The Buffalo Bills stare into a horizon filled with several scrambling quarterbacks, the defense potentially stuck between a rock and a hard place as it relates to containing true NFL dual threats.

Overall, the Bills’ defense has been the subject of much discussion during the first month of the 2025 NFL season. As we pass the roughly quarter mark of the schedule (curse you 17 game schedule and uneven measurements), there are more than a few aspects of Buffalo’s defense that can be examined as areas in need of improvement.

The Bills are tops in the NFL in yards per pass attempt against at 5.5, but are 30th in the league in rush yards per attempt against (6.0). They’re 25th in the NFL in third-down defense. But in addition to these two obvious items of note, Buffalo’s defense has a more niche flaw that’s showing up in the first four weeks of the season: They’re not containing scrambling very well.

Bills reporter Sal Capaccio of WGR550 tweeted out an observation on this specific point:

There are a few items that either contribute to or derive from this metric:

Whether this connection and unpleasant data point means anything of consequence to you, well that’s likely based on which of the following two camps you fall into:

As with all narratives, time will reveal all. The Bills face an up-and-coming quarterback with live legs in Drake Maye of the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football before taking on a scramble-adverse quarterback in Michael Penix with the Atlanta Falcons over the next two weeks. They’re scheduled to then take on the Carolina Panthers and quarterback Bryce Young and then the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Of the next four games, three of them are against quarterbacks historically known for scrambling prowess, with Mahomes and Maye being first and third in the league in total scrambles thus far in 2025.

At the risk of going full conspiracy theory with red yarn connecting newspaper clippings on a bulletin board, it’s all connected. Buffalo’s struggle against scramblers (an excellent band name) may not be a singular source for the defensive woes, but it’s interesting that it seems to be tangentially related to most of the narratives surrounding that unit so far this season.

And… I’ll guess we’ll find out if the narrative sticks.

…and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Rumblings Cast Network — see more in my LinkTree!