The Buffalo Bills are 4-1, and the offense is doing plenty to keep them near the top of the NFL. Through five games, Buffalo is putting up 32.8 points per game and ranks fourth in the league in total offense at 396.2 yards per game. With Joe Brady still handling play-calling, the attack has kept its rhythm and continued to pile up points, whether every performance looks clean or not.
The same cannot be said for the other side of the ball.
Under defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, the Bills are sitting 30th in the league in yards allowed at 388.6 per game. Only the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions have been worse. The run defense has shown some improvement from last season, but the secondary has taken a major step back, and the numbers have only made that harder to ignore.
Buffalo is giving up 28.2 points per game, and three of its five opponents have topped 30. The low point also came in Week 4, when the Bills allowed 29 points to the New England Patriots. That matters because the Patriots had scored just 36 total points in their first three games before erupting for 29 and more than 400 yards against Buffalo.
Leonhard arrived from the Denver Broncos with plenty of buzz around him. He was a coveted hire, and the expectation was that it was only a matter of time before he landed a coordinator job.
So far, though, the results have not matched the hype. Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers has been the lone strong outing for this defense, and the other four games have featured far more problems than progress.
On Tuesday, Leonhard addressed those issues with a blunt assessment. Per Dan Fetes of 13WHAM, Leonhard said " It's time to be good at something...right now we're living in some bad company."
"It's time to be good at something... right now we're living in some bad company... the reality is we're 1 out of 5 showing up and executing and we gotta make some changes."
-Jim Leonhard on the #Bills defense. #BillsMafia
- Dan Fetes (@danfetes) October 13, 2026
That message lands because the Bills defense has few places to hide right now. Greg Rousseau and Deone Walker have emerged as rising pieces, but beyond them, the unit does not have many clear difference-makers. There is enough talent here to expect better than this, and there is also enough time in the season to start fixing it.
The problem is that the issues are no longer just about talk. Buffalo has already allowed back-to-back 400-yard games to the Patriots and Rams, and Houston still piled up 381 total yards in Week 1. At this point, the Bills need actual correction, not another round of explanations about what has to change.
That challenge continues next against the Raiders, who come in after back-to-back losses to the Chiefs and Patriots. They will be eager to make a statement at home against Buffalo, and Leonhard’s group cannot afford another passive showing. If the Bills want to avoid getting tripped up, this defense has to look different than it has over the first five weeks.
In Other News...
Bills Win Took A Back Seat To Bradley Chubb Postgame Drama
Buffalos overtime win over the Rams should have been the full story, but the postgame scene quickly pulled attention away from the result. During a jersey exchange after the game, Rams offensive tackle Alaric Jackson punched Bills linebacker Bradley Chubb, turning a routine moment into the kind of after-the-whistle flashpoint that can linger long after the final horn. The NFL responded with a two-game suspension for Jackson, adding an official layer to an incident that left the Bills dealing with more than just a hard-fought victory.
Joe Brady said there is still plenty to sort through about what happened after the game, and Buffalo is waiting for the details to continue coming in. For now, the Bills are moving on to the Raiders, trying to keep their focus on the next opponent while the league reviews a scene that overshadowed the ending in Los Angeles. [Read more 🡒]
Ray Davis Took Heat For A Bills Return Fans Can't Ignore
Ray Davis gave the Bills a jolt on the opening kickoff, but the return ended in a way Buffalo fans could not quite shake. What should have been a routine special-teams play turned into one of the more unusual moments of the day, with Los Angeles Rams punter Ethan Evans in the chase and Davis being steered toward the sideline before the return could fully break loose.
Evans, who is not exactly built like a traditional coverage ace, drew plenty of attention for the way he ran Davis down and finished the play. For Buffalo, it was the kind of sequence that leaves a little frustration behind, because the return had enough early momentum to make fans think something bigger might be coming. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Face A Bigger Test Than Their Record Has Answered
Josh Allen and the Bills head into Week 6 with the kind of momentum that makes every matchup feel like a measuring stick, and the Raiders are the next team asked to see how real the start can be. Buffalo has already shown it can win in different ways this season, with Allen again carrying the offense and covering for the rough patches that tend to show up over the course of a game. Las Vegas arrives with a winning record of its own, which at least gives this one the outline of a legitimate test instead of a routine AFC checkpoint.
The intrigue is whether the Raiders can keep Buffalo from turning the afternoon into a familiar Allen-led grind, because the Bills have been living with a few self-inflicted issues even while the results keep coming. Las Vegas has enough on paper to make the game interesting on both sides of the ball, but the bigger question for Buffalo is whether its offense can keep separating when the margins tighten and the game starts asking for answers rather than projections. [Read more 🡒]