ORCHARD PARK – Clearly, a win in Week 6, even if it was against an AFC East rival where the winner would leave the field in first place in the division, was not a must-win situation for the team. Buffalo Bills.
Still, their 23-20 loss to the New York Jets on Monday night was nothing to deny and was significant in several ways.
Above all, it prevented what would have been a disastrous 0-3 road trip that included losses to two AFC Super Bowl contenders, the Ravens and Texans, an 0-3 trip that would have essentially offset the promising 3 – 0 start.
But perhaps more importantly, the Bills showed the type of determination and resilience that has marked their current division dominance over the previous four years. Sure, there have been a few disappointments during that span, notably in the playoffs, but for the most part, when the Bills have needed to win a big game, they’ve done so since 2020.
This was one of those games. Winning this game against an opponent that has given them problems in the recent past, and an opponent that certainly had a lot to play for considering they were under a new head coach as Jeff Ulbrich replaced him. the fired Robert Saleh.
The Game 1 coaching change, as we like to call it, didn’t work out for the Jets, as the Bills – despite playing pretty sloppy in every phase – found a way to make it happen, which is a good sign for the future.
“I thought it was a tough win,” coach Sean McDermott said, acknowledging that “we have a lot to clean up.”
When the NFL schedule was released in May, most Bills fans would have signed up for a 4-2 start, because outside of the home opener against Arizona, it looked like the next five — including four on the road, four in prime time –. were going to be difficult tests. Yes, the Dolphins’ loss to Tua Tagovailoa helped the Bills win there, and the Jaguars, a team many thought would be a playoff contender, turned out to be a disaster, which helped the Bills get going 3-0.
The next three, however, proved to be just as tough as we thought and although the Bills only won one, it was the most important of the three as it came against the division rival Jets.
“Our No. 1 goal is to make the playoffs, and you do that by winning in your division,” Josh Allen said. “So we understand the seriousness of this type of game, being 4-2 with a 2 ½ game lead with the head-to-head win, instead of being 3-3 and being in second place. A big match for us in terms of position.
There are no easy games in the NFL, no matter what the records say, but the Bills certainly have a nicer month ahead of them, starting with Sunday when they host the struggling 1-4 Tennessee Titans , a team the Bills can obviously make. Can’t discount, but definitely a team they should handle at Highmark Stadium.
Here are three questions I ask myself before the game:
1. Can the Bills defense stop giving up big plays?
In 17 games last year, the Bills allowed 55 running plays of 10 yards or more, which ranked 10th in the league, and they finished 28th in yards allowed per carry at 4.6. Obviously, those numbers weren’t great, but they’ve gotten worse in 2024. Through six games, they’ve already been yanked for 26 runs of at least 10 yards, which ranks second in the NFL, and their 5.3 yield per Rush is last.
On Monday night, New York’s Breece Hall had three runs of 10-plus yards, including one of 42 yards, and the Jets also had 12 passing plays of 10-plus yards. Over the past three weeks, McDermott’s defense has allowed a pretty astonishing total of 47 running and passing plays that gained 10 yards or more, which is simply not a recipe for continued success.
“In order to execute a piece, it’s important that everyone is on the same page about what this piece is designed to do and why we’re doing it and how we should do it so that there’s true connection of a player playing next to another player playing next to another player,” McDermott said.
This was a long and convoluted way of saying that on the majority of plays in an NFL game, even if just one or maybe two players fail to complete their assignment correctly, big plays can happen and over the course of Last three weeks this happened. been far too banal for the bills.
Maybe on Sunday against Tennessee, the Bills can get things under control. They face a struggling Titans offense with disappointing and seemingly overmatched QB Will Levis killing his team with mistakes. The Titans rank 31st in the NFL in passing yards per game with 135.0 and Levis has thrown a league-high seven interceptions. And on the ground, Tennessee ranks 17th at 4.4 yards per carry, with Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears doing most of the running, and they have just 16 runs of 10 yards or more.
2. Does Josh Allen now have what he needs to succeed?
Acquiring wide receiver Amari Cooper is a move Brandon Beane knew he had to make, and so he did. It cost him a 2025 third-round pick, and I’m sure his superstar quarterback said something like, “Yeah, I don’t care.” » Allen shouldn’t do it either.
While Allen will never throw his guys under the bus like Aaron Rodgers did Monday night, deep down you know Allen recognized there wasn’t enough talent in the wide receiver room and that all he, Beane, McDermott and everyone else needed as proof was the first six games of the season.
After his nightmarish 9-for-30 collapse in the loss to Houston, Allen was much more effective against a Jets defense that often frustrated him. He completed 19 of 25 for 215 yards and two touchdowns, and he still hasn’t thrown an interception on 156 attempts to start the season, which, for Allen, is quite a thing.
Still, the problems with his receivers unable to consistently get open were widespread, and what was concerning Monday was that the Jets didn’t have excellent nickel corner Michael Carter, then during the game they lost the Veteran safety Chuck Clark and DJ Reed. who, according to Pro Football Focus, is the No. 1 outside cornerback in the NFL. And yet, even in the victory, the receivers weren’t very productive as they totaled nine catches on 12 targets for 97 yards and it was a bit of a tall order in the second half as the Bills only managed three points on four possessions before kneeling in front of the clock.
With the addition of Cooper, a player who spent nearly 10 years in the NFL winning on his routes, Allen has a No. 1-type target who should take some pressure off players like Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman and Curtis Samuel.
“Well, those qualities are important. I think having the opportunity to get separation just adds to our offensive flavor,” McDermott said. “We did some good things. I think that will be an added bonus for us as we move forward here.
Based on what happened at Meadowlands, he absolutely should, but not for the reason you think.
Look, let’s not forget that Cook is a terrific fullback. Heading into Week 6, he was 15th in the NFL in rushing yards (302) and yards gained from scrimmage (432). He played a significant role in Buffalo’s first three wins, on the heels of a stellar 2023 season, he finished sixth in the league (third among running backs) in yards from scrimmage.
But if you remember, in 2023, when the Bills leaned heavily on the running game after Joe Brady became the offensive coordinator, Cook had a huge game against the Cowboys (179 yards), but in the other eight games counting the playoffs with Brady calling the plays, his highest rushing output was 79 yards against the Steelers in the wild-card round.
He touched the ball 325 times and I think he burned out at the end of the year, so in order to preserve him, now that fourth-round rookie Davis has proven he can be an effective player, it should certainly occur more frequently. when Cook returns, perhaps as early as Sunday.
Davis carried 20 times for 97 yards and caught three passes for 55 yards, for a total of 152 yards. Cook’s best game this year was 103 total yards against the Cardinals.
The 190-pound Cook is a slasher, a guy who can slip through creases to gain most of his mileage; The 220-pound Davis runs with anger and strength, which is exactly what the Bills saw when they scouted him in college, leading them to pick him. On draft night, Brandon Beane said that Davis could be a good complement to Cook because of their varied styles, and that going forward, the Bills should incorporate a shared workload into the game plan.
Sal Maiorana covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades, including 35 years as a full-time writer for D&C, and he wrote numerous books on the team’s history. He can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. Subscribe to his Bills newsletter at https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast.
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This article originally appeared on the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills vs. Titans Questions: Will Ray Davis Cut James Cook’s Time?
