I’m not saying the Buffalo Bills are trash. Not yet.
But they played like trash Sunday against one of the NFL’s worst organizations and the Bills’ easiest opponent since Sean McDermott, Brandon Beane and Josh Allen arrived.
And if the Bills don’t find a forgotten box of playbooks or dudes stored in their attic, they might fail not only to extend their streak of AFC East championships but to reach the postseason at all.
One loss isn’t the end of the world, but getting pulverized by the Miami Freaking Dolphins 30-13 is blasphemous. The Dolphins are an awful organization worth ridicule.
Bills fans cannot mock the Dolphins now, not after suffering their worst margin of defeat to an opponent with a losing record since Josh Allen’s rookie year.
The Bills are 1.5 games behind the New England Patriots in the AFC East standings.
The Patriots entered Sunday with the NFL’s easiest upcoming schedule, and it just got easier. Patriots opponents had a combined .358 winning percentage, and then they defeated one of the best remaining teams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on the road. The Buccaneers visit Highmark Stadium next week, and they will be a chore for the Bills.
Injuries continue to mount. Tight end Dalton Kincaid, their best target, who dropped a perfectly thrown deep pass while not wearing gloves in a downpour for some reason, hurt his hamstring early in the third quarter. Rookie defensive end Landon Jackson departed with a knee injury on the first series, leaving Buffalo with only three healthy defensive ends the rest of the day and forcing lumped-up defensive tackle DaQuan Jones to shift.
But these Bills are not a healthy Landon Jackson away from winning the Super Bowl.
Asked about injuries in his postgame news conference, McDermott all but screamed that he needed roster help. The problem is, the trade deadline bell tolled Tuesday, and Beane was unable to acquire anybody — not a receiver, not a defensive lineman, not a safety.
“I said this when you were asking about the trades on Wednesday,” McDermott said. “You always want quality players. They help you, right? The more we get into the injuries and some of the guys that are going out, you go down the depth chart. I appreciate the way the guys have stood up and stepped in and taken advantage of the opportunities. But you’re knocking down, getting down on the list.”
McDermott continued, saying, “We will never use injuries as an excuse,” but there is a fine line between excuses and reasons. McDermott already suggested he doesn’t have enough “quality players.”
Asked whether he believes Buffalo possesses a Lombardi Trophy-caliber roster, McDermott replied, “I love these players. I love these players. I do. I love the guys in that locker room.”
McDermott didn’t say “Yes.”
NFL Network reported Sunday morning that the Bills offered a 2027 first-round draft choice to the Dolphins for receiver Jaylen Waddle, but the Dolphins insisted on next year’s first-round pick. Waddle caught five passes for 81 yards, highlighted by a gorgeous 38-yard touchdown on the first snap of the second quarter.
Allen was pedestrian. Tua Tagovailoa outplayed him.
Allen said he was “slotted” last Sunday while describing how his mechanics felt so precise against the Kansas City Chiefs. He completed a club record 88.5 percent of his passes. Even so, Allen’s biomechanics analyst, Chris Hess, came to Orchard Park during the week to work with him some more. When reporters were allowed into the fieldhouse Wednesday, I half-jokingly said, “Well, there goes the slot!”
In Miami Gardens, he was 28 of 40 for 306 yards and two touchdowns with one interception, but those numbers are misleading. Much of the yardage came in garbage time. A Fran Tarkenton third-and-16 scramble went for 21 yards to Curtis Samuel in the third quarter. Allen added a 25-yard strike to Khalil Shakir on fourth-and-16 with less than five minutes to go.
Allen threw an end-zone interception late in the third quarter and fumbled after a 15-yard scramble in the fourth quarter.
Injuries keep piling up for the Bills, including one to rookie DE Landon Jackson against the Dolphins. (Rich Storry / Getty Images)
Against the third-worst run defense, James Cook, the league leader in yards per game, carried 13 times for 53 yards and lost a fumble in the second quarter that was recovered at Miami’s 5-yard line. Buffalo rushed for 87 yards combined.
One time the Bills didn’t run came on a fake sneak on fourth-and-1 at Miami’s 49-yard line late in the first quarter. Allen threw 27 yards downfield to rookie blocking tight end Jackson Hawes, an assured incompletion.
Joe Brady’s offense went three-and-out on four of Buffalo’s six first-half possessions. You have to wonder if McDermott is ready to mix up the play calling. He has done so on both sides of the ball, temporarily taking it away from defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier years back and intervening with Bobby Babich this year.
McDermott fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey after a Week 10 loss to the lowly Denver Broncos.
Sunday was an atrocious Week 10 loss to a terrible organization.
Regardless of Sunday’s result, the Dolphins are a doormat. Players have wanted out for years because of their terrible culture. Bills-Dolphins-Bills-again safety Jordan Poyer did not enjoy his experience down yonder. Star receiver Tyreek Hill, who withdrew his remarks about wanting out of Miami at the end of last season, smiled from ear to ear as he was carted off the Hard Rock Stadium field last month with a gruesome season-ending injury. In June, decorated cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Pro Bowl tight end Jonnu Smith got their wishes with a trade to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Upon being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles five days ago, former Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips called it “Literally the greatest thing that’s happened to me in my whole life, probably. … I love the environment here. I love the vibe here.”
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross just fired general manager Chris Grier, but has kept coach Mike McDaniel and Tagovailoa and their ongoing leadership disconnect. About all the Dolphins have going for them when it comes to recruiting free agents is the weather and the fact so many NFL players are from the area and live there in the offseason.
Ross might as well go all out and dump toxic waste along Miami Beach and salt the South Florida high school football fields.
That’s the organization Buffalo lost to Sunday, the team that committed a penalty and burned a timeout before a second had ticked off the game clock and then threw an interception on the third play.
And there are a lot bigger challenges to come between Sunday and the tournament.
The Bills should’ve experienced their wakeup by now. They lost consecutive games in prime time to the Patriots and Atlanta Falcons before the bye, meaning the Bills went a full calendar month between victories. You’d think starving that long would permanently set them straight, keep them focused and hungry.
Then, just knowing their margin for error is thin when it comes to catching the Patriots and not needing to play on the road in the first round — all that should be enough to avoid another letdown.
Right now, knowing for sure the Bills merely will qualify for the first round probably feels like a comforting thought to their fans.
Source link
