Power rankings: Bills take slide from top after Week 3

Last week: No. 1

The Bills had a wakeup call against the Miami Dolphins. The high-flying offense was grounded, and the Dolphins, who usually have been punching bags for the Bills, made two great defensive stands. Buffalo can still turn things around, but they may have quality competition in the division.

A team that’s become accustomed to blowing out the competition in recent years showed Sunday it needs to polish its hurry-up offense or risk a another conniption from OC Ken Dorsey. Micah Hyde’s season-ending neck injury looms as a more concerning long-term issue, breaking up the league’s best safety tandem for the remainder of 2022.

Ken Dorsey should switch to decaf after kickoff.

Previous rank: No. 1

The Bills ran 51 more plays than the Dolphins and still got beat — if you were offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, you’d probably lose your religion, too. Frustrations from an unusual game aside, the biggest concern in Buffalo is an injury-ravaged defense that was without five starters in Miami. The secondary has been particularly besieged: Star safety Micah Hyde is out for the year with a neck injury, while safety Jordan Poyer (foot) and cornerbacks Dane Jackson (neck) and Christian Benford (who suffered a fractured hand against Miami) have all been sidelined. On Sunday, the Dolphins were able to exploit the Bills’ untested backups with some big downfield strikes; it’s a trend that will continue as long as Buffalo is undermanned.

The injuries are becoming a problem for this team, especially on defense. The talk of cruising to a Super Bowl has subsided for at least a week as they head to Baltimore to face a good Ravens team.

Kapadia: 6 | EPR: 6

Underrated wild moment of Week 4: With the Bills up 30-23 and 1:28 left, Josh Allen took the snap from under center and stumbled immediately, losing his balance. Allen was literally falling to the ground as he handed off to Devin Singletary. He ended up doing a backwards somersault after letting go of the ball. Can you imagine if that had turned into a fumble?

What a first month for Bills fans — ping-ponging between bouts of euphoria and bouts of panic. It’s a four-game sample, but Allen is currently completing over 70 percent of his passes and averaging 9.0 YPA. Only two quarterbacks — Joe Montana and Ryan Tannehill(!) — have hit those marks for an entire season. Buffalo’s defense came alive in the second half against the Raiders, forcing a pair of turnovers. That was a grown-up road win after last week’s thriller against the Rams.

The Bills dominated play volume and time of possession against the Dolphins but just made a few too many critical mistakes and couldn’t finish. Josh Allen is still rolling and their defense, even when well shorthanded in the secondary, was impressive in the defeat in the Miami heat.

One of the main tenets of the power rankings here is, when there’s a difficult decision to be made we ask a simple question: If Team A played Team B on a neutral field, who would win? Well, I’d still pick the Bills to beat anyone listed above. You probably would too. A two-point road loss in sweltering heat, when they more than doubled up the Dolphins in yards, plays and time of possession, all with multiple starters out of the lineup, really doesn’t lead me to believe Buffalo isn’t the best team in the NFL. Every NFL team loses a game, unless you’re the 1972 Dolphins.

Week 3 ranking: 1

Team QBR: 77.3
QBR rank: 3rd

While the Bills are coming off their first loss, Josh Allen has had an MVP-candidate start to the season. He has the league’s lowest rate of off-target throws (8.0%) and leads in passing first downs (49) as well. Allen’s completion percentage (71.2%) and interception percentage (1.5%) would both be career bests. Still, things haven’t been perfect. The Bills need to work on evening out the offense as Allen is also the team’s leading rusher (113 yards), but the fifth-year quarterback has set the groundwork early for yet another impressive season.