National Football League

Against Jaguars in London, Bills again show their propensity to disappoint

Published Oct. 8, 2023 2:51 p.m. ET

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Henry McKenna

AFC East Reporter

At this stage in the Buffalo Bills' development as a franchise, they should have looked like the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. The Jaguars eked out a 25-20 win in London thanks to a steady hand at quarterback and a good-enough defensive effort. 

Meanwhile, the Bills underwhelmed.

Buffalo is aiming for a Super Bowl. That's it. Anything less will be a disappointment. And that's what the Bills did in Week 5: disappoint.

"They were ready to go today and we weren't," quarterback Josh Allen said Sunday after the game.

To measure that disappointment, I want to start with one of the least interesting parts of football: penalties. The Bills committed 11 penalties for 109 yards. Allen spent his game fighting long distances and frustrating backward movement, due to mental mistakes by his teammates. And unlike most NFL QBs, who can't overcome those setbacks, Allen did get his offense moving the football, particularly late in the game.

He played well, throwing 27-of-40 for 359 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He nearly carried his team to victory.

But the mental mistakes proved severe — and beyond his capacity to erase.

Now, you're probably squinting at Allen's stat line and pointing to that interception. Allen had a mental mistake, too. Right? And while I'm usually the first person to call out Allen for gunslinging without situational awareness, I don't think Allen wants that throw back all that badly. He heaved one deep to Stefon Diggs, who normally comes down with that ball. And while the ball was slightly underthrown, Diggs could've made the catch, but instead Jaguars CB Darious Williams ripped the ball away.

Allen's execution could've been better. Diggs' execution could've been better. Williams, however, couldn't have done that any better.

"[Williams] made a good play," Diggs said in a postgame press conference on Sunday. "More so on me. It's a 50-50 ball. … More on me."

Really, that's how I felt about Allen's game. He couldn't have done it much better. It was everyone else — except maybe Diggs — who caused problems.

The most exasperating element of the game for Buffalo was that Sean McDermott's defense couldn't get Trevor Lawrence off the field. Jacksonville had the ball for 38 minutes and 12 seconds while the Bills had the ball for only 21 minutes and 49 seconds. The Jaguars converted 10 of 18 third downs. Just a brutal set of stats for the Buffalo defense. McDermott listed some of their problems.

"[Not] getting the ball back to the offense, offense [not] sustaining drives, penalties, too many times shooting ourselves in the foot," McDermott said. "Just all in all, not good enough."

There's important context. The Bills lost linebacker Matt Milano to an injury early in the game. He was one of a few defensive players who left the game early, including defensive tackle Daquan Jones, who couldn't finish. Buffalo was also without Tre'Davious White (IR), Christian Benford, Gregory Rousseau and Shaq Lawson. Even with edge Von Miller returning — his day was over in the third quarter, hitting his snap count early — it was a tough day for Buffalo's starting defense.

Some of the substitutes stepped up, namely edge A.J. Epenesa. He had four tackles, two sacks, three pass-breakups with a forced fumble and recovery on a strip sack. He was the team's biggest splash player in the passing game. But cornerback Kaiir Elam often killed the Bills' defensive momentum. 

Buffalo's 2022 first-round pick, who had been inactive all season until this game, looked wholly outclassed when he had to cover Calvin Ridley. There were a few plays where other players covered Ridley. But most of Ridley's seven catches and 122 yards came when Elam was in coverage. McDermott was asked whether Elam's lack of playing time might account for his poor play on Sunday.

"No, when you're playing, you're expected to play and perform well regardless of whether you've played or been active or inactive," McDermott said.

To McDermott's credit, he did manage to adjust and get Micah Hyde on Ridley for a crucial third-and-3 with three minutes left in the game. Ridley burned Hyde, too, for a 32-yard chunk.

It just wasn't the Bills' day. But the thing is, it doesn't matter anymore. For a team like the Jaguars, who have a young QB and a young core, they can wipe their hands clean after an inconsistent performance and chalk it up to inexperience.

The Bills can't do that anymore.

"We need to evaluate everything, because I don't think we had good enough energy today," McDermott said when asked about whether they'd properly planned their travels to London.

But he might as well have been talking about … everything.

But this has been the story for Buffalo. They build expectations. And they let those expectations down. Look at their playoff appearances over the past few years. Look at their Week 1 loss to the New York Jets. Look at this performance against the Jaguars. It feels like they can't seem to grow. It feels like they can't find their way to consistency. It feels like they can't be the dominant juggernaut everyone expects them to be.

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The Jaguars showed up. The Bills didn't. The Jaguars are moving up in the AFC rankings. The Bills are not. It must be frustrating to watch for those in Buffalo. 

Just when the Bills seem ready to take their big step forward (like they looked after beating the Dolphins silly last week), Buffalo shoots itself in the foot. And it's performances like this one that get people worried about the Bills in January. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs seem to get past this early-season junk. But for the Bills, it lingers. It becomes a part of their identity. Maybe it's harsh — but their propensity to disappoint almost feels like a part of their identity. 

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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Henry McKenna