This past Sunday, the Bills suffered a devastating loss to the New England Patriots. Every divisional game is important, but this one seemed to have a lot riding on it for Week 4.
Buffalo could’ve moved to 4-0 on the season while burying New England at 1-3. Instead, the Patriots now hold the tiebreaker over the Bills and sit only one game back of the division.
As bad as this loss is for the Bills, they are still in the AFC East’s driver’s seat. It’s easy to be pessimistic when a game with these stakes doesn’t go the Bills’ way. However, there are still good things to look forward to.
Keon Coleman Answered the Call When D.J. Moore Went Down
One of the biggest headlines for the Bills during Week 4 was Keon Coleman’s resurgence. In a game where D.J. Moore left early due to injury, Coleman stepped up when the team needed him.
Between a D.J. Moore injury and Dalton Kincaid drawing heavy focus from the Patriots, someone needed to make plays. Time and time again, Coleman answered the call. He even caught a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to put the Bills in the lead.
On the day, he totaled six catches for 116 yards and a touchdown. Coming into the game, Coleman wouldn’t have been most people’s pick for leading receiver.
Things haven’t been easy for the former second-round pick, but he’s quietly had a decent year. Coleman has 16 catches for 217 yards and a touchdown. What he’s done in four games this season puts him on pace for over 900 yards.
There’s a lot of football left to be played, but if Keon Coleman can get anywhere near that amount of yards, the Bills might have another great weapon for Josh Allen.
If D.J. Moore misses any time with his shoulder injury, the team will have to lean on Coleman once again. What’s left to be answered is whether he can find the consistency the Bills’ offense needs.
The Defense Has Time to Figure It Out
Over the first four games of the season, the Bills’ defense is giving up 26.8 points per game. This isn’t a sustainable pace for a contender.
The good news is that the team has time. These kinds of growing pains were to be expected with a new defensive coordinator and scheme. While it doesn’t look good now, it’s better to revisit Jim Leonhard’s success later down the line.
What’s important to look at right now is the other aspects of the defense. Giving up points is the only thing that matters, but there are some promising developments.
The Bills currently have the NFL’s sack leader in Greg Rousseau and have forced five turnovers in four games. On top of this, they’ve also seen second-year defensive tackle Deone Walker break out and play at a Pro Bowl level.
It’s developments like this that the team can take away from the first quarter of the season. Sure, they’d like to give up fewer points, but they need a little more time to learn Jim Leonhard’s defense.
Blown coverages, penalties, and mental mistakes can be fixed with time. There’s no need to make drastic changes when these are the problems plaguing the Bills defense.
It’s not what most fans want to hear, but the best course of action is to ride things out. Give everyone a few more weeks to get adjusted to the new scheme. By the midseason mark, if it’s the same mistakes, then it’ll be time to have those difficult conversations.
It’s only October, and the team has plenty of games left to right the ship.
Allen’s Two-Week Slide Won’t Last
When reflecting on the Bills’ probability of winning the AFC East, Josh Allen has to be mentioned.
For the first two weeks of the season, Allen looked like the best player in the league, averaging 291 passing yards per game, nine total touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a 125.9 passer rating against Houston and Detroit.
Over the last two weeks against the Chargers and Patriots, however, those numbers cratered: 228.5 passing yards per game with four total touchdowns, three interceptions, and a 71.8 passer rating. His QBR dropped from 80.9 to 53.2. Even his rushing production vanished, going from 46 yards per game to 13.
No team in the league lives and dies by one player more than the Buffalo Bills. That’s what makes Allen a perennial MVP contender. Some people might argue against it, but he’s the definition of value.
The former MVP isn’t going to keep playing the way he has the last two weeks. There’s no better week for him to get back to form than against the Los Angeles Rams, whose defense has been underwhelming compared to pre-season expectations.
A great game from Allen and a Bills’ win makes a lot of what happened against the Los Angeles Chargers and Patriots forgettable.
A lot of people would like to forget what’s happened the last two weeks, Josh Allen included. For the team to win the AFC East, he needs to be at his best.
The level that Allen has played at recently isn’t going to reflect the rest of the season. This team will play good football again, and it will be because of their MVP quarterback.
The AFC East Is Still Buffalo’s to Lose
As expected, the AFC East is going to be a two-team race. While the Jets have shown some promise, and the Dolphins keep rebuilding, it was always Buffalo and New England.
A lot of people wrote the Patriots off after the first three weeks of the season. However, it’s a long season, and New England was always too talented to spiral out of control.
The thing that Buffalo has going for them is a much higher ceiling. From top to bottom, their roster is more talented, and they can still control their own destiny.
New England will make a run at the AFC East title again, but it’s still Buffalo’s to lose.
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