There are those who will preach the benefit of a good humbling. In the right setting, it can be a magical pivot point to rally around. Regarding the awful performance by the Buffalo Bills in Week 5, the hope is that they’ve been properly humbled and ready to put the poor play behind them.
As a fan of the Bills, you have plenty of reasons to be upset at the team’s performance. I said in the second-half open thread that we’d just witness some of the worst football played in ages — perhaps dating back
to that Browns punt game the team then decided to use a still from as marketing materials for season tickets.
What follows is critical, so before that I want to acknowledge the game Dalton Kincaid played. His first 100-yard receiving game, and he was clutch every time Allen needed a play. That’s a good sign for the future, and all outside observers have been asking for the last two seasons. To their credit, the offense also put together a great opening drive of the second half. They looked like a completely different team than the one that ran into the tunnel. But there are concerns that should no longer go excused.
Grizzled veterans of Bills Mafia understand that the better team doesn’t always win. But can one clearly state that Buffalo was the better team tonight? Quarterback, without a doubt. Tonight wasn’t Josh Allen’s best game, but that wasn’t all his fault. Allen did throw an awful interception that took away at least three points in the second half, and led to a Patriots touchdown on the ensuring drive. We can’t know for sure how things play out if that play never happens, but we know that three points would have helped.
When the offense struggles as it did Sunday night, Allen must play his best football. He often does, but it’s rare that he’s playing against his former BFF in Stefon Diggs. It seemed pretty clear to me that Diggs was in Buffalo’s collective head for his return to Highmark Stadium. Diggs, had an incredible game, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary.
It’s evident just how much this game meant to Diggs, who went off for 10 catches (12 targets) for 146 yards. In his postgame, he claimed it was personal — this, after all the evidence pointed to Diggs forcing the Bills hand to trade him away from One Bills Drive. His comments make for good postgame reporting, but it’s time for Allen and company to move past Diggs. Until they do so, this will cloud every game plan involving him.
The plan moving forward can’t be to show everyone they don’t need Stefon Diggs. Doing that proved just how much they do still need him.
Whether due to New England’s doing or offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s game plan, the Bills did not field a dominant run game most of the night. There will be those who pull out stats and say it’s unfair to claim this or that about tonight’s effort, but stats hardly ever tell the entire story. Cook carried 15 times, but for just 49 yards. He was a non-factor in the passing game, a curious development that even NBC analyst Chris Collinsworth called out early in the first half.
The defense was once again pretty ineffective through the middle half of the game, yet able to make plays in the hyped-up opening drives and then again making a key stop to give Allen and the offense the ball back late — a chance to take the lead. As he’s done so often, Allen put on his cape and rose above the surrounding struggle, at least until they got into real scoring position. Well, at least until that poor play surrounding Allen and including the officials proved too difficult to overcome.
A long pass to Keon Coleman that was caught (incomplete) beyond the end zone instead of taking sure yards underneath to move the chains. Then, a truly egregious miss by that crew of Shawn Hoculi’s. After spending an entire game calling close to two dozen flags, none was thrown on a third-down incomplete pass to Khalil Shakir where cornerback Christian Gonzales sure appeared to make early contact. No replay was shown before going to commercial, and nothing was mentioned about the play the rest of the game.
Before continuing, I’m not suggesting the Bills lost because of officiating. I’m not adverse to calling officials out, but they didn’t decide tonight’s game. Buffalo decided to play awful football too long and much too often to overcome any adversity otherwise.
Carrying on… a look here, below, if you’re anxious for another:
Par for the course with an officiating crew that found excuse to call 19 combined penalties, nervous to play too big of a role late in action.
Then later, just before the two-minute warning bell rung, Maye again escaped right, chased by defensive tackle DaQuan Jones. What appeared to be a sack by Jones was instead a crazy completion to Diggs. Yet it sure looked as though Maye’s leg was on the turf, specifically his shin, before throwing the ball. With that play coming just as the clock hit 2:00, there was never an option for head coach Sean McDermott to throw a challenge flag.
Still, it’s curious that the league office didn’t initiate a review during commercial, and upon returning from the break, NBC only showed the play from above Maye’s legs. I don’t envy Skarekrow’s work covering penalties/non-calls this week.
All told, this was beyond frustrating to watch. It was also very familiar, as the Bills seem to lack the requisite killer instinct superior teams need to use. It took a football miracle for Buffalo to win in Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens. They slept through the first half against the New York Jets in Week 2, then allowed the Miami Dolphins an opportunity to steal a win late into the fourth quarter in Week 3. Then, there was the Week 4 effort against the New Orleans Saints, where they, too, had a real chance to get one in the W column before ultimately losing to the Bills.
Four wins against four teams that had yet to win a game. Then here, in Week 5, an opponent that had tasted victory and probably found opportunity in preparing for the game. Buffalo wasn’t going undefeated en route to laying waste to all in the playoffs. That’s unrealistic in the parity-driven world of NFL football.
If the Bills don’t get their act together, this promising start will have been for nothing. There are too many question marks on defense, too many key injuries and unknown return schedules for players the Buffalo chose to count on heavily in 2025.
To be clear, the season isn’t over, and they didn’t lose their grip of first place in the AFC East. The Patriots are hungry, and that should motivate a team in Buffalo that clearly needs a kick in the right direction. Did this loss wake them up? Fingers crossed that’s the case.
