For the majority of the Josh Allen era the Buffalo Bills have been a victim of circumstance. They’ve boasted one of the best teams in the NFL, but trapped in the AFC during a time where the Chiefs exist — A modern re-imagining of the Peyton Manning Colts playing second fiddle to the Patriots. In past years it hasn’t really been their fault. Too much has been out of their control, and all they could do is keep running it back in the hopes cracks would show, and finally they might find a way through.
2025 had those cracks. Everything was set up for the Bills to finally make their run. Now it’s disappearing before our eyes.
It’s certainly fair to consider this an overreaction to one ugly loss to Miami, but it’s more how the Bills fell, not simply that this did. This isn’t a case of a bad afternoon, or the Dolphins playing the game of their lives, but the end point of what has been plaguing Buffalo for much of the year. This is an offense that has failed to develop a vertical passing game because of its deficiencies at wide receiver, and a secondary beleaguered by injuries that never got addressed.
Last week we discussed just this at the trade deadline. That it was wild to see the Bills and Chiefs (but particularly Buffalo) stand pat at the deadline while teams around them in the AFC got better. It’s not about getting involved in the derby to spend two first round picks on Sauce Gardner, but any of the other smaller, impactful moves that could have taken a step forward — while also ensuring their competition didn’t.
Receiver was a major problem against the Dolphins. Khalil Shakir is not a No. 1 receiver, no matter how much the Bills want him to be. It’s a role issue more than a talent one. Shakir is best operating out of the slot, and put outside he just doesn’t have the top-end speed and route running to beat man corners. Keon Coleman has the potential to still be very good, but he’s struggling in year two like the majority of the first round receivers from a year ago. Entering the season with Shakir and Coleman as the top weapons was always a questionable prospect, which is what makes this all so wild: Why didn’t GM Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott see this as a need area? On Sunday we saw Josh Allen complete passes to 11 different receivers, which is a testament to his vision — but it also came with a sense of longing. He was desperately trying to find someone to stand out amongst the crowd, but that simply never materialized.
There was a level of desperation to Allen’s play that we don’t often see. The running game wasn’t dominating, and as the Bills began to trail they had to throw to get back into the game. Problematically, it’s here where Allen needed to lean on his receivers, and nobody was there to hold him up. As much as Bills fans might hate to admit it: This team really misses Stefon Diggs. Not the person, but the talent — and to see a team like the Jaguars make a deal for Jakobi Meyers at the deadline and not Buffalo is absolutely wild.
The secondary, particularly at safety, has been an utter mess. To think a team of the Bills’ caliber is happy starting Jordan Poyer is beyond understanding. Cole Bishop is promising, but he’s also young and inconsistent. This is the worst safety pairing among the AFC contenders by a mile, and yet it’s another area the front office did nothing to try and address at the deadline.
I understand the desire to be prudent with Buffalo’s resources, but this was the season to put the hammer down and go for it. The AFC is wide, wide open. It’s a conference literally waiting for someone other than the Indianapolis Colts or New England Patriots to show they want to actually win it. The Chiefs, who struggled for the first part of the season and found themselves in a hole might struggle to dig their way out. The Bengals are dead in the water without Joe Burrow.
This should have been the Bills year, but after Sunday it feels like they’ve pushed things a little too far by relying on Josh Allen to carry everything with sub par talent. The braintrust in the front office are repeating the same mistakes they made when the gang was together on the Carolina Panthers with Cam Newton: Expecting the quarterback to mask every other deficiency on a football team. It just doesn’t work.
Now we’ll spin around the rest of the NFL this week.
No sense mincing words: Jonathan Taylor is the MVP of 2025, even though he’ll never win — and it’ll just be handed to the best quarterback.
While Daniel Jones has been getting a lot of play this season for his comeback, Taylor has been the Colts’ engine, propelling them to an AFC South-leading 8-2. In Berlin he ran all over the Falcons on a day where Jones struggled, finishing with 244 rushing yards and three touchdowns, averaging a ludicrous 7.6 yards-per-carry.
