Media Mashup: Buffalo Bills Week 3 Power Rankings

For two weeks, the Buffalo Bills have been the stars of the show, taking the top spot in every Power Rankings out there. Following a disappointing Week 3 loss to the Miami Dolphins, how has the perception of this team changed? Are the slew of injuries enough to justify staying at the tip of the mountain, or will the title simply be ours to reclaim next week? Let’s see how we rank heading into Week 4.

NFL.com: 2nd

Author: Dan Hanzus

Last Week: 1st

“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.”

theScore: 3rd

Author: theScore Staff

Last Week: 1st

“The Bills’ struggle in the South Florida sun ultimately led to their first defeat of the regular season. Buffalo is going to need to find some help in a secondary that is still missing Tre’Davious White and won’t have Micah Hyde for the remainder of the campaign.”

The Ringer: 1st

Author: Austin Gayle

Last Week: 1st

“Josh Allen and the Bills were a missed fourth-down throw to Isaiah McKenzie away from beating the Dolphins on a sweltering day in South Florida and improving to 3-0. Injuries to safety Micah Hyde (out for the season) and other defensive backs remain a concern as Buffalo goes up against other top offenses. But none of these injuries are enough to override how well Allen is playing right now, and what happened on Sunday wasn’t enough to make me drop the Bills from the top spot in these rankings.”

ESPN: 2nd

Author: ESPN Staff

Last Week: 1st

“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.” — Alaina Getzenberg

The Athletic: 3rd

Author: Bo Wulf

Last Week: 1st

“What is there to say about the Ken Dorsey clip that hasn’t already been said? You see this? You heard about this? I know people enjoy the Scotch-tape-on-a-bursting-dam attempt of the unknown hand to cover up the camera at the end of the clip, but I think the highlight is the brief, knowing side glance from the coach sitting two chairs over (safeties coach Jim Salgado). That’s a football coach who has seen some stuff. And what do you know, the Bills have a different coordinator named Smiley.

In a big-picture sense, the Bills are fine. They’re still the only team that can make a case for having the best offense and best defense in the league. They’re converting an absurd 61 percent of their third downs (no other team is above 50 percent) and probably should be 3-0. In the end, maybe a little wake-up call motivation will do them good. But as the injuries pile up like they did Sunday in Miami — Buffalo finished the game with three backup offensive linemen on the field and played without both starting safeties, including Micah Hyde, who is out for the year — the degree of difficulty for a team with aspirations of playing into February only increases.”

CBS Sports: 3rd

Author: Pete Prisco

Last Week: 1st

“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.”

Sports Illustrated: 2nd

Author: Conor Orr

Last Week: 1st

“Buffalo takes solace in this: They’re not cramping in Orchard Park. They kept the ball for more than 40 of 60 minutes. They, as Buffalo Rumblings noted this week, had a 51-play differential between themselves and the Dolphins, one of the largest margins in a loss in NFL history. They’ll be just fine.”

Yahoo Sports: 1st

Author: Frank Schwab

Last Week: 1st

“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.”

USA Today: 3rd

Author: Nate Davis

Last Week: 1st

“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.”

Sporting News: 2nd

Author: Vinnie Iyer

Last Week: 1st

“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.”

WalterFootball.com: 1st

Author: Walter Cherepinsky

Last Week: 1st

“The Bills dominated the Miami game — they outgained the Dolphins 497-212 — but gave that potential victory away with so many mistakes. I guess you could say that it’s good that they got this out of their system now, rather than in January.”

Sportsnaut: 4th

Author: Matt Johnson

Last Week: 1st

“Playing without nearly half of their defensive starters, the Buffalo Bills defense exceeded expectations in Week 3. Sunday’s loss came down to penalties (seven), problems in the red zone (50% conversion rate), and some mental mistakes. Expect the offense to rebound vs. a Ravens secondary that allows an abundance of big plays.”

Power Rankings Summary

Much like the loss to the Dolphins, the Power Rankings show something of a disappointment after Week 3. We can hardly complain, as the Buffalo Bills had their chances to put this game away but couldn’t.

Sample Size	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Average
12	3/12	4/12	4/12	1/12	2nd Place

For last week’s rankings, click here, and come back next week for a fresh round of power rankings after the Buffalo Bills take on Lamar Jackson’s surging Baltimore Ravens.

Featured Image: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell