Buffalo Rumblings
I recently joined “Opposition Territory” — a podcast produced by The Philadelphia Sports Table, hosted by Jeff Warren — to preview the Week 17 matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles. With both teams entering the final stretch of the season carrying high expectations, Jeff and I dug into where each team has excelled, where they have struggled, and what could ultimately decide the game on Sunday. Below is our conversation and some added context.
Jeff Warren with The Philadelphia Sports Table:
I feel like the Bills and Eagles are in a very similar situation this season: high expectations to start the year, they’ve won a lot of games, but a lot of hiccups and challenges throughout the season. As we look towards this second to the last game of the season, what has been the biggest challenge for this Bills team this year from an overall perspective that might be prevalent during this upcoming game against the Eagles?
Sara Larson with Buffalo Rumblings:
From an overall perspective, the biggest challenge for the Bills this season has been consistency, especially situationally. They’ve won games, but it hasn’t always been clean. They have started slow and turned the ball over in their losses. And honestly, week to week we have no idea what defense will show up. When the Bills are locked in, they can beat anyone. When they’re not, they tend to let opponents hang around and that’s dangerous against a team like the Eagles that thrives on capitalizing on mistakes. If Buffalo doesn’t start fast and maintain run discipline against Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts, that challenge shows up again in a big way.
JW:
Two part question as we head into Week 17:
What has been the biggest strength of the Bills as we head into Week 17 of the season?
What has been the biggest weakness on this team so far?
SL:
The biggest strength for the Bills heading into Week 17 has been James Cook and his continued evolution. He’s given this offense balance and it runs through him now, taking the pressure off Josh Allen and allowing the Bills to control time of possession when they need to. When Cook is at his best, it forces defenses to play honest, because they have him and Josh Allen to worry about, which opens everything else up.
On the flip side, the biggest weakness has been run defense. I touched on this briefly already. The Bills have a top three passing defense and a bottom three run defense. There have been too many moments where opponents have been able to run all over the Bills. If the ball carrier makes it to the second level, the Bills don’t have the speed to track it down, often resulting in a huge breakdown in coverage. Against physical teams, that becomes an issue, especially early in games. It’s not that the Bills can’t stop the run, but they haven’t done it reliably enough week to week.
JW:
Josh...
