The Buffalo Bills are coming off a 14-10 home loss to their AFC East Rival, the New England Patriots. It was a very windy night in Orchard Park, adding in some snow flurries, and it was a typical Western New York weather. The Patriots came in with the NFL’s top defense, and that is also a reasonable argument for the Bills lack of execution on offense, but the offensive struggles began way before Monday Night’s game. The Bills offensive struggles started in the home win against the Miami Dolphins when they got off a slow start but did win the game 26-11. Of course, the next week we all know what happened in the 9-6 loss in Jacksonville. Personally, I think that’s when things started going downhill.
In Monday Night’s loss, the Bills did have 230 yards of total offense, and Josh Allen was 15/30 for 145 yards. Fortunately, he did not throw an interception. Allen also led the Bills in rushing, and that was only for 39 yards. Running back Devin Singletary was second in rushing, finishing with 36 yards and no touchdowns. Stefon Diggs led the Bills in receiving for 51 yards and Gabriel Davis would score the Bills only touchdown of the night and had the second-most receiving yards.
What stopped the Bills from scoring against New England’s stout defense? I would say self-inflicting erros slowed them down once again. Dawson Knox dropped two passes and a beautiful pass from Josh Allen to Stefon Diggs that should have been caught for a touchdown hit Diggs in his wrist. Buffalo also had numerous trips to the red zone but only scored one touchdown. I don’t think you will beat the Patriots by settling for field goals every time you visit the red zone and not taking more shots.
What is wrong with Buffalo’s offense? It all starts with the offensive line. There have times when they are mediocre at best, and there are times when they are just terrible. This season Josh Allen has had great games, and he has had a handful of bad games this season. The games when he is not at his best is also the games where protection isn’t the greatest up front. Josh Allen is a great quarterback, and he has a great group of receivers to get the ball to, but Monday night was it a case of the Patriots defense being outstanding, or did he just have a really bad game? You could also blame the weather for the Patriots loss. After all, they are the Buffalo Bills and should be able to handle the Western New York weather.
This week the Bills are headed south to take on the Tom Brady-led defending world champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You wanna talk about a weather change? The Bills will go from wind warnings to 79 degrees and a 30 percent chance of rain.
The Buccaneers have been beaten up on defense with injuries all season, and this could be a game where the Bills offense can get back on track, so Josh Allen needs to take advantage of that. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll can open up the offense and his play calling. The Bills defense is very familiar with Tom Brady, and this should be a great matchup with how good the Bills defense has been against Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
Sunday should be a great game in Tampa, but the Bills have never won in Raymond James Stadium. The last time they have ever won in Tampa was in 1991 by a score of 17-10 at Tampa Stadium. The last time the Bills beat the Bucs was back in 2017 in Orchard Park during the Jameis Winston era. I hope the Bills get their first-ever win at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, but they will have to play a great game against Tom Brady.
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