Lance Lysowski
News Sports Reporter
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You have to admire Tre’Davious White’s determination and resilience.
In the fourth quarter, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye rolled to his right and threw a perfect 30-yard pass to Stefon Diggs, which set up Rhamdondre Stevenson’s 7-yard touchdown run that gave the Patriots a 20-10 lead. The out-of-structure plays Maye made were examples of why he’s drawn comparisons to Josh Allen.
The 30-year-old cornerback has played 17 NFL games since he tore an ACL and Achilles tendon in consecutive seasons. He badly wants to be the elite player that he was before his devastating injuries, and he’s willing to work toward the standard that he set during his first stint with the Buffalo Bills.
Teammates marveled at White running sprints up a hill at St. John Fisher University following training camp practices in the sweltering summer heat. He’s a role model and mentor, embodying the qualities the Bills have sought in players since Sean McDermott handpicked White out of LSU in the first round of the coach’s first draft in 2017.
On the field, however, White has endured a rocky start to his second run in Buffalo.
The Bills weren’t expecting an elite player when they signed him to a one-year contract in April. He lost a starting job with the Los Angeles Rams last season and finished with the Baltimore Ravens. But they need more than what he’s shown in four games. According to Pro Football Focus, White allowed four catches for 72 yards − 18 yards per reception − in the team’s 23-20 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday night. His pass interference penalty on third down gave the Patriots the ball at the 1-yard line with a chance to take a 7-point lead four seconds before halftime.
Christian Benford didn’t play well in the second half, either. The Bills’ No. 1 cornerback was out of position on Kayshon Boutte’s 19-yard reception in the third quarter and lost track of Stefon Diggs on the first play of the final drive. If this team is going to win a Super Bowl, then Benford needs to start making more plays on the ball. Though there’s enough recent evidence to suggest that he will, the depth chart behind him must be a concern for McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane.
Through five games, the Bills have just two pass breakups. Pro Football Focus’ grading system, albeit flawed, has Buffalo with the eighth-worst coverage grade in the NFL.
Here are Jay Skurski’s grades for the Buffalo Bills in their 23-20 loss to the New England Patriots.
“Well, the game is making plays and making plays on the ball,” McDermott said. “And that’s kind of the obvious part. And you want to be able to challenge. And in order to do that, you’ve got to be in great position and have your eyes in the right spot and play with great technique and then when you’re one-on-ones. That’s an important part of playing good defensive football.”
The current depth chart behind Benford wasn’t the one Beane sketched out following the draft.
If first-round pick Maxwell Hairston didn’t win a starting job during training camp, then the team envisioned that he’d eventually be the guy to line up opposite Benford.
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The plan was foiled in late July when Hairston sprained his LCL, ending his competition with White and raising questions at a position that was a glaring problem for the Bills during their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game. Hairston is on injured reserve, and Buffalo has yet to open the playmaker’s practice window. Two weeks ago, McDermott went out of his way to temper expectations for Hairston because of how much time he has missed.
Dorian Strong, a sixth-round pick, allowed one reception in 23 coverage snaps against the Ravens. He may have taken White’s job if it weren’t for a neck injury that landed Strong on injured reserve Saturday and forced him to see a specialist this week. Strong replaced White for 15 snaps in the Bills’ 31-19 win over the New Orleans Saints in Week 4. McDermott insisted that White’s performance had nothing to do with the decision, but it couldn’t have been a coincidence that the change was made after White committed two defensive holding penalties in the first quarter.
The pass rush can help the corners by finishing more often. Drake Maye looked like Josh Allen at times Sunday night, eluding defensive linemen to find open receivers downfield. The Bills’ 13 sacks are ninth in the NFL, though, and their pressure rate, according to Next Gen Stats, is 12th. Those aren’t bad numbers for a team that’s missing two potentially important rotational players, Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi, as well as starting defensive tackle Ed Oliver.
The safeties also play a role in some of the passes this team is allowing. Consistency is still missing from Cole Bishop and Taylor Rapp. But the corners need to make more plays, especially once teams start to pass more against the Bills. They’re second in the league in passing yards allowed per game, but they’ve also faced the third-fewest pass attempts because opponents learned in Week 1 that Buffalo’s run defense can be vulnerable.
White has allowed 12 catches on 15 targets for 119 yards, 9.9 yards per reception, and one touchdown. He doesn’t have the speed to keep up with the league’s best. The Miami Dolphins noticed this early in Week 3 and chose to use more crossing routes in the second half to force White to cover in space.
The Bills prioritized speed in the secondary this offseason, which is why Hairston became their selection with the 30th pick. He ran a 4.28-second 40-yard dash and intercepted five passes while facing some of the SEC’s best receivers as a sophomore at Kentucky. What does Buffalo do if Hairston can’t contribute this season and White’s play doesn’t improve? The Bills can’t turn to Ja’Marcus Ingram or count on a practice-squad player like Dane Jackson. The Bills have little cap space to acquire someone before the trade deadline.
The cornerbacks on this team aren’t winning enough one-on-one matchups in a league that demands it.
“I don’t think they’d sit up here and say it was where it needed to be or where they wanted it to be,” defensive coordinator Bobby Babich said Monday of White and Benford. “There’s a certain standard that they hold themselves to and that we obviously hold them to. But like I say, if we have to hold you to a standard as coaches, as an organization, then you’re not going to make it. And certainly, there’s plays they want back. Certainly they’re not satisfied with their performance and I know they’ll be champing at the bit to get back to it.”
Stefon Diggs spent four years with the Buffalo Bills, and on Sunday night, he made his return to Highmark Stadium for the first time since he was traded to the Houston Texans in 2024. Diggs put up a dominant performance. He had 10 catches on 12 targets for 146 receiving yards.
Diggs looked like he was in top form Sunday night. The Bills miss having someone like him on offense. But some of those big plays that he made were preventable, like his 32-yard reception in the third quarter that helped New England take a 13-10 lead. Diggs ran an out route toward the right sideline against White as Maye rolled to his right. When Diggs saw Maye under pressure, he created 5 yards of separation with one cut toward the end zone and caught the deep pass while Rapp tried to break it up.
It was a tough play to defend because of the incredible throw, but it’s one you need to be able to handle in the NFL. The Bills (4-1) will face another challenging matchup this week with the Atlanta Falcons’ Drake London, followed by Carolina Panthers rookie Tetairoa McMillan in Week 8 and Chiefs No. 1 Rashee Rice in Week 9. The rest of the schedule includes rookie sensation Emeka Egbuka (Buccaneers), Nico Collins (Texans), DK Metcalf (Steelers) and Ja’Marr Chase (Bengals).
The Bills’ offense saw in Week 5 how a pair of shutdown corners can make the job difficult for an elite quarterback like Allen. They drafted Kaiir Elam in the first round three years ago to be that guy, but he flamed out here and he’s been one of the worst in the league for the Dallas Cowboys this season.
It would be a remarkable story if White turns this around and helps the team that drafted him finally win a championship. But how much longer can Beane and McDermott wait for White to reach that level that’s he’s been working toward since the devastating injuries?
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Lance Lysowski
News Sports Reporter
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