If you wonder why the Colts are so good this year then he’s the biggest answer. The offensive line is starting to click in a way it hasn’t in recent years, and that’s led Taylor to rush for 1,139 yards in 10 games. He’s on pace right now to almost reach 2,000 yards on the season at his current pace — which feels more like a possibility with each passing week.
Buccaneers vs. Patriots had all the trappings of “Game of the Week” material, not just because both Tampa and New England are really good, but because the battle at the QB position was so fun to watch. We got the heavyweight title fight and the youngster came out on top.
At this point I don’t know how else to extol Drake Maye as a quarterback. He is the future of the position in the NFL. As Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson head towards their 30s, it’s Maye who will define quarterbacks in their 20s. He’s simply that damn good.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a quarterback with this much confidence in his vertical passing game. To some degree it’s faith in his receivers, but a lot more with Maye it’s about his unwavering belief that on any pass he can put the ball where only his receiver can get it. That’s often used as a cliche, but here it’s true. There isn’t a deep pass Maye doesn’t relish attempting, because he’s reached the point where he knows if he throws a pick it’ll be fine, because he’ll answer with two touchdowns.
And that’s precisely what he did.
Mayfield deserves credit in his own right as well, but ultimately the Bucs fell and the Patriots, now at 8-2 are absolutely rolling. We need to start seriously talking about the Patriots as contenders.
Loser: Everything about the Carolina Panthers
The Panthers have become the NFL’s biggest surprise, and not in a good way. One week they shut out the Falcons, the next they’re blown out by the Bills. Then they beat the Packers, only to come out flatter than a pancake at home against the Saints and lose one of their most important games this season.
When you look back on key weeks where a team misses this playoffs this would be one to circle for Carolina. It was a rare chance with a projected easy week to make up ground on the Buccaneers who had a tough game — and they didn’t capitalize.
There’s no question the Panthers are beaten up. Bryce Young still doesn’t look 100% from his ankle injury, Rico Dowdle was playing through a quad injury, Tetairoa McMillan’s hamstring acted up late last week — and the offensive line is such a mess that Carolina sent out its eighth different starting unit in 10 games.
These are all just excuses when the dust settles. Young needs to play better. A running back other than Dowdle needs to step up. Jaycee Horn getting blown by and slipping on two touchdown throws is unacceptable for a player of his caliber. This team can’t decide if it’s good or terrible, so it vacillates between the two on a weekly basis.
Loser: Everything about the Cleveland Browns
You lost to the Jets. You lost to the Jets right after they traded their two defensive players. You lost to the Jets when they only generated 169 yards of offense and gave up 61 in penalties.
At this point the Browns’ intractability about their QB position is eroding my faith in Kevin Stefanski. Continuing to trot out Dillon Gabriel and watching him throw 30+ times a game for 150 yards is just pathetic. Even if you’re not a huge Shadeur Sanders fan, it’s ridiculous for a two win team not to at least see if he can do anything at the position in live fire — especially when they’re likely going to be drafting another quarterback come next April.
It’s okay to demand answers about this. Gabriel is not playing good football, and if the Browns are staring down the reality of trying to find a QB again — then they might as well see what they have on the roster.
Loser: Everything about the Jacksonville Jaguars
This team looked like a contender for a minute, didn’t they? It lasted about 60 seconds as well. The Jaguars might have a 5-4 record and still easily be in contention for the playoffs, but it’s pathetic to lose to a Texans team without C.J. Stroud under center.
When you allow 26 points in the fourth quarter to a team led by Davis Mills there’s a substantial problem with everything you’re doing as a team. We’ve yet to see Trevor Lawrence really assert himself, but this was a massive defensive breakdown which wasn’t really his fault. If the Jaguars score 29 points it’s not too much to ask for the defense to hold for a win.
Instead they allowed 36 total points and 412 yards of offense to a team that has averaged 21.0 this season and 256 yards. Just a pathetic display that shows this team isn’t remotely ready for contention yet.
Loser: Those of us who waited all week for Sunday night
Sunday Night Football sucked. I don’t want to think about it ever again.
