Buffalo Rumblings
It’s opening weekend across the NFL, and the Buffalo Bills begin the season under the primetime lights of Sunday Night Football on NBC! Reigning NFL MVP quarterback Josh Allen and company take on two-time NFL MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson (2019, 2023) and the Baltimore Ravens in front of what should be a raucous Bills Mafia crowd.
Coming off a season that saw the Bills reach the AFC Championship game only to again fall victim to the Kansas City Chiefs in their quest to play in the Super Bowl, Bills Mafia continue asking what it’s going to take to get it done. So, with a new season before us, how are fans feeling about the direction of things out of One Bills Drive?
An MVP QB, a tremendous offensive line, and a star-in-the-making in running back James Cook should spell good things for Buffalo in 2025, but questions remain. What will production from the wide receivers and tight ends resemble? Everyone may eat, but someone needs to claim the biggest portion, especially in the biggest moments. Have the right defensive adjustments finally been made to better-contain opposing run games, and also to more capably fluster quarterbacks? Time will tell. But fans are wondering why it took significantly less time for Doug Marrone and Jim Schwartz to build a defensive behemoth. This is year nine for head coach Sean McDermott, a defensive guru, in Orchard Park, NY.
But again, how are Bills fans feeling? It’s not great, at least based off our most recent poll looking to gauge the confidence of a meaningful cross-section of fans. Not great may be kind here. In my time sharing data from these polls, I can’t recall a confidence rating much lower than the 58% of fans who remain confident in the Bills’ direction under McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane.
I’m not even ready to blame it on troll-voting from outside fan bases. To be quite honest, Buffalo’s decision makers haven’t gotten it done in the spaces they continue to focus on most — specifically defense. It’s not as though they lack for trying, but Von Miller was essentially a half-season success story who never really made a profound difference in the team’s seasons.
There have been three first-round picks of a cornerback since McDermott arrived. Tre’Davious White was the first pick ever by the first-time head coach, and he’s back after a season away. But he’s now 30 and has a history of traumatic lower-leg injuries. Now, White will begin the season sidelined with a groin injury that officially has him doubtful for Sunday night’s game. Elsewhere among that trio of picks is the failed tenure of cornerback Kaiir Elam, who just never seemed to click with Buffalo’s defensive minds, and often found himself woefully out of position despite his penchant for man-cover defense. The latest first-round cornerback to join the Bills, rookie Maxwell Hairston, has been sidelined most of training camp and all of the preseason thanks to a PCL injury he suffered...
