Buffalo Rumblings
It’s been true that in 2025 my film review has declined (some major shifts in my personal life are to blame, sorry). That said, I don’t think I would have had the heart for it for the Buffalo Bills’ game against the Philadelphia Eagles if I’m being candid. Check out what else I write this week to get more insight into that.
Anyway, what I’m going to do instead for the game recap is continue another 2025 trend. Point out how losses this season have rested on the shoulders of the offense. Now I want to be clear, this is not me claiming the defense has been awesome all season. There have been plenty of games the defense was bad enough to blame for a loss, but in those instances the offense bailed them out.
But that doesn’t change this fact. When the Bills have lost, the blame belongs to the offense.
The final score was 23-20. The defense held the New England Patriots, the possible one seed in the AFC mind you, to a league-average amount of points. The Bills’ offense is generally one of the most prolific in the league. But not on that day, where they failed to reach an average scoring output, let alone their own illustrious standard.
Three turnovers were a primary culprit. The offense outgained the Patriots, held the ball for nine minutes longer than New England, and even had an advantage in third-down conversions. Like I always say though, the only stat that matters is the score. Everything else is just context. The defense did an average job, the offense couldn’t.
For this game, the final score was 24-14. Two weeks in a row saw an average defensive performance. One could argue and be valid that this is less “good” than the previous week, as it was against a shakier offense. But the point remains: the defense did an acceptable enough job where a high-powered offense had a reasonable shot at a victory.
Which makes the Bills’ drive chart pretty awful on this one. In 11 drives, they had two turnovers and four three and outs. Yes the Falcons’ defense has had some great results this year, but they’ve hardly been unbeatable. Let alone 2-of-9-on-third-downs-level unbeatable.
With a final score of 30-13, there’s a case to be made that the defense was a let down as well. Especially against a team that is currently averaging 21.1 points per game this season. That said, let’s look at some of that context behind the score to see where we want to point the finger more toward.
Let’s start with the obvious, that 13 points is quite bad. Aside from that, Buffalo had zero until nearly three minutes into the fourth quarter. That’s really bad. The defense went the other direction, allowing only 16 into the fourth...
