Bills struggling to avoid slow starts
It would have been a bit unreasonable to expect a big output from the Buffalo offense in the regular season finale with most of the first team on the bench. However, the Bills did open the game with Josh Allen at quarterback for two drives. Despite this, the Bills offense couldn’t get anything going early on.
This has become a disturbing trend for the Bills’ offense, going all the way back to November. Buffalo has had a hard time getting on the scoreboard early in games.
The Bills haven’t scored a first quarter touchdown since Week 9 against Washington. That was all the way back on Nov. 3. The Bills have been shut out in the first quarter five times since. In the month of December, the Bills scored just 23 first half points total in four games.
The Bills’ offense is by no means the 1999 Rams and they have played some of the best defenses in the NFL during this late-season stretch. But the Bills are killing themselves by not getting on the scoreboard earlier in games. The Buffalo offense is limited as it is and is making things harder for themselves in the second half of games by not getting on the scoreboard right away. The Bills wouldn’t need to scramble for fourth quarter scores against Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and New England if they could do anything on offense in the first quarter.
There is no margin for error now as the Bills begin the postseason in Houston on Saturday. The Bills will see some of the best offenses in the league in the AFC playoffs. In order to have any chance of advancing, the Bills can’t waste opportunities to score. The Bills’ offense is going to have to find ways to score to keep up with the talented offenses and quarterbacks they will see in January. The Bills can help themselves out greatly by getting ahead of these teams in the early going.