The Athletic: The Buffalo Bills thought they had it figured out, but Josh Allen still can’t do it all

1760693490344.png
Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills looks on prior to the game against the Atlanta Falcons. Todd Kirkland / Getty Images

Losing back-to-back games is no big deal. The Buffalo Bills do it every year. Since they started winning AFC East titles in 2020, they have lost exactly two in a row once each season. The Bills have always avoided a three-game skid and rallied to win the division.

Historically, consecutive losses shouldn’t make fans freak out. We’ve seen it before.

Then again — historically — the Brandon Beane/Sean McDermott/Josh Allen era still hasn’t produced a No. 1 playoff seed, homefield advantage in the AFC Championship Game or a Super Bowl appearance.

We’re over a third of the way through the 2025 regular season. The Bills are 4-2 and, although their victories are over opponents with a combined 3-21 record and they are behind the New England Patriots in the AFC East because of the head-to-head loss, the Bills remain betting favorites not only to reach the Super Bowl but also to take the Lombardi Trophy on a parade down Delaware Avenue.

But how confident can people be after watching the Bills lose to the Patriots and Atlanta Falcons in such putrid, sloptastic fashion twice in a row in prime time?

You can’t help but wonder if Allen’s prime is withering on the vine. It’s been a rabid fan base’s darkest fear since 13 Seconds ruptured four years ago. This is the final season of Allen’s 20s.

The Bills almost certainly will make the “Playoffs?!” But I will borrow a different word from another incredulous Jim Mora news conference to describe how they’ve performed lately in too many areas.

Their offense has done diddly-poo. After losing to the Patriots, Allen called it “sloppy” and “bad football” and “piss-poor.” Monday night, the Bills punted six times for only the eighth time since the 2019 postseason. They had three possessions to tie the score at 21 in the second half and gained 39 yards.

Complementary football has been diddly-poo. Buffalo has held a lead for a whopping 2:47 in the past two games, all of it against New England and never once had the ball while ahead.

Pass protection has been diddly-poo. Allen was sacked 14 times last year. He has already been taken down 12 times, eight over the past three games. Pro Football Reference has charted Allen with a career-low 2.0 seconds of pocket time and 15 scrambles (rushes on plays designed to be a pass), which would put him on pace for 71 this season. His career high was 57 scrambles in 2022.

Discipline has been diddly-poo. The Bills have committed 35 penalties, 30 of them accepted for 209 yards. They drew 15 flags against the Patriots and four in the first quarter alone versus the Falcons, including a Gregory Rousseau offside that erased a takeaway and a Tre’Davious White pass interference on a third-down incompletion to extend a touchdown drive. Opponents have accepted at least eight penalties in three straight games, something the Bills haven’t experienced in four years.

Turnover margin has been diddly-poo. The one trend everybody knew Buffalo couldn’t count on forever was its kooky 25 consecutive games without a negative turnover margin. Buffalo was a minus-4 combined against New England and Atlanta.

Their run defense has done diddly-poo. Despite amassing 26 tackles for losses on runs, fourth most in the NFL, they’ve allowed 5.8 yards per carry, with 3.9 yards after contact, both league worsts. Only the Tennessee Titans, who fired their head coach this week, have allowed more than the Bills’ nine rushing TDs.

Open-field tackling has been diddly-poo. At safety, Sports Info Solutions has Taylor Rapp down for seven missed or broken tackles and Cole Bishop for three, most comically on Bijan Robinson’s 81-yard touchdown run Monday night. Also, 34-year-old Jordan Poyer is on the field again.

We are a third of the way through the season. This isn’t September anymore.

USATSI_27319781-scaled.jpg

The Bills defense’s shortcomings were on display against the Falcons.Brett Davis / Imagn Images

Attacking any season as “Josh Allen and Pals” is a precarious proposition. He won the MVP despite inferior numbers to Lamar Jackson because voters were rightly enthralled by Allen as a one-man show. In a year when Buffalo’s offense was supposed to meander without Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis, and as emerging tight end Dalton Kincaid and top rookie Keon Coleman failed to develop, Allen — as I detailed in a season preview feature — is a monolith.

