What was supposed to be a tough test for the Buffalo Bills defense against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 4 proved to be quite the opposite. Matt Ryan finished with a lowly 242 passing yards on 42 attempts (5.76 yards per attempt), plus he threw his 5th interception in the last two weeks.
Buffalo, meanwhile, enters its Week 5 tilt against the Cincinnati Bengals ranked 4th in Adjusted Defensive NEP per play (-0.09). One might think they reached these heights solely because Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu were unavailable to play the second half Sunday. Exclude the final 45 minutes when Buffalo didn't have to defend Jones, though, and the Bills still allowed only 6.03 yards per attempt to opposing quarterbacks through its first 13 quarters in 2017.
It's worrisome for Buffalo that the Bengals opened -1 at home then surged all the way to -3 by Thursday morning. In the event the line fails to be indicative -- or creeps back towards Buffalo by Sunday morning -- prepare for the Bills to potentially finish as one of the top scoring defenses yet again, perhaps recording its fourth top-10 finish in only five weeks of play.