Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Buffalo Bills will look to get back into the win column on Thursday night when they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Highmark Stadium for an 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff.
In order to do that, here are my three keys to the game, plus notes and stats:
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1.) Faster start!
Over the last three games, the Bills offense has scored seven points, zero points, and three points, respectively, in the first halves of those games. A total of 10 points in those first halves have made it much more challenging both on the offense and defense the rest of the game.
That has to change.
The Bills, specifically their offense, need to get off to a better and faster start, which will allow them to dictate the game script as it goes on, instead of playing the game the Buccaneers want.
Kim Klement - USA TODAY Sports
2.) Let Josh be Josh
I avoided writing "Let Josh Cook," because that's an overused phrase with other players, but it's basically the same point.
The Bills, understandably, want to keep Allen healthy for as long as possible, including this season and his career. But it's becoming much more apparent that reining him in from running as much, and taking less risks in the passing game, has hurt their ability to win, especially now knowing that the defense is under-manned with injuries and the offense may need to be leaned on even more.
What's the right number of rushes for Allen? What's the balance of designed runs, as well as his scrambling when there is an opportunity vs. not taking those risks?
There might not be a perfect, calculated number, but there needs to be more of it.
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3.) The details
During this three-game stretch, including two losses and a last-play victory, the Bills haven't been very good with the details, as they normally are.
Dropped passes, missed tackles, special teams breakdowns - including Tyler Bass missing three of his last four field goals - missed blocking assignments on blitzes, too many penalties.
There's been all of that and more, and at a higher rate than usual.
Given a short week, where neither team will be able to revamp a lot of what they do, and just lean on what they do best. It will be more important to pay attention to the details and avoid those critical errors.
NOTES AND STATS:
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