The Bills have played two good teams this year and they have now failed both tests. Buffalo is a team with a good defense and a below average offense. If the D does not have a good day, you can pretty much bet that Josh Allen and Co will not be the ones to save the day (unless they are facing bottom dwellers). The Eagles were a desperate team and manhandled Buffalo through the run all day long. There was a lot of blame to go around but yesterday, my finger is pointing straight at Brian Daboll. Josh Allen will have plenty of moments to run in a game (when forced out of the pocket), so why does Daboll insist on putting this guy at risk even more? Allen is absolutely brutal when it comes to protecting the ball, so when the game was fumbled away at the end of the first half, Buffalo was never able to recover. That was an awful play-call, and they paid dearly for it.
I am normally one that wants Allen to take control of the game and throw more, but with the conditions yesterday, Singletary should have been much more involved with the game plan. What ever happened to all the short passes that chip away at first downs? The answer, opponents have figured out the short game and just dare Allen to throw deep. Clearly, that is not the strong-suite of our QB who can throw it a mile, but never within the vicinity of the guy catching it. Daboll really isn’t doing Allen any favors and should be simplifying the game for him. An awful Redskins team is coming to town next week which should get the Bills to 6-2, and with Cleveland, Denver, and Miami to follow, you would think the Bills could get to an 8-3 record.
The hope is that by the time January rolls around, the offense will find a groove, but until that happens, this team is probably going down to the wire with every W they earn. The Bills were clearly not as good as the 5-1 record indicated, but the way the AFC is shaping up, a mediocre team will most likely be grabbing a Wild Card spot this year. Beat up the garbage opponents and maybe the Bills can be that team……not exactly the loftiest of goals.