The Buffalo Bills remain within striking distance of the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC with three games against sub-.500 divisional opponents, but their Super Bowl hopes could face a looming vulnerability.
The Bills have struggled on defense when facing tougher competition, giving up more than 40 points in each of the last two games. Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon identified the Buffalo defense in an article about the biggest weakness for the league’s top contenders, warning that the sometimes porous unit could become a liability in the playoffs.
“The Buffalo Bills’ defensive unit has surrendered 86 points in the last two weeks alone, and it registered just a single takeaway in those eight quarters. Earlier this year, we saw it get gashed by the Ravens,” Gagnon noted.
“There’s still plenty of talent there, though, and the high-powered offense can do a lot of the heavy lifting. But we know the Bills are vulnerable at times defensively and that could easily be their downfall.”
Sean McDermott Takes Responsibility for Defense
The Bills just took down the NFC’s top team, the Detroit Lions, in a 48-42 shootout on Sunday. The previous week they fell to the Los Angeles Rams 44-42, with head coach Sean McDermott saying after the game that he “probably didn’t have them prepared the way I needed to” defensively.
McDermott said the Bills players realized they fell below expectations against the Rams and vowed to come out stronger against the Lions.
“I mean, they really enjoy playing, and they really enjoy playing with one another, from a teammate standpoint,” he said, via SI.com. “And they also realized that we probably didn’t have the focus that we needed a week ago. And the leaders took over and led by example this week.”
McDermott also praised his team, saying they’re able to bounce back quickly from setbacks.
“Not that we were perfect and everybody’s an angel. But they want to win and they’re willing to put the work in,” he said. “And I’m saying, I feel like—as across the board as it could be—it’s almost like they don’t want to let each other down.”
Bills Face Injuries on Defense
The Bills have been hampered by a series of injuries on defense, including some major hits to the secondary. The team missed both of its starting safeties, Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin, for Sunday’s game against the Lions while starting cornerback Rasul Douglas was also out.
The Bills listed both Douglas and Hamlin as questionable for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, but Douglas seemed optimistic that he might be able to play.
“I’m good,” he said after Thursday’s practice, via SI.com. “Last week I was close.”
The Bills have also been getting some good news on the injury front. Star linebacker Matt Milano was able to return at the start of December after missing the first 11 games of the season. The Bills also recently activated rookie defensive lineman DeWayne Carter, who spent a stretch of the season on injured reserve after
undergoing wrist surgery.
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