Beane was so cocksure Allen’s solo act would work again that the GM made only minor moves to improve the offense. Beane even seemed willing to let running back James Cook walk in 2026.

In a post-draft interview on the Bills’ flagship radio station WGR 550-AM, Beane lashed out at the hosts for criticizing his lack of attention to wide receiver throughout the offseason. The club thought Beane was righteous and entertaining enough to feature his rant — that the Bills even had to bleep — at the very beginning of their behind-the-scenes draft special. The Bills didn’t lead with material about the rookies they drafted; they wanted to ridicule.

Through six games, the receiver criticism looks legitimate. The highest draft picks haven’t made an impact, and receiver production has been negligible.

Almost a year ago to the day, with concerns over the wideouts and the Bills coming off back-to-back losses, Beane traded for Amari Cooper, and although the five-time Pro Bowl receiver didn’t light up the stat sheet, his presence was credited for opening up the offense.

To make a similar deal now, of course, would require Beane to admit he was wrong this offseason.

Coleman has been invisible at times and did something off-field to make McDermott bench him for the first series of the New England loss. Coleman fumbled away his first catch in that game, at Buffalo’s 10-yard line, gifting New England a free field goal in a three-point game.

The next day, McDermott acknowledged Coleman “has shown growth this year.” If that’s the case, then how truly immature was the player they drafted 33rd overall? McDermott last year benched Coleman for the first quarter of his third NFL game. Twenty-three games are too soon to declare anything, but Coleman already has a grimacing reputation to shake.

Veteran receivers Curtis Samuel and Elijah Moore have been healthy scratches already. Newcomer Joshua Palmer hasn’t clicked so far, and now he’s hurt.

So are Kincaid and eleventy-three others. McDermott, as was the case with Ken Dorsey and Brian Daboll before, has shown frustrations with offensive coordinator Joe Brady for being “too cute” and not using Cook enough — the same Cook who scored 18 touchdowns last year but Beane was reluctant to extend and who some daffy fans weren’t too worried about replacing with, say, Frank Gore Jr.

As much as fans are losing patience with Beane, his job is not on the line — not as long as Terry Pegula, who also owns the pitiful Buffalo Sabres, maintains peace of mind that at least one of his teams has competent leadership.

Beane, however, had better hope his incoming defensive reinforcements make a significant push to keep 2025 on the Super Bowl track. These are the priority investments he made instead of acquiring better weapons for Allen, and Buffalo’s overall roster depth is an increasing problem as injuries stack.

D-line infusions are so direly needed because Beane’s draft classes have not produced enough game-changers.

Two of Beane’s top free-agent signings, defensive end Michael Hoecht and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, are returning from six-game suspensions for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drugs policy. Defensive tackle Ed Oliver’s ankle injury improved enough to play in Atlanta, so that was good, but they lost defensive tackle DaQuan Jones to a “popped” calf muscle.

Buffalo’s secondary also needs assistance. First-round draft choice Maxwell Hairston might be back from his training camp knee injury soon. The blazing cornerback provides no guarantees, having not played an NFL down even in the preseason.

On the 15 balls thrown into White’s coverage, he has allowed 11 receptions (73.3 percent) for 114 yards and a touchdown, while also committing pass interference twice, defensive holding twice and missing four tackles. And he missed a game.

Christian Benford has surrendered an even higher passer rating, 18 of 28 attempts (64.3 percent) for 174 yards and four touchdowns with a pass interference, a defensive hold and an illegal contact.

Given all the repairs and retooling required, the bye comes at a good time. The Bills visit the Carolina Panthers in two weeks. But after that, they’ll host the Kansas City Chiefs, visit the Miami Dolphins and host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Other toughies are at the not-so-soft Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 13, the revenge trip to New England in Week 15 and the Philadelphia Eagles at Highmark Stadium in Week 17.

The Bills might not lose consecutive games again this year. They should win more games than they lose. The playoffs are nearly assured.

Buffalo probably will pull out of this funk, but what then? In their roles, Beane and McDermott own the highest regular-season winning percentages in club history by a lot — and there’s the rub.

The regular-season victories will keep coming and they will keep thinking they’ve got it all figured out.

Historically, that’s what this Buffalo Bills era has been good at.
 
Back
Top