SEATTLE - Not since 2017 had the Seattle Seahawks suffered a more one-sided loss at home than the bare-knuckle beatdown administered Sunday afternoon by the Buffalo Bills.

Bills fans can harken back to the Super Bowl years when Rich Stadium was absolutely one of the best homefield advantages in the NFL, a place no NFL team wanted to visit whether it was sunny and 80 degrees in September, or miserably cold and snowy in December and January.

That’s how it used to be in Seattle, but if this one-sided rout was any indication, those days seem to be long over as this was the Seahawks’ third straight loss in their ultra-loud stadium.

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There were so many reasons why Buffalo cruised to its sixth victory in eight games, one that extended their lead in the AFC East to a laughable four-plus games over the Jets and 3 1/2-plus games over the Dolphins, but one of the biggest was the start.

Slow starts had been an issue for the Bills, most recently last week when they fell behind 10-0 to the Titans, the same Titans who lost 52-14 Sunday at Detroit. But Sean McDermott made it a point of emphasis during the week to come out of the gate flying, and the Bills heeded his call.

“It's always a priority, even though we haven’t done a great job of that,” McDermott said. “So I tell you guys, we go back and look at everything and so we went back and looked at some things, and I felt more than anything, we got into a rhythm early.”

They sure did, thanks to the defense forcing two quick three-and-outs, and then Josh Allen igniting the offense on a first possession 91-yard touchdown drive that set the tone for the sunny, rainy, cloudy, sunny, rainy day.

“It was great,” Allen said. “Got off to a quick start, first drive, go down there and get points. It’s something that we've talked about repetitively over the course of the last couple weeks. Felt good to go out there and get it done.”

When he was asked if this was the Bills’ best start to finish performance of the season, given the opponent and the venue, Allen said, “It's up there, and I think you look at it from all three phases. I think everybody went out there, knew their job, and executed it at a high level.”

I agree, and my grades reflect that:

PASS OFFENSE: A

Allen was on point all day, even though he did throw his first interception of the season, a strange play where it looked like he expected Amari Cooper to be in better position for a quick slant, only to have CB Josh Jobe read it, jump the route and make the pick. Otherwise, Allen was nearly flawless in completing 24 of 34 for 283 yards and two TDs.

Khalil Shakir was great, as he always is. He caught nine of 10 targets for 107 yards and it just seemed like whenever Allen needed a completion, that’s where he went and Shakir came through. He now has caught 36 of the 38 balls thrown his way this season.

How about Keon Coleman maturing before our eyes on a weekly basis? He caught five for 70 and made a great catch over excellent CB Riq Woolen for the first TD of the day. Cooper was quiet as he still needs to learn the offense, one catch for three yards, while Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox combined for seven catches for 53 yards and a Kincaid TD.

Up front, the offensive line had a rough day with penalties, but when they weren’t breaking the rules, they kept Allen clean as he suffered just one sack.

RUN OFFENSE: A

James Cook ran like he was angry. We normally see him jitterbugging through the line and making people miss and he did plenty of that, but he also ran through contact and amassed his third career 100-yard game, finishing with 111, a 6.5 average, and two TDs including the second one where, as Allen said, “he lowered the boom.”

Ray Davis got some playing time late and gained 29 yards and taking three Mitch Trubisky kneel downs out of the mix, the Bills ran for 167 yards and 5.38 per attempt. The backs were excellent, but again, the line was creating space for them as the Bills clearly won the battle in the trenches. The Bills have now topped 150 yards rushing in three of their last four games.

PASS DEFENSE: A-

Geno Smith came into the game as the NFL’s leader in passing yards per game at 283.6, but he had 123 through three quarters and finished with 212, almost all of it harmless as the Seahawks didn’t score their first touchdown until they were down 31-3.

He was clearly hampered by the absence of star WR DK Metcalf, but the Seahawks have other viable weapons in Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but the Bills did an outstanding job taking them away. JSN caught six for 69, but Lockett had one catch for nine yards. Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford continue to build their case as one of the most effective boundary CB duos in the league, and Taron Johnson just keeps plugging along, making plays in the pass and run game as he led the Bills with eight tackles.

Smith was sacked only once, that by Javon Solomon late in the game, but he was under pressure enough to be ineffective, and an AJ Epenesa pressure led to the interception Smith threw on a pass that was tipped by Casey Toohill and caught by DT Austin Johnson. That was some play, three different defensive linemen playing a role like that.

RUN DEFENSE: A+

Coming into the game, Kenneth Walker was the Bills’ No. 1 priority because they knew the Seahawks would probably want to lean on him in the ground game with Metcalf out. Instead, Walker never had a chance to get going because the Seahawks only had the ball for 22 minutes, and almost that entire time they were trailing, much of it by double digits.

Walker finished with a measly 12 yards on nine carries, the second-lowest total of his NFL career, while Zach Charbonnet, a big, physical runner, was muted as well, four yards on three carries. On three of the biggest plays of the game, with Seattle staring at first-and-goal at the 7 after Allen’s second-quarter interception, both runners were stuffed a total of three times before the fourth-down play blew up when Smith tripped and fell pulling away from center, a massive turnover on downs that was one of the key moments in the game.

What was impressive about the run defense is that the Bills did this with LB Terrel Bernard out and Baylon Spector in his place. Spector finished with five tackles and held his own, though pass coverage remains a big problem for him.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B-

It certainly wasn’t the cleanest game, though that doesn’t include the kickers. On a slick field, Tyler Bass made a 27-yard field goal and all four of his extra points, plus had five touchbacks on six kickoffs. Punter Sam Martin had an outstanding day with three punts that averaged 49 net yards because none were returned, one going out of the bounds at the 9.

On the downside, Cam Lewis’ illegal block on Seattle’s first punt gave the Bills a drive start at the 9 for their first possession of the game, and on the second possession, they started at the 12 because Brandon Codrington made a ridiculous decision to field a punt at the goal line.

Ray Davis was deep for the second-half kickoff and he made his own poor decision, fielding it three yards deep and only getting to the 23, costing the Bills seven yards of field position. And then in the fourth quarter, Reggie Gilliam had a hold on a kickoff return that pushed the Bills back to the 15.

Late in the game, the Seahawks muffed a punt and Mack Hollins recovered for Buffalo at the Seattle 26. So yeah, a mixed bag for sure.

COACHING: A

McDermott had a call to make in the first quarter on fourth-and-2, but I thought at that point, punting from his own 42 was the right decision, even though I’m sure fans were up in arms. The Bills were already up 7-0 and there was no need to risk giving the Seahawks any momentum with a potential stop there. Martin’s punt went out of bounds at the 9, which further amplified that was the right call.

The Bills were ready to play, another check in the positive column for the coaches, but the penalties are a problem. Two weeks ago in the win over the Jets the Bills committed 11 for 94 yards, and in this one they had 13 for 85 yards. They managed to win both those games, but that’s not always going to be the case.

On offense, Joe Brady had a great feel in this game and he achieved excellent balance between the run and pass, though it’s easy to do that when both things are working, as 38 minutes of possession time, 8-of-15 on third, and season highs in first downs (29) and total yards (445) would suggest.

And on defense, Bobby Babich’s group had its way as it held the Seahawks to 1-of-8 combined on third and fourth down and 233 yards including just 32 on the ground, the lowest yield by the Bills since Nov. 17, 2019 against Miami.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills report card: Buffalo starts fast and eviscerates Seahawks