Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - When Sunday morning came around, we already knew the Buffalo Bills were going to be without pass rusher Greg Rousseau and cornerback Tre’Davious White.
That’s OK, though, as here comes Von Miller and, well, Kaiir Elam was a first-round pick. Maybe his talent will redeem him as he’s forced into action for the first time all season.
What’s that? Christian Benford is inactive too? OK, I’m shook, but still, go Bills?!?!
Then the game actually started and before I’d even taken a bite of my bacon and eggs, DaQuan Jones and Matt Milano are out and things are looking pretty bleak.
All things considered, I’d say the Bills defense ended up being pretty game overall when you factor in they were down five starters from last week's kickoff pretty early in this game.
But man, did they ever miss White and Benford. Elam is a disaster.
And if the broadcast on NFL Network drove you completely insane, stay tuned, because I’m thinking of starting a support group to help us all through the trauma of not only another loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but also being endlessly confused by a network owned and operated by the freaking NFL not being able to keep a telecast on track.
They are consistently the worst at broadcasting actual NFL games. So much so, they should probably stop and let FOX, CBS, Amazon and ESPN do the heavy lifting of presenting these games for an audience used to replays on time, and explanations of the rules that are informative and correct.
Yes, I’m deflecting. Yes, the Bills appeared flat, and you can blame their travel choices if you like.
It’s also possible they were perfectly fine to begin the game, started losing their most important guys on defense just after getting off the double decker bus, and that rocked their confidence.
Either way, the Jaguars mounted, what seemed like, an endless series of long drives, enough of which resulted in points to beat the Bills, 25-20.
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It was a reasonably gutty effort from the injury-riddled defense. The offense, on a day they should’ve felt the need to carry the day pretty early on, was disjointed and messy all day.
29 yards rushing? So much for the balanced attack.
Everything short in the passing game, especially early, was sniffed out by Jacksonville. The Bills had nine possessions in this game before finally scoring a second touchdown, eight if you throw out the 10 seconds before the half.
The results of those drives? Six punts and an interception.
I’m sorry, what? Where was the Bills offense?
Did they unpack it after their Trans-Atlantic travel?
Was it lost?
Held up at customs?
Drowning in a container of takeout mushy peas?
On a day when McDermott’s defense was clearly going to be strained, the Bills offense missed their wake up call, kind of by a lot, and it cost them a football game.
A Sunday starter that could’ve left all of us sitting pretty atop the AFC before the 1 p.m. ET window even opened, instead, turned into an anxiety-riddled afternoon spent rooting for the New York Giants to upset the Miami Dolphins, and the Minnesota Vikings to knock off the Kansas City Chiefs.
That all went exactly as you’d expect.
At least the Pittsburgh Steelers out-struggled the Ravens and knocked Baltimore down to 3-2. But Kansas City held on to win in Minnesota, while the Dolphins pretty much rolled up the Giants, and both are now 4-1 to the Bills' 3-2 record.
A week after restoring order in the AFC East, the Bills are, again, looking up at Miami.
Overcoming injuries is going to become the story of the 2023 season. A downright dominant defense has now lost All-Pro players for the season in back-to-back weeks. No White, coupled with no Milano, increases the degree of difficulty significantly for the Bills.
It’s very likely the Bills will need much more from their offense moving forward than they got Sunday in London. And after a week’s respite, they’re looking up at Miami in the division, and the Chiefs in the conference.
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