, Washington’s defense, the supposed strength of the team, was shredded. Neither Chase Young nor his edge-rushing counterpart, Montez Sweat, came close to sacking Allen.
Buffalo became the latest team to score on its first possession. Allen hit Emmanuel Sanders on a 28-yard scoring strike to make the score 7-0.
Washington would run just six offensive plays spread over two series before Buffalo would score again, as Allen found Zack Moss for his second touchdown pass and a 14-0 lead.
After the game, Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke admitted that the Bills’ early success made him try to force big plays, a mistake he should not have made.
“I have to realize, we can’t score 20 points on one possession,” he said in the postgame news conference. “Really just sticking to the game plan, sticking to the playbook and just chipping away at it. Something to learn from, for sure,” he said.
Heinicke was able to help get Washington back into the game in the second quarter.
Following the Bills’ third touchdown, made possible by Heinicke’s first interception of the afternoon, the fifth-year pro from Old Dominion threw a screen pass to Antonio Gibson. He turned the catch into a 73-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 21-7.
Washington then kicked off short, catching the Bills flat-footed. Kicker Dustin Hopkins recovered his kick, a very long onsides kickoff giving the ball back to the offense near the Bills 25-yard line.
Heinicke would dive over the goal line five plays later to make the score 21-14.
As quickly as the offense grabbed the momentum, the defense gave it away.
The Bills kicked two field goals to end the second quarter to take a 27-14 lead into halftime.
Allen then put the game away with a 17 play, 93-yard drive that took 8 minutes and 17 seconds off the clock in the third quarter. Emmanuel Sanders ended the drive with his second touchdown reception of the day.
“Still mistakes here and there,” Chase Young said. “Still stuff we’ve got to clean up.”
Young appeared very frustrated towards the end of the game cameras showed him in a very animated conversation with defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio on the sidelines in the closing minutes.
“When we come back in the building, no bull[explicit],” he said. “If someone is bull[explicit], you tell me ’cause I ain’t having it,” he said.
Washington will now turn its attention to the Atlanta Falcons and an aging but still dangerous Matt Ryan. After that comes New Orleans, Kansas City, Green Bay, and Denver to round out October.
A similar performance in Atlanta could cause the season to spin out of control earlier than most pessimists predicted.
There will be no lack of material from which to learn.