Ryan O’Halloran: Bills Loss To Patriots Gave Us A Reality Check

With fewer than eight minutes remaining on Sunday, the Buffalo Bills trailed the New England Patriots by ten points, meaning that all was gone.

Ryan O’Halloran: Bills Loss To Patriots Gave Us A Reality Check

Finally, it seemed hopeless, as the Patriots prevailed 29–25 thanks to a 1-yard touchdown throw from quarterback Mac Jones to tight end Mike Gesicki with just 12 seconds left.

“Simply insufficient,” stated Bills head coach Sean McDermott. “We could have done more.”

The Bills didn’t, though. They were down to 4-3, while New England was up to 2-5.

The offensive line—quarterback Josh Allen, offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, and the receivers who could not generate enough plays—is where it all begins.

While the defence has suffered more injuries than the offence, there is no denying that the defence bears some of the blame. It was time for the offence to show its mettle against a New England defense that was without Christian Gonzalez, its top cornerback, and its three best pass rushers in Matthew Judon, Josh Uche, and Keion White.

It made sense that in order to provide pressure, the Pats would need to blitz. When they did, the Bills didn’t handle it well.

“We have to stop playing down to different people,” defensive tackle Jordan Phillips said in a hushed Bills locker room. “We have to do our thing and play Buffalo Bills football and we haven’t done that the last few weeks even though we won last week.”

Remember, this was meant to be the soft portion of the schedule, so the Bills have to react on Thursday night. After seeing Sunday’s game, show me the route to ten victories. The ordeal is about to begin.

Miami, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and the Chargers are the teams still playing on the road. Perhaps the Bills would have the upper hand over the Chargers.

Gabe Davis, who is six feet two, was running routes against a group of undersized cornerbacks and managed to make one grab for six yards out of five attempts. Apart from Diggs, the Bills wide receivers didn’t provide enough. We have been talking about the issue for the past three weeks.

It cannot be minimized. This will negatively impact the Bills’ playoff status, even if they manage to bounce back and qualify for the postseason. The schedule becomes tougher, making the Bills’ route to the AFC East championship appear much more difficult.

 

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