1. Learning from Week 5
After four straight wins, the Bills had their first loss of the season in Week 5 to the Patriots. The Bills tied the game up at 20-20 with less than three minutes to play, but the Patriots hit a 52-yard field goal with :15 remaining to win it 23-20. Even though it wasn’t Buffalo’s best game, they still stayed in it till the end.
When it comes to moving forward, the coaches believe they can learn from the loss and improve in areas that weren’t good enough.
“It’s good reminder for us of how you really don’t want to play and don’t want to live that type of life,” head coach Sean McDermott said. “And why it’s important we stay on the details, we stay disciplined, and we stay urgent. Our approach, we finish plays and we take care of the football, make good decisions with the ball in our hands. All those things are kind of the foundation of what leads to the results.”
“Losses like this will bring urgency back to your locker room, back to your meeting rooms, back to your preparations,” ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky said on One Bills Live. “…I think the reemphasis of decision making, reemphasis of valuing the football, reemphasis of trying to take it away, I think is valuable.”
The Bills know taking care of the football and winning the turnover battle is one of the biggest things that can help a team win. Looking back on the offense’s start, offensive coordinator Joe Brady said the performance wasn’t up to the team’s standard.
“That first half especially was about as bad as it gets,” Brady said. “I have opportunities. The way the defense was playing right there. You have opportunities to, not necessarily put the game away, but you have opportunities to take a lead. And instead, we kind of gift wrapped them some points, so disappointing from that, but definitely wasn’t the standard. And our guys kind of understand that.”
In terms of spinning it forward to Week 6, Bills legend and radio color analyst Eric Wood wants to see Buffalo get back to leaning on the run game. The Bills put up 118 rushing against New England but were averaging more than 160 per game before Week 5.
“Continue to lean into the run game, not necessarily be predictable with the run game. Establish the run game and when you get the right boxes, get to your play action game,” Wood said on One Bills Live. “Josh Allen play action and under center this year has been excellent. Those tight ends are matchup nightmares, lean into that.”