Orchard Park, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott likes to talk about each NFL season being a journey. One that requires a team to make adjustments throughout to be able maximize its potential by the end of the season.
And so there was McDermott following Sunday’s 13-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles discussing the need for his players and coaches to build upon the lessons from Buffalo’s first defeat in more than a month.
The Bills, locked into a wildcard spot with one regular season game to play, remain very much a work in progress, with each game illustrating a team whose margins for error are thin and yet which remains capable of beating any team on any given day.
Sunday’s loss to the Eagles was a good example.
On one hand, the Bills suffered a one-point loss to the defending Super Bowl champions in a game that included a missed extra-point, a drive that stopped on the Eagles’ one-yard line and a missed two-point convert play that would’ve won the game had quarterback Josh Allen been able to hit an open Khalil Shakir.
The Bills’ defence, which surrendered 13 points to the Eagles during the first two quarters, didn’t allow anything after halftime and kept Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts from completing a single pass during the final 30 minutes.
For so long, this was a team that could count on scoring at least 25 to 30 points a game and then rely on its defence to do enough to make that stand and get a win.
Now, however, Bills games have become the opposite — a defence that has demonstrated a knack of rising to the occasion in critical situations, particularly after halftime, and an offence that has to fight, claw, and rely on the magic of its quarterback to score.
And on those occasions where Allen runs out of magic, the Bills are rarely good enough to find the win column.
Against the Eagles, Allen fumbled once, was sacked five times and came up just short of the goal line on a fourth-down carry. Then came the missed throw on the two-point attempt to win the game, a throw Allen usually completes easily.
It should be noted that Allen played this game on an injured foot, an ailment he sustained while trying to escape a sack against the Cleveland Browns a week ago.
And while he denied post-game that the injury limited him in any way, McDermott expressed concern and said the team had sent him for an X-ray after the game for the second week in a row.
Allen seemed as frustrated during and after this game as at any point in his career, which is not the form a team wants to see out of its quarterback two weeks from the playoffs. After sprinting from the field at the game’s conclusion, his post-game meeting with the media was unusually tense. He rarely made eye contact with the people asking the questions and gave terse answers that provided little insight into what he had just experienced on the field.
What Allen refused to admit is obvious to all — the Bills’ offence remains out of rhythm. And when the running game doesn’t gain traction early, the offence has few answers. Which is how the Bills ended up shut out during the first three quarters on Sunday.
Against a defence that has one of the NFL’s toughest fronts, Buffalo struggled to run between the tackles. And when Allen dropped back to throw, the result was usually either a quick pass to the sideline, a deep ball into a contested catch situation or a sack.
The lack of elite playmakers around Allen set the tone for the offence — again.
The player the Bills selected with their first pick of the 2024 draft, receiver Keon Coleman, was a healthy scratch for this game. And the only real bright spot came from Brandin Cooks, with four catches for 102 yards from a player signed just weeks ago after he was released by New Orleans.
The most skilled-pass catcher they have, tight end Dalton Kincaid, sat this one out with a knee injury.
With one game remaining on the schedule against the hapless New York Jets, it’s clear the Bills are going to need to be better in the playoffs than they’ve been this regular season if this is to be the year they finally reach a Super Bowl.
But as McDermott stressed after this game, there is work to be done.
And time is running out.