So much for the signs of improvement the Seattle Seahawks' embattled defense showed last week in their win against the San Francisco 49ers.
And so much for the idea that it would continue Sunday against the Buffalo Bills with Jamal Adams back in the lineup and Carlos Dunlap making his Seahawks debut.
Adams and Dunlap did their part, combining for 2.5 of the Seahawks' seven sacks of Josh Allen. But the Bills' quarterback otherwise had his way with Seattle's defense en route to 415 passing yards and four combined TDs -- three throwing and one rushing -- in Buffalo's 44-34 victory.
It was Allen -- not Russell Wilson -- who looked the part of the MVP front-runner Sunday while the Seahawks' quarterback committed four turnovers in his second down performance over the past three weeks.
The loss drops the Seahawks to 6-2 heading into next week's road game against the Los Angeles Rams (5-3), who will be coming off their bye.
Pete Carroll and coordinator Ken Norton Jr. are going to have to find some fixes to their defense over the second half of the season if they're going to avoid another early exit in the playoffs.
Troubling trend: The Seahawks' defense has been historically leaky for much of this season, but it was a whole new level of bad Sunday. They got plenty of pressure on Allen thanks to another blitz-heavy game plan, but Allen beat their blitz with his arms and his legs in a way that Jimmy Garoppolo wasn't able to last week while hobbling on a bad ankle and throwing to a depleted group of weapons. The Seahawks blitzed Allen on 13 of his first 20 dropbacks, and Allen went 10-of-12 for 104 yards and a touchdown on those plays en route to a 17-0 lead.
QB breakdown: Wilson's performance was more forgettable than the one he had two weeks ago in Arizona, when he was picked off three times in an overtime loss. Wilson threw two interceptions against Buffalo and lost a pair of fumbles on strip sacks as the Bills attacked him with a blitz-heavy game plan of their own, sacking him five times and finishing with 11 official QB hits. Wilson finished 28-of-41 for 390 yards, two passing touchdowns and another rushing score.
Eye-popping Next Gen Stat: Allen was 9-of-11 for 131 yards and a touchdown on plays in which Quinton Dunbar was the nearest defender. Dunbar looked slow and lost in coverage until he was replaced midway through the fourth quarter by Linden Stephens. There have been 10 instances of a defensive back allowing at least 130 yards as the nearest defender in a game this season. Five have been Seahawks, including Dunbar twice (the most is 157 by Adams against the Patriots). Dunbar (knee/resting vet) was on the injury report this week and turned in a poor enough performance to make you wonder how much less than 100% he was for this game.
Silver lining: Dunlap looks like he can be a difference-maker for Seattle down the stretch. He finished with three tackles for loss and five total tackles while playing extensively in his Seattle debut. His sack came on an impressive bull rush in which he overpowered a blocker, something you haven't seen much of from a defense whose front four has struggled to get to the quarterback on its own.