Lance Lysowski
News Sports Reporter
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After sealing a 31-21 win Thursday night with a 30-yard pass on the final drive, Josh Allen’s first question during his postgame news conference centered around one of the few mistakes the reigning MVP made against the Miami Dolphins.
Allen was sacked on third-and-8 with the Buffalo Bills leading at the Dolphins’ 14-yard line and 6:53 left in the second quarter. A chip-shot field goal turned into a 39-yard attempt that Matt Prater missed, and Miami drove 71 yards on 16 plays to tie the score.
“Just understand that I can’t take a sack there and move us backwards,” Allen lamented after he completed 22 of 28 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown. People expect perfection from the Bills. Winning five consecutive AFC East titles and reaching the conference championship game twice in five seasons creates expectations that are often unreachable, even for one of the sport’s most talented players.
Managing those expectations is among the challenges Bills coach Sean McDermott has faced since his ninth season began earlier this month. He was fielding questions about the Super Bowl before they even played a game. And, even though Buffalo is 3-0 for a second year in a row, most postgame questions directed to him were about the team’s mistakes and possible weaknesses.
Rightfully so. The days of celebrating playoff berths in Western New York are long past. Fans bubble with excitement and angst each week during the season because they want to believe this is finally the year the Bills will win it all. Some scrutinize every aspect of the team’s performance out of fear that a generational quarterback like Allen could be squandered because of third-down defense, game management or a flub on special teams.
On paper, these Bills are playing like a Super Bowl contender. With the win Thursday night, Buffalo became the first team in NFL history to score 100-plus points, turn the ball over zero times, commit fewer than 15 penalties and average 150-plus rushing with 250-plus passing yards while winning each of the first three games in a season. Yet they haven’t had a complete performance in any game, either.
An unprecedented comeback over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 showcased the resilience that’s been ingrained in the Bills’ culture through nail-biting wins and devastating losses since McDermott took over in 2017. They scored 16 unanswered points in that game because of Allen’s 251 fourth-quarter passing yards and a defense that forced a turnover when the team desperately needed one.
But Buffalo had to overcome two three-and-outs on offense in the first half, Derrick Henry’s 169 rushing yards and some poor kicking that cost Brad Robbins his job as the Bills punter.
“We’re obviously doing our job, going 1-0 each week,” said Allen. “Still a lot to learn from and a lot to grow. A lot of room for growth in this group, a lot of young guys. But guys are stepping up. There’s been some guys down with injuries, and guys are stepping up and making some big-time plays for us, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”
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In a 30-10 win over the Jets at MetLife Stadium in Week 2, the defense shut down New York’s rushing attack and the offense gained 403 yards, but the Bills settled for two first-half field goals and punted. The score should have been even more lopsided.
Then, on a short week without two key defensive players, Ed Oliver and Matt Milano, Buffalo forced consecutive three-and-outs in the first half Thursday night to give Allen a chance to make it a blowout.
In addition to Allen’s sack, the Bills punted on consecutive drives and their defense struggled to get off the field against a Miami offense that used short passes to sustain long drives.
After ranking 29th in the NFL in third-down defense last season and going 11 for 11 against the Jets, Buffalo allowed Baltimore and Miami to convert 16 of 27 opportunities. Opponents are also 5 for 5 on fourth down, including Tua Tagovailoa’s 15-yard completion to Jaylen Waddle on fourth-and-4 in the fourth quarter that led to Tyreek Hill’s game-tying touchdown reception.
The pass rush allowed Tagovailoa to escape the pocket, buying enough time for one of his talented receivers to get open downfield. Every winning team makes mistakes each week during the NFL season. No one is perfect. And though there’s an urgency to use their 10 days between games to correct the mishaps that made the score closer than it should have been, there was also a sense of pride in the locker room that the Bills have learned how to win these games when they don’t play their best. Unlike most teams, Buffalo doesn’t beat itself with boneheaded penalties or careless turnovers.
“It’s a confidence builder,” said Bills right guard O’Cyrus Torrence. “It shows that even if we don’t play our best ball, we can still find ways to win. We were able to go out there, take a punch in the mouth, hit them back and, eventually, we were able to pull away.”
Before the rest of the Week 3 slate was played, the Bills’ offense ranked second in yards per game (420), seventh in passing yards per game (257), fifth in yards per play (6.1), second in rushing yards per game (163) and second in points per game (34).
James Cook has looked like one of the best running backs in the NFL with 284 rushing yards on 54 carries, an average of 5.4 yards per attempt, and four touchdowns. Allen’s seven touchdowns are just two fewer than he had through three games to start 2024, and he’s completed 69.7% of his passes. Entering Thursday, Buffalo ranked second and fourth, respectively, in ESPN’s pass-block win rate and run-block win rate. Ten different players have caught a pass for a first down and four have a touchdown reception.
On defense, the Bills have missed at least one projected starter in each of the first three games. They allowed an average of just 215 yards in wins over the Jets and Dolphins.
The Bills needed rookie cornerback Dorian Strong, a sixth-round pick, to start Week 1 because Tre’Davious White and first-round pick Maxwell Hairston were injured. In Week 2, Buffalo relied on rookie defensive tackles T.J. Sanders and Deone Walker because Oliver went down in practice with an ankle injury. Taron Johnson, their nickel cornerback, didn’t play either, and Milano wasn’t available in the second half. Two of their offseason acquisitions, edge rusher Michael Hoecht and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, are halfway through their six-game suspensions.
The losses have contributed to Buffalo allowing 23.7 points per game − opponents averaged 16 points during the Bills’ 3-0 start to the 2024 season − but the pass rush has looked better with Joey Bosa instead of Von Miller. Terrel Bernard’s performance Thursday night may have been the best in his career. Safeties Cole Bishop and Taylor Rapp rebounded from their rocky showing in Week 1. The Bills knew they were going to be young on defense, especially while Hoecht and Ogunjobi are out, and inexperienced players are more prone to mistakes. But they shut down the past two running backs they faced, Breece Hall and De’Von Achane, after Henry had five rushes of 10-plus yards in Week 1.
Be patient, Bills fans. You have earned the right to demand and expect more each game day. You’ve also experienced enough heartbreak over the years to understand that every margin matters once the playoffs begin. There’s plenty for the Bills to fix over the next 14 regular-season games, but it became clear over the past three weeks that this team has the blend of talent, discipline and coaching to be one of the NFL’s few legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
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Lance Lysowski
News Sports Reporter
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