The Buffalo Bills kept fans on the edge of their seat for almost three hours, thinking they might be able to pull it off. But in the end, the lack of talent on offense was way too much for the Bills to overcome in their most recent loss(es).
Here are our five observations:
The defense is awesome
We’ve got to lead with this. Despite the offensive ineptitude, Buffalo’s defense came to play. Lorenzo Alexander had two sacks and a forced fumble, Tremaine Edmunds played pretty well until he was knocked from the game with a concussion, and the rest of the defense held the Tom Brady-led Patriots to field goals for most of the game. A late rushing touchdown and a pick-six skewed the final score, but Buffalo’s defense was legit this week. Really, the Patriots only had one long drive on Monday.
The offense sucks
I’m not here to blame offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. He had Derek Anderson starting two weeks after he signed. The Bills don’t have the horses to play great offense. From the sub-par offensive line to the receiver group that seems to have nothing beyond a suddenly-hot Zay Jones, Buffalo needs to invest in this side of the ball and soon. There is just no separation in the passing routes.
Special teams continues to be scary
Punter Corey Bojorquez dropped a snap on a punt that ended up going less than thirty yards. Bojorquez also had two touchbacks on punts from near midfield that could have (should have?) been downed inside the ten. Marcus Murhpy was able to avoid a costly kickoff return fumble when he was ruled down. There was also the weekly Bills special teams penalty.
No one upped their trade value
Heading into Tuesday’s trade deadline, none of the Bills players presumed to be on the trade block upped their value. Kelvin Benjamin and LeSean McCoy were mostly pedestrian outside one big catch from Benjamin. Shaq Lawson and Charles Clay, too.
What is going to happen next week?
Late in the fourth quarter, Derek Anderson was sacked on consecutive plays and left the game. Nathan Peterman was the only healthy QB to finish the game. Josh Allen is probably not going to be healthy enough to return. Depending on Anderson’s status, Buffalo could be in big trouble. Would they roll with Logan Thomas as the backup QB? Sign someone? Side note: Up by 19 points with a minute left, they are still blitzing?