The bye week is a great time for a football team to lick their wounds, heal up, regroup and assess their team for the rest of the season. The Buffalo Bills entered the bye week with a 4-1 record.
At face value, that 4-1 record makes the Bills look poised for a playoff run. But is their roster outplaying their own potential? A look into several positional groups may reveal more than their record does, especially after a 31-21 victory to move to 5-1 on the season against Miami on Sunday Oct. 20.
The Bills owe much of their success to their league-leading defense. There is no individual player that stands out as the star player on the defense, but the entire defensive squad plays as one cohesive unit.
Sure, young players like cornerback Tre’davious White and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds are complemented by the veteran play of Lorenzo Alexander, Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, but each one of those players would admit they put the team ahead of any of their individual stats.
This unselfish unit has played so well as to be second in the league in yards allowed and first in the league in average plays per drive at 5.3. This average means the defense is forcing the opposing offense into many punting situations, keeping the Bills’ offense on the field more often.
If there are any negatives to pin on the defense it’s that they have yet to score a defensive touchdown, which would really assist a below-average offense and help to win games. However, it is hard to complain about a top defense, especially with a 5-1 record.
In addition, second-year quarterback Josh Allen has shown glimpses of greatness and other stretches of pure ineptness. His stats boil down to the discrepancy between his play in the first three quarters and the final quarter in the game. In the fourth quarter of games this season, he has a 68.8 percent completion percentage, four passing touchdowns, a 139.6 quarterback rating and zero interceptions. In the first three quarters, however, he has a 60.7 percent completion percentage, three touchdowns, a 63 QBR and only three passing touchdowns.
Allen must put together a full, dominant four-quarter performance before he can be crowned the Bills’ franchise quarterback. At times it seems Allen is trying to do too much to win that franchise QB title. In the team’s Week 4 loss against New England, Allen threw three interceptions and took too many avoidable sacks. In his last two games, however, he has limited interceptions and thrown the ball away to avoid taking sacks, which shows he is willing to adapt.
Allen, whose strong arm was one of his biggest positives in college, has yet to complete a pass that travels more than 30 yards in the air; the passer is 0-10 on such throws. He needs to complete more if the Bills want to make a run at the playoffs.
Also, the Bills have seen a significant improvement in their wide receiver play this season. Newly signed free agent John Brown has 473 yards in six games, which puts him at a pace for 1,261 yards over a full season. If he keeps that pace up, he will become the first 1,000-yard Bills receiver since Sammy Watkins in 2015 and Brown’s projected total would be the most yards by a Bills receiver since Lee Evans in 2003.
Brown and Cole Beasley are veteran receivers that have helped in Allen’s development and Duke Williams, formerly of the Canadian Football League, has made a surprise impact as well.
Finally, the Bills’ offensive line was ranked 18th in the preseason but have impressed so far. They are giving Allen good protection and rank first in run blocking. Rookie Cody Ford has flip-flopped between guard and tackle but would be best suited to get a full season of work at guard. Additionally, their new center Mitch Morse needs to stay healthy for the offensive line to maintain their stellar play.