The Bills left Minneapolis with a 23-6 win over the Vikings on Monday night and a 7-1 record, but Steve Smith Sr. wasn’t ready to hand out any grand declarations after watching Buffalo on Tuesday’s episode of "Get Up."
Smith’s message was simple: the Bills are good, but the Vikings game didn’t convince him they belong in the top tier of AFC defenses. He pointed straight at Buffalo’s secondary and said it still has real questions.
"If you talk about the Buffalo Bills and how good they look, I don't think they look that great when you compare them to another AFC team with the Jacksonville Jaguars," Smith said. "They still don't really have a secondary that shows me that they can really play with everyone ...
[Christian] Benford, he can play, but he has some liabilities, and he's not a real traditional shutdown corner. So the Buffalo Bills are a good team, but to say the best and great, I think we use that word a little bit too much."
The timing of that critique came right after a game in which Minnesota’s offense barely got off the ground. Carson Wentz completed only 8 of 25 passes for 81 yards and threw two interceptions. Jordan Mason led the Vikings on the ground with 35 yards on six carries, and Justin Jefferson managed just three catches on 11 targets for 58 yards.
Even with that lopsided showing, the broader concern around Buffalo remains the same: the offense is carrying plenty of weight, while the defense has not exactly shut the door on opposing quarterbacks. The Bills are leading the league with 386.4 total yards per game and 32 points per game, but their defense is giving up the fourth-most passing yards per game in the NFL at 238.8.
Benford is the headliner in the secondary, and he has grown into a physical, reliable corner since arriving as a sixth-round pick. Still, he hasn’t broken into the league’s elite class.
He has no interceptions this season, his 55.4 PFF grade ranks 73rd out of 104 qualified cornerbacks, and he has not yet made a Pro Bowl or earned All-Pro honors. His strongest season came in 2024, when he posted 64 total tackles, three tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and two interceptions.
Behind him, Buffalo is working with a mix that includes last year’s first-round pick Maxwell Hairston, veteran Dee Alford and rookie Davison Igbinosun. It’s a workable group, but one that doesn’t stack up with what other AFC contenders such as the Jaguars, Texans, Steelers and Chiefs have assembled.
With the trade deadline set for 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Buffalo could still look for help. Among the names mentioned in trade rumors are the Eagles’ Riq Woolen and the Titans’ Alontae Taylor.
In Other News...
Bills Trade Deadline Pressure Is Suddenly All About One Defensive Need
With less than 24 hours before the 2026 NFL trade deadline, the Bills are still weighing whether to make a move, and the conversation around Buffalo has narrowed to one obvious area: defense. ESPNs Troy Aikman said he spoke with general manager Brandon Beane about the possibility of adding help on that side of the ball, a sign the front office is at least exploring whether there is a deal worth making before the clock runs out.
Joe Buck also floated Budda Baker as a potential target, which only adds to the speculation around what Buffalo might be willing to do if it decides the roster needs a boost. For now, though, nothing official has happened, leaving the Bills in the familiar deadline spot of trying to balance urgency with the cost of making a move. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Just Got More Pressure As An AFC Rival Goes All In
The AFC race just got a little tighter for Buffalo after Jacksonville spent the days leading into the trade deadline loading up on defense. The Jaguars added safety Jessie Bates III from Atlanta, then followed with deals for defensive tackles Davon Godchaux and Jordan Davis from Philadelphia, a clear sign they are trying to fortify the middle of their defense and push harder in a crowded conference.
For the Bills, the timing matters as much as the names. Jacksonville paid for those upgrades with multiple future draft picks, a move that signals urgency now and confidence in the roster around it, and it adds another team in the AFC willing to act aggressively to close the gap. Buffalo has spent plenty of time measuring itself against the conferences best, and this kind of deadline swing is the sort that can reshape the path to January. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Defense Is Forcing A Bigger Question Than Fans Expected
Since the Week 7 bye, Buffalos defense has started looking like the unit the Bills expected it could be, holding opponents to far fewer yards and points in back-to-back games. The improvement has shown up across the board, with the pass rush getting home more often and the group playing with the kind of urgency that can change the feel of a game before the offense even settles in.
Greg Rousseau has been one of the voices pointing to the shift as something more lasting than a short burst, and the numbers back up the eye test even without needing much decoration. The bigger question now is less about whether the defense has found something and more about how Buffalo balances that rise with the steady work of Josh Allen and James Cook on the other side of the ball. [Read more 🡒]