ORCHARD PARK - There weren’t many positives theBuffalo Bills could take away from the debacle against the New England Patriots last week, but Keon Coleman’s performance certainly warrants attention.
In the absence of D.J. Moore, who once again had to leave before halftime, the second time that has happened in the first four games, Coleman stepped up and caught six passes for 116 yards including the go-ahead touchdown with 4:27 remaining on a pretty post where he slow played cornerback Charles Woods and then cut sharply to the post and when safety Craig Woodson was late helping, Coleman hauled in Josh Allen’s perfect throw.
“Yeah, it was tough on a lot of guys when D.J. went out,” coach Joe Brady said. “You're spending a lot of time going through
the call sheet, making sure everybody can do this play, who is on this one? How is it going to play out? Keon did a really good of handling some of those changes and Josh has a lot of trust in him. That's the expectation of Keon - given the opportunities, make the most of it. Not a lot of positives, but I was proud of the way he played.”
Coleman has been a polarizing figure ever since the Bills probably over-drafted him at the very top of the second round in 2024. Through two wildly inconsistent seasons, Brady has stuck by him and he made it a point of emphasis as soon as he was named head coach back in January to profess his belief in the player moving forward.
“He hasn’t given a damn about anything but showing up and just going to work,” Brady said Monday. “Not caring about how many targets he gets, what he has to do in the run game, what it looks like in practice. He’s done that since he’s showed up. Josh has a lot of trust in him. Obviously he made some of those big plays at the end of the game.
“That touchdown was obviously a huge, huge component to giving us an opportunity to win the football game. Just him being in that position and being able to be a guy that we can move around and be able to do all those things when some of these situations happen, it speaks to his character and his intelligence.”
Bills may need Keon Coleman even more against the Rams
Moore’s status is uncertain for Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Rams - he was not practicing Thursday. With Joshua Palmer looking more and more like a free agent whiff, the onus will be on Coleman to continue playing the way he did against New England and finally start to fulfill the promise he showed at Florida State, plus reward the faith and patience the Bills have had with him.
“Any chance I get to go out there and play, I'm going to go out there and maximize the time I'm given,” Coleman said. “My mindset’s the same; the mentality and the why behind it is a little more deeply rooted. It's just different vibes, understanding what’s at stake. We want to win. It's year one with coach Brady, and we're going out there with a chip on our shoulder and things to prove.”
We’ve seen games like last week’s from Coleman before, but the issue he has always faced is being able to produce on a week-to-week basis.
In his rookie season he started slowly but then delivered a 125-yard game against the Titans followed by a 70-yard, one-TD game at Seattle, but the following week against the Dolphins he suffered a wrist injury and it derailed the rest of his season. So much so, in fact, that former coach Sean McDermott and GM Brandon Beane both said publicly that they were disappointed with how he handled the return from the injury.
Last year he erupted for 95 fourth-quarter yards (112 in all) to help spearhead the stunning opening night comeback victory over the Ravens, but over the next eight games he had just 24 catches for 218 yards before another injury took him off the field and again, he never came close to matching that Week 1 performance.
Can Joe Brady finally unlock the version of Coleman the Bills envisioned?
Brady famously said at his introductory news conference that him becoming head coach would be the best thing for Coleman’s career. Well, the jury is still out on that, but Coleman is off to the best start of his NFL tenure with 14 catches for 217 yards and a TD, and he has done that despite an ankle injury that he suffered in Week 2 against the Lions which has limited his practice time.
“Keon was outstanding (Sunday),” Brady said. “Made the big play at the end of the half, but he made a lot of plays without making the play. You watch him in the run game, watch a lot of the motions and some of the tempo indicators that he was doing.
“It speaks to a guy that wasn’t able to get reps in practice. To be able to go out there, both him and D.J., to be able to handle what they can and we’re trying to figure out if they can play, it kind of speaks to who those guys are.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills need more of this version of Keon Coleman against Rams
