ORCHARD PARK - Sometimes what you see on paper when you look at an NFL matchup - be it player vs. player, unit vs. unit, team vs team - doesn’t become a reality once the referee lowers his arm and the ball is kicked off.
You can try to break down the pros and cons of it all, and then the game starts and everything becomes meaningless for any number of reasons including injuries, lucky bounces, inclement weather, or simply the flow of the game.
But that doesn’t feel like it’s going to be the case when the Buffalo Bills defense takes the field against the Los Angeles Rams offense. What we see on paper, what we see on video, sure seems to indicate the Bills could be in for a long Monday night trying to stop Matthew Stafford and his superstar receivers,
Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
“Yeah, a couple gold jacket guys,” embattled Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston said, meaning potential future Hall of Famers. “Coming into this league, you want to play those guys. I think it would be a great time for me to go against those guys as I'm trying to get myself together, this defense get together. Another opportunity.”
Be careful what you ask for, young Max.
The Bills’ secondary is coming off a dreadful performance last week against New England. Despite his struggles that had dated back to last postseason and through the first three weeks of 2026, Patriots QB Drake Maye is clearly talented - he was the 2025 NFL MVP runner-up after all.
But with a receiving corps that did not have injured A.J. Brown all day and then lost active leading pass catcher Mack Hollins in the third quarter, Maye should not have picked apart Jim Leonhard’s defense to the level he did, yet that’s what happened.
With the Bills in dire straits without Christian Benford, and then losing Dee Alford and Te’Cory Couch during the game, Maye had a grand old time picking on Hairston and rookie Davison Igbinosun.
Can Bills corners slow down Puka Nacua and Davante Adams?
Now, the challenge increases massively against Nacua and Adams catching passes from the man who beat out Maye for the MVP last season, Stafford, in an offense that ranks second in the NFL in yards per game at 417.0 and passing yards per game (290.3)
Nacua missed two games with an injury yet he has 14 catches for 199 yards and since joining the Rams as a fifth-round pick in 2023, his 95.4 average yards per game receiving is the highest in NFL history, a full six yards ahead of runner-up Justin Jefferson of the Vikings and nine yards better than Lions’ Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson.
Adams, still outstanding at 33 years old, has played all four games and his 390 yards (on 22 receptions) rank fourth in the NFL, and his 13,023 career yards rank 24th in NFL history. With another 175 yards, Adams would jump into 21st place and surpass Andre Reed’s 13,198 yards.
Per Pro Football Focus, Buffalo’s young corners each allowed four completions on seven targets in their coverage area against New England - Igbinosun yielding 76 yards and a TD, Hairston 44 yards, two TDs, a critical end zone holding penalty, and then a clear lack of effort at the end when the Patriots earned the first down that essentially ended the game.
“I think there's a lot of reasons on why it's happening, but you do see some youth coming up that way,” defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said.
What coaches see in Maxwell Hairston despite recent struggles
Regarding Hairston, Leonhard said, “I think he's an emotional player, that the emotions are getting the best of him right now, and it's our job to help settle that down. He has a ton of pride in what he does, he cares, and it's our job to help get the emotions out of the way so he can be more calm in those situations, right? He has all the ability that he needs to be successful in this defense and in this league, and I think sometimes you get young guys that want it to happen so fast and they're pressing and they're pushing.”
After that performance against the Patriots, it would be tempting that if the Bills get Benford back - this is still unknown - to try Igbinosun as the starter, but that does not seem to be the direction they’re leaning.
“There’s a reason he stayed out there, because I believed there was an opportunity that he was going to go make a play,” coach Joe Brady said. Of course, what he didn’t say is there was no one left to replace Hairston, unless you truly believe undrafted rookie practice squad call-up Kani Walker was the answer. “He’s going to be out there (against the Rams) and he’s going to make a play. That’s the confidence that we have in him, and I need him to have that confidence in himself. I think he does.”
Hairston said he spent Sunday night reflecting on what happened, including his decision to blow off the media in the locker room, and he came to the team facility Monday and asked the PR department to allow him to apologize for his behavior. He then talked about his state of mind heading into the Rams game.
“I watched the game again a couple times and really watched the plays where I felt like I left plays out there on the field,” Hairston said. “Not feeling bad for myself, but knowing that I have to be better. I allowed it to kind of hurt and to use that as fuel to continue to go. This morning I woke up with a growth mindset, knowing it's Monday, it's time to move on and not put that on tape again. We have a very good opponent coming up out in LA and I'm excited to get to work.”
Igbinosun wasn’t quite as bad as Hairston, and he actually had good coverage against New England’s Efton Chism on the game-winning TD only to watch Chism make a spectacular one-handed catch. It happens, but Igbinosun was still irritated.
"It’s a humbling experience," the 2026 second-round pick said. "I’m a rookie. It’s my first career start. I’m going to take this and use it to fuel me and motivate me. It’s only Week 4. It’s a long season. I’m going to use this moment and keep it in the back of my mind, learn from it and grow."
Despite some poor results, Leonhard loves what he’s seeing from the rookie.
“He's a fighter. I mean, that's the biggest thing about him is he goes out there and he competes,” Leonhard said. “He's going to lay it all on the line and it's not going to be perfect, there's always things that he's gonna want back, but that's the biggest thing with him. He's physical, he's confident, he's willing to go challenge receivers. As a defensive coordinator, when you know that you got a corner on one side of the field that's going to do that, it just helps me call a game.”
Everyone knew the Bills’ defense, particularly its secondary - Benford and slot corner Dee Alford are also off to poor starts - was going to struggle learning a new scheme and that has clearly been the case.
“We just have to continue to grow as players and figure out what can I do better,” coach Joe Brady said. “A lot of times it’s just focusing on the detail and the technique and wondering how can I do my job right here and not worrying about anything outside, what’s being said about me and how I played. That’s the competitive stamina I kind of speak about.”
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: A struggling Bills secondary now faces one of NFL's best attacks
