Despite boasting a 4-2 record heading into Sunday’s road date with the New England Patriots, the Buffalo Bills have not played great football for the majority of the 2023 NFL season.
Buffalo barely escaped the New York Giants at home this past Sunday night. It was aided by a questionable non-call late in the 14-9 win over a Giants squad that was among the worst in the NFL heading in.
This came after a 25-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. It also came a couple weeks after the Bills thought they made a statement against the high-flying Miami Dolphins in a 48-20 win back on Oct. 1.
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As for Sunday’s game against another terrible football team in that of the Patriots, head coach Sean McDermott and Co. absolutely embarrassed themselves.
Buffalo fell down 10-0 after the first quarter following an Ezekiel Elliott touchdown run. Those first 15 minutes saw struggling Patriots quarterback Mac Jones complete 5-of-6 passes for 62 yards. Buffalo ran just a single play in the first quarter, which resulted in yet another ugly Josh Allen interception.
This would represent the start of a game in which the Bills looked more like bottom feeders than actual Super Bowl contenders.
Despite coming back from a 22-10 deficit to take a 25-22 lead, the Bills’ defense could not hold it. That included Jones leading New England down the field on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive culminating in a score to Mike Gesicki for the win with just 12 seconds remaining.
Sunday’s ugly road loss to the Patriots must act as a wake-up call for the Bills. They now sit at a pedestrian 4-3 on the season and are a rung below the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins in the AFC.
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Buffalo Bills are a very unserious football team
If you can’t get up for a huge divisional matchup on the road, we’re not too sure you’re going to be consistently winning games in today’s NFL.
The talent difference just isn’t enough in a league that is enjoying parity right now. You actually have to show fight and emotion regardless of the opponent.
“At the end of the day, it’s the National Football League,” Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen said before Week 7. “The other 31 teams want to win a Super Bowl, just like us. The other guys get paid, just like us. It’s no easy task to win in this league consistently. It really isn’t.”
The Bills knew that they couldn’t overlook New England despite their counterparts heading into Sunday’s game with a 1-5 record while being outscored by an average of nearly two touchdowns per game.
About that?
Leading the league’s 31st-ranked scoring offense, Mac Jones completed 25-of-30 passes for 272 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions in his best performance since all the way back in January of 2022.
McDermott’s calling card has been defense since his days with the Carolina Panthers. How can this unit allow one of the league’s worst offenses to drive down the field 75 yards for a win? How can this team be taken seriously after what we saw Sunday afternoon inside Gillette Stadium?
More than anything, this speaks to McDermott’s struggles as the Buffalo Bills’ head coach recently. Whether we’re talking major flops in the postseason or struggles against last-place teams, it’s not painting the head coach in the best of lights.