Offensive Woes Leave Bills Relying On Rex's D

This is where a proper bully takes the nerd's lunch money.

This afternoon in Nashville, Buffalo may have to find out if it is still possible, given the state of the National Football League, to win purely through force of defensive will. During the Bills' pair of wins in 2015, Rex Ryan's defense delivered on his press-conference promises, effectively ending the competitive portion of the games against Indianapolis and Miami by delivering first-half shutouts.

The offense did its part, too, putting up 17 points on the Colts and 27 against the Dolphins by intermission, highlighted by efficient and at times -- at least by the incredibly low expectations we have for quarterbacks around here -- spectacular performances by first-year starter Tyrod Taylor.

Today, the defense and Taylor can't count on much help. The Bills try to avoid falling below .500 for the first time under Ryan without many of the components intended to make Tyrod's life easier.

They're down to their third-, fourth- and fifth-string running backs, for one. If there is a bright spot to the hamstringing of LeSean McCoy and concussing of Karlos Williams, it is that fans, media and, you would presume, members of the Bills' roster and staff have used, and will continue to use, the word "Boobie" much more often.

Sophomoric delight does not necessarily translate into first downs, however. In little more than a year in Buffalo, Anthony "Boobie" Dixon has shown himself to be a solid special-teamer and imposing-looking short-yardage runner whose personality and experience -- including four seasons, three on a playoff team, in San Francisco -- gives him a larger leadership role than warranted by his on-field production to date.

Dixon scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run in the season opener, but for the year, has netted zero yards on eight carries.

Cierre Wood is neither a new type of chic flooring or a particularly unappetizing craft beer. Nor does he seem like a probable revelation at running back, having been in and out of five organizations before landing in Buffalo, where he occupied a spot on the practice squad until the Friday before last week's demoralizing loss to the New York Giants.

As a rookie with Houston in 2013, the Notre Dame product posted a career-high 9 yards on three carries before getting cut for "unspecified violations of team rules prior to a game in Kansas City."

Then there is Daniel "Boom" Herron, who ran for 170 yards and two touchdowns on 45 carries for Indianapolis during last January's playoffs, but was unemployed when the suddenly desperate Bills called after it was revealed earlier this week that Williams suffered a concussion while struggling for 40 yards on 18 carries against the Giants in his first NFL start.

None of this is good news for Taylor, who in his first month as a starting quarterback has done quite nicely when supported by even the threat of a running game, and looked like a guy win his first month as a starting quarterback when he is not.

With Sammy Watkins expected to miss another game with a calf injury sustained against Miami, Tyrod again lacks his most threatening downfield option, applying pressure to make plays without enough playmakers. And behind an offensive line that looks better than last year's disaster, but not good enough to prop up a gum-and-string running game and short-handed receiving corps operating around a developing quarterback.

All of which leaves the defense, which, like Taylor, has toggled demonstrating its potential with displaying its shortcomings, to live up to its hype.

A failure to communicate has been this week's talking point in trying to explain the ease with which Eli Manning, like Tom Brady two weeks earlier, sliced up the big, bad Buffalo defense. While the return of safety Aaron Williams should help the talking, focusing on carrying out Rex Ryan's schemes would be easier without handing opponents free yardage in maddeningly frequent 15-yard chunks.

The Titans, meanwhile, could be truly terrible. After opening with a blowout of equally questionable Tampa Bay, Tennessee got thumped by Cleveland and surrendered a 13-point lead to gimpy-armed Andrew Luck's Colts, who couldn't manage a single point against Buffalo when it counted.

After opening with a near-perfect day against the Buccaneers, who historically are obliging in that sense, Mariota has often looked like, well, a rookie. In Tennessee's two losses, he has been sacked 10 times, thrown two interceptions and fumbled three times, losing two of them.

This is where the most expensive defensive line in NFL history is supposed to take over, stuffing the league's 10th-ranked running game while forcing Mariota into another flurry of mistakes. That would also set up Buffalo's linebackers and secondary to produce the sort of game-changing plays on which Ryan's philosophy relies and, given the Bills' offensive limitations, even put up some points of their own.

Unleashing the blitzes largely kept in the playbook against the Patriots and Giants seems like a pretty good idea, especially given Mariota's problems dealing with pressure in his last two outings.

As kickoff approaches, the second overall pick in last spring's draft is the undersized, unassuming kid shuffling down the hall, head down and hoping not to wind up stuffed into a locker, like Luck and Ryan Tannehill.

Or ready, like Brady and Manning, to expose Rex's Bills as a lot of bluster compensating for deeply rooted inadequacy.

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