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Buffalo Sports News

Buffalo Bills: 3 Things That Must Improve in Week 2 vs. Dolphins

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The Buffalo Bills overcame a 17-3 deficit to take down the Arizona Cardinals in their home opener on Sunday. As always, superstar quarterback Josh Allen led the charge with 271 yards of total offense and four touchdowns in the 34-28 victory.

Allen, who suffered an injury to his non-throwing hand in the game, is never the question mark for the Bills. He’s always going to give them a chance to win, and his Week 1 performance puts him in the early MVP conversation. Whether Buffalo remains a Super Bowl contender this season will depend on the revamped roster’s other 52 players.

The Bills face a quick turnaround as they travel to face the AFC East rival Miami Dolphins on Thursday night. There are a few areas that will need to make substantial improvements if the team is going to reach 2-0.

What Must Improve For Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins

Offense: Offensive Line Play

The Bills’ offensive line performance can never be judged merely by sacks allowed. Allen is an escape artist. Plays that would be a sack against a vast majority of the NFL’s other quarterbacks can suddenly turn into a first-down run. It happens multiple times per game.

Case in point: Buffalo’s front five struggled mightily against the Cardinals despite giving up just two sacks. Of the team’s nine penalties in the win, six came against the offensive line:

  • RG O’Cyrus Torrence: 3 (Face Mask, False Start, Holding)
  • LT Dion Dawkins: 2 (False Start, Holding)
  • RT Spencer Brown: 1 (False Start)

Torrence’s face mask penalty came on a touchdown run by Allen. It was instead nullified and the Bills ultimately settled for a field goal on the drive. The play lowlighted a forgettable performance by the second-year guard, who looked overmatched far too frequently.

Although the Bills did rush for 130 yards on the ground, it took 33 attempts to reach that number. The 3.9 yard-per-carry average was underwhelming. The group did open up some nice running lanes in the first half, but the rushing attack was completely shut down by Arizona after halftime.

Center Connor McGovern was the only bright spot. There were concerns throughout training camp after some failed center-quarterback exchanges as McGovern worked to replace Mitch Morse, but everything was smooth in Week 1, including after Allen suffered the hand injury.

The Bills brought in a ton of competition for the offensive line for the preseason but ended up sticking with the starting five everyone expected when camp began. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see some changes if the line play doesn’t improve in the coming weeks.

Defense: Zone Coverage Usage

Bills head coach Sean McDermott has always preferred zone defense dating back to his days as a Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator. While it’s worked at baseline during his time in Buffalo, it’s also been the unit’s downfall in big games against elite quarterbacks, such as Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kyler Murray put together a Mahomes-esque performance in the first half Sunday. He completed 16 of his 19 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown. The Cardinals rolled down the field with ease across three time-eating drives. A lot of those throws were to wide-open receivers who found gaps in the zone. It was a pitch-and-catch duty for Murray and Co.

Buffalo finally started to mix in some man-coverage pressure looks in the second half, and that’s what allowed the comeback to happen. Greg Rousseau picked up three sacks, including a strip sack, and a resurgent Von Miller also took down Murray once.

“We weren’t very good at all. Some of it was they were getting into third-and-manageable situations, and that goes back to winning first and second down,” McDermott told reporters. “I thought Bobby [Babich] and the defensive staff did a great job at halftime addressing it and making some adjustments, and I think we came out better in the second half. We played a little bit more our style of defense, and were a little bit more aggressive and just playing and having some fun out there, as opposed to waiting and reacting to what they were doing.”

When the Bills switched back to zone on Arizona’s final drive it almost cost them the game. A busted coverage allowed Marvin Harrison Jr. to run wide-open. Luckily for Buffalo, Murray didn’t see him.

Zone coverage will be a problem all year for the Bills defense. The unit doesn’t have the longtime safety tandem of Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer to erase mistakes. It’s also missing injured linebacker Matt Milano, one of the league’s best sideline-to-sideline defenders, and slot cornerback Taron Johnson left Sunday’s game with a forearm injury. When you combined all those factors with a high-powered Dolphins offense, Thursday night could get ugly

On the flip side, Buffalo features one of the NFL’s best cornerback groups, at least when Johnson is healthy alongside Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford. It also possesses an edge-rushing group that can go four or five deep. That’s a lineup complexion far better suited to take on opponents in man.

Bottom line: McDermott needs to leave his past tendencies in the rear-view mirror and embrace far more man coverage this season. It’s the best path to consistent success for the Bills defense.

Special Teams: Kickoff Approach

Tyler Bass eased lingering concerns in the kicking game Sunday by making all six of his kicks, two field goals, and four extra points. Given his struggles at the end of last season and throughout this year’s camp, that was a major relief for the Bills.

The same can’t be said for the kickoff situation under the new rules.

First, the Bills allowed a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown by DeeJay Dallas. It came just as they built an 11-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. Suddenly, the Cardinals were right back in the game.

Then on the next kickoff, Bass kicked it out of bounds. That allowed Arizona to start a potential go-ahead drive on the 40-yard line.

Both of those kicks were against the wind. One thing’s for sure: wind will remain a factor in Buffalo’s home games all season. The onus is on special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley to come up with a solution.

Main Photo: Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle-USA TODAY NETWORK

The post Buffalo Bills: 3 Things That Must Improve in Week 2 vs. Dolphins appeared first on Last Word on Pro Football.