The Associated Press

2 reasons to be encouraged, 6 reasons to worry

By Ryan Talbot | Contributing writer

The Buffalo Bills have allowed 81 points in the last two weeks. Although the defense has been bad, the offense hasn't been much better. Following their second consecutive blowout loss, here are two reasons to be encouraged and six reasons to worry.

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Jeffrey T. Barnes

ENCOURAGED: Nathan Peterman

The Bills probably aren't turning to Nathan Peterman until they're out of the playoff picture, but the quarterback looked good in his first NFL action. Although the game was well in hand and the Saints weren't bringing much pressure, Peterman got the ball out of his hand quickly and found many open receivers. It was an encouraging outing for the rookie quarterback.

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Adrian Kraus

WORRIED: Tyrod Taylor

Tyrod Taylor has to give his wide receivers a chance to make a play. The quarterback only completed one pass to a wide receiver on Sunday and it came on the first drive of the game. Buffalo's wide receivers struggle to create separation, but Taylor isn't giving the receivers many opportunities to make contested catches. The quarterback also needs to stop dropping passes off well short of the line to gain on third down plays.

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Matthew Fairburn | mfairburn@nyup.com

WORRIED: Rick Dennison

Taylor has his flaws, as discussed above, but offensive coordinator Rick Dennison is doing the quarterback no favors. Dennison's play-calling has been baffling at times and it has put the Bills in third and long situations too often. Buffalo's offense isn't built to convert long plays in predictable passing situations so Dennison needs to do a better job on first and second down. Buffalo's offensive coordinator needs to be a lot better if Buffalo wants to have any chance of getting into the playoffs this season.

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The Associated Press

WORRIED: Running back depth

Mike Tolbert is fine when you're trying to pick up some hard yards between the tackles. He's not the type of back that you run pitch plays with or throw swing passes to in the flat. Yet, that's exactly what the Bills try to do when Tolbert spells LeSean McCoy. Buffalo is missing a proper complement to McCoy and it shows.

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ENCOURAGED: The AFC is weak for the most part

The Bills look awful, but the same can be said for most of the AFC. Despite back-to-back blowout losses, Buffalo remains the six-seed in the conference. The Dolphins can tie the Bills at 5-4 with a win on Monday night, but right now no team is running away with the second Wild Card spot in the conference.

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Adrian Kraus | The Associated Press

WORRIED: Run defense

The Bills may be missing Marcell Dareus. Buffalo's run defense was nowhere to be found on Sunday and allowed 298 yards rushing and six touchdowns to the Saints. Teams are going to continue to run on Buffalo until the team proves they've fixed the issue.

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The Associated Press

WORRIED: Missed tackles

After 10 days off, you'd imagine the Bills would be fresh and tackling would not be a concern. That wasn't the case against the Saints. New Orleans backs and receivers broke numerous tackles on their way to 32 first downs and 47 points.

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WORRIED: No pressure

The Bills have no shortage of needs in the 2018 NFL draft, but pass rusher continues to rise up the draft board. Buffalo has not been able to bring down the quarterback consistently this season and that continued against the Saints. Drew Brees was not sacked at all on Sunday and Buffalo only had one quarterback hit all game.

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