Sean McDermott wanted to wait until he saw the film before weighing in on the topic.
Khalil Shakir, however, needed no such grace period before evaluating the performance of the Buffalo Bills’ wide receivers Sunday night during a 23-20 loss to the New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium.
“It’s on us. We’ve just got to be better in getting open, route running, all that,” Shakir said. “We’ve just got to be better.”
Time after time during the Bills’ first loss of the season, quarterback Josh Allen dropped back to pass, but had nowhere to go with the ball. Outside of tight end Dalton Kincaid, who had a career-best 108 receiving yards on six receptions, the Bills receivers simply didn’t look to be open often enough for Allen.
That truth was magnified by what happened on the other side, with Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs going off for 10 catches and 146 yards against his former team. Diggs’ production was a stinging reminder of what a true No. 1 receiver can do for an offense.
The Bills have functioned at a high level in the last year-plus without Diggs, but when the collective output from the receivers was what it was against the Patriots, it’s an easy target to point at.
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“There was times where we had some, there was times where we didn’t. I thought overall, we want to get more,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said Monday, after having time to review the game film. “It’s easier said than done, though. They’re playing good defense, you know, they did some things that they hadn’t shown, maybe on tape, as well, and affected some of the scheme part as well, so again, it’s never just one piece, it’s all 11 making one play go, and we didn’t do enough of that from the start, particularly in the first half.”
McDermott actually interrupted his film review of the wide receivers to deliver his 4 p.m. news conference, which showed the urgency he’s treating the issue with.
Dalton Kincaid was by far the Buffalo Bills’ best receiving threat Sunday night against the New England Patriots. Kincaid caught all six of his targets for a career-high 108 yards in the Bills’ 23-20 loss at Highmark Stadium. He did so despite playing just 37 of 68 offensive snaps, 54% of the team total.
“It starts with all of us looking at ourselves and saying, ‘How can I be better? What do I need to do to grow?’ There are one-on-one situations, as well,” he said. “It’s not always just one player or one position, so it really starts with that … making sure we’re disciplined in our approach, we’re detailed and understand where I line up and how that affects the overall outcome of the play.”
Offensive coordinator Joe Brady said that separation is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but perhaps in the wrong way. It’s true that what might be considered good separation on one route doesn’t necessarily apply to a different route.
“Sometimes it’s, ‘Hey, they’re running a deep crossing pattern, and it’s going to be really hard to get any separation in man coverage. You hope that you have, from a scheme standpoint, something else that complements it so that they can then play both routes,” Brady said. “We got a good amount of man coverage last night. We had some opportunities that we won on, some that we have to make better plays on the ball.”
Shakir finished with six catches for 45 yards on nine targets, while Keon Coleman had four catches on seven targets for just 23 yards and a touchdown. Josh Palmer got just two targets, which he caught for 36 yards, while Curtis Samuel had two catches for 26 yards and a touchdown. Tyrell Shavers was unable to catch his only target.
Give the Patriots some credit, too. Their cornerback tandem of Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis III is probably the best the Bills will face this season.
“We obviously have to continue to improve both scheme and at the top of our routes in cleaning that up,” Brady said. “Not something that I’m concerned about, but at the end of the day, we are what we put on tape, and last night wasn’t good enough. From separation to winning in man, running the ball, pass, everything wasn’t good enough.”
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Jay Skurski
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