While the Bills are 7-3, and probably should be 8-2, that doesn’t mean the team hasn’t had their share of struggles in 2020. What could Buffalo’s “kryptonite” or biggest weakness be this season?
Bleacher Report recently tried to undertake this task. It’s pretty hard to do because even when things are bad for the Bills this year, such as their defense, they’ve had some bright spots, too. How about all those recent turnovers?
So in terms of an overall sense, B/R pegged Buffalo’s “kryptonite” this year as a simple one, but something that needs context: Consistency.
Here’s why B/R thinks that could be the thing the foils the Bills:
The Buffalo Bills are undoubtedly in contention at 7-3, but they’re all over the map.
The Josh Allen-led offense was unstoppable during the first four weeks of the season before practically disappearing for four weeks and then rising again the last two weeks against the Seattle Seahawks and Cardinals.
The running game wasn’t much help earlier in the year before exploding just in time to save the day in a Week 8 victory over the New England Patriots.
The defense has as many takeaways the last two weeks (six) as it had during the first five weeks, but that unit has now surrendered 28-plus points five times (including against Seattle and Arizona). They’ve recorded five or more sacks twice but two or fewer five times.
If the Bills are going to make a sustained Super Bowl run, they’ll need more consistency from Allen, from running backs Devin Singletary and Zack Moss, and from a D that has too much talent to rank below the league median in DVOA.
Consistency is such a hard selection to make for a 7-3 football team, but it does make some sense. In breaking down all the concerns that could be following the Bills in terms of their consistency, undoubtedly the ones on defense have to be the No. 1 thing addressed.
The Bills defense was a top-three unit since Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott took over in 2017. A lot of those pieces are still here, so what has happened? Throughout the NFL this season, a lot of defenses have struggled to adapt to the lack of an offseason teams have had.
But as mentioned, the Bills do actually have some footing their gaining in recent weeks. Now that we’re 10 weeks into this, it’s like a full offseason, right? Considering the team is also coming out of their bye, and positive health updates could soon follow for important pieces to the puzzle such as linebacker Matt Milano, there’s reason to believe this defense could just now be hitting the stride.
That’s certainly the hope, at least.
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