The Buffalo Bills enter their bye week with a 5-1 record, sitting atop the AFC East and second in the AFC, but the story of their first six games is a mixed bag. The offense has looked explosive enough to carry real weight in the standings, while the defense has spent most of the season chasing answers.
Start with the part that has been humming. Josh Allen and the Bills are scoring at a ridiculous clip, averaging 32.8 points per game to lead the NFL.
ESPN.com Buffalo Bills beat reporter Nick Suss researched that pace, and only 14 teams in league history have kept it up for an entire season. Those teams averaged 13 wins, reached the conference championship game nine times, and made it to the Super Bowl six times.
Allen has also piled up eight rushing touchdowns, the most in the league, and his 76.2 QBR puts him in the top five. James Cook has the most carries of 10 or more yards among NFL backs, and Buffalo’s offensive line and run game rank in the top three in yards gained before contact.
Keon Coleman is bouncing back in his third season, while defensive tackle Deone Walker has become a disruptive presence inside. Greg Rousseau and the defense rank in the top five in QB pressures, and the special teams have done their part too, with the league’s best field goal accuracy and net yards per punt.
The problem is the other side of the ball, where Jim Leonhard’s first year as defensive coordinator has been rough. Buffalo has allowed the most passing yards in the league and the second-most passing touchdowns.
On third down, opponents are converting 45% of the time, which ranks fifth-worst. Second-down defense has been shaky as well, with opposing offenses completing 70% of their passes while averaging almost six yards per play.
And then there’s the fourth quarter, where the Bills are allowing 1.5 touchdowns per game, the worst rate for any defense in any season dating back to at least 1977.
That’s the tension hanging over this bye: a team good enough to lead its division, but flawed enough that the coaching staff has plenty to fix. Joe Brady and his coaches have work to do, and this week gives them time to sort through the issues that have threatened to drag down Buffalo’s bigger goals.
Elsewhere around Bills buzz, there’s a look at center Connor McGovern’s path to the NFL and how he ended up finding a home in Buffalo. There’s also the question of whether first-year head coach Joe Brady has a respect problem, and tight end Dalton Kincaid has been named ESPN’s guest picker for “College Game Day.”
In Other News...
Bills Bye Week Has Fans Debating One Receiver's Future
With the Bills heading into their Week 7 bye at 5-1 and getting Tre'Davious White back into the mix, the roster conversation has shifted from week-to-week survival to bigger-picture questions. One of those centers on the receiver room, where Buffalo has seen other pass catchers make their presence felt while Joshua Palmers role has stayed relatively limited since he arrived.
Palmer signed a three-year deal in March, so this is not exactly the kind of early-season development the Bills had in mind when they brought him in. Still, the combination of his uneven production and the way the depth chart has shaken out has made him a player worth watching as the deadline chatter starts to build. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Cornerback Debate Just Got More Interesting With Tariq Woolen
The Bills cornerback conversation has a new wrinkle with Tariq Woolen entering the picture, and it is easy to see why Buffalo would spend time on the outside defender. Woolen has the kind of length and size that stand out immediately, and his past production has already shown he can be a real factor on the boundary. For a defense that is always weighing fit as much as raw talent, that profile naturally puts him on the radar before the trade deadline.
Buffalos interest would come down to more than just traits, though. Woolens contract status and modest salary make him a plausible deadline target, while the Bills would also need to sort out how he would fit schematically alongside the corners already on the roster. The bigger question now is whether the price stays in a range Buffalo can justify, because the kind of move this would be could say plenty about how the front office views its current outside cornerback options. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Bye Week Could Shape Their Biggest Roster Decision Yet
The bye week arrives with the Bills sitting at 5-1 and still looking like one of the AFCs most balanced teams on offense, even as the defense leaves room for a midseason jolt. For a front office that has already seen how narrow the margin can be, this quiet stretch is the natural time to assess whether the roster needs a splash addition, and the names being tossed around tell you plenty about the kind of upgrade Buffalo would be chasing.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill is the headline-grabber, but cornerback Marshon Lattimore would speak to a more immediate defensive need, and linebacker Matt Milano also looms as a familiar fit in the conversation. Buffalo does not need to remake its identity to justify a move, but the bye week offers a rare window to weigh how aggressive it wants to be before the seasons second half starts tightening the race. [Read more 🡒]