The Bills have spent the first six weeks leaning hard on their offense, and Christian Benford isn’t pretending otherwise. Buffalo is 5-1, but the defense has been dragged along by Josh Allen and the unit on the other side of the ball.
That tension shows up in the numbers. The Bills are sitting No. 31 in the league in total defense, allowing 386.8 yards per game. For a team with bigger goals in mind, that kind of production is impossible to ignore.
Benford, though, isn’t sounding alarms. In an interview with Ari Meriov of the 33rd Team, the cornerback pointed to two big reasons for the slow start: the group has had to mesh with a lot of new faces, and it’s still getting comfortable in first-year defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s system.
He expects the results to improve as the group gets more time together.
"We’re gonna be good. It’s gonna be good," Benford said.
Benford has done his part early, posting 19 tackles and five passes defensed.
Buffalo’s record got a boost from its recent eight-day trip out West, where it beat the Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Raiders. The Bills scored 70 points across those two wins, while the defense allowed 64.
Now comes a breather. Week 7 gives Buffalo a chance to reset before the stretch run, with a Week 8 home game against the Baltimore Ravens next on the schedule. That matchup could get tougher if Lamar Jackson is ready to return from his left ankle sprain.
The Bills have been through defensive reinvention before, and this latest overhaul came after Sean McDermott was hired. Head coach Joe Brady is an offensive minded coach, which made the Leonhard hire an important piece of the puzzle. The results are still uneven, and the Bills need that side of the ball to sharpen up if they’re going to make a real Super Bowl push.
So far, Buffalo’s only game keeping an opponent under 29 points came in a 24-16 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. That’s not enough consistency for a team with championship expectations.
After the Ravens, the schedule offers a chance for the defense to build some confidence. The Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins are next, and none of them are offensive powerhouses.
In Other News...
Bills Trade Buzz Puts Secondary Problem Back In Focus
The Bills search for help in the secondary has quickly become a familiar storyline, and the latest name linked to Buffalo is cornerback Alontae Taylor. Reports say the team has interest in a deal with Tennessee as it tries to shore up a back end that has been under pressure, and Taylors situation is notable because he has had a rocky season and was inactive in Week 6.
What makes the idea more intriguing is how much uncertainty still hangs over it. Taylors struggles have put him in a spot where a move could make sense, but the asking price from Tennessee is not clear, leaving Buffalos next step very much up in the air as the trade buzz starts to build. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Safety Need Could Put Jessie Bates In Play
The safety market can always get interesting when the trade deadline starts creeping closer, and Jessie Bates has emerged as the kind of name that could force Buffalo to at least pick up the phone. The Falcons veteran has been one of the steadier defensive backs in the league, and his contract status only adds to the appeal for a Bills team that could use help on the back end if it wants to sharpen its defense for the stretch run.
Of course, prying away a player like Bates is never simple, especially for a team that still views him as a cornerstone rather than a luxury piece. The Bills make sense as a fit because of need and ambition, but any real movement would have to line up with Atlantas own calculations, and those are still very much in flux as the deadline draws near. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Allen Keeps Doing Something Sacks Usually Kill
A sack usually feels like a drive-killer, the sort of play that tilts a possession toward punts and field goals. But Josh Allen has spent the last few years making that math look a lot less reliable for Buffalo, because the Bills have been able to keep drives alive and turn those broken plays into real scoring chances at a rate that stands out even in a league full of elite quarterbacks.
Since 2020, Allens offense has been more dangerous than the usual NFL baseline on possessions that absorb a sack, which is a big reason the Bills can survive the kind of negative plays that sink lesser offenses. The company he keeps in that category is elite, too, with only a couple of other quarterbacks in the modern era grading out better over a large enough sample, a reminder that Buffalos passing game has found a way to turn damage control into something far more productive. [Read more 🡒]