The final score, a 24-14 ambush by the Atlanta Falcons. Rookie phenom Bijan Robinson cut through an 8-man Bills run front before sprinting 81 yards for a TD. Now, after 2 straight primetime losses, this isn’t just a bump in the road. 

The reigning MVP, Josh Allen, finished with a meager 15-of-26 passing for just 180 yds, tossing 2 TDs but, crucially, serving up 2 INTs as well. Allen’s frustration was evident throughout the match; he noted the Falcons “had a good plan.” He wasn’t wrong.

Atlanta’s defense faced him down with blitzes on over 55% of his snaps, and A.J. Terrell’s coverage was tight end to end. The QB continued, adding: “It’s like they, you know, came off a bye week and got to game plan us quite a bit. I gotta be better at seeing the things that they’re trying to do to us and make adjustments accordingly.” 

Bills’ HC Sean McDermott pointed directly to the Falcons’ 210 net rushing yards, a number that stings. According to Alex Brasky, McDermott insisted they ran “eight-man run fronts to stop the run,” yet Bijan Robinson had more scrimmage yds (238) than the entire Bills offense had total net passing yards (157).

Look, the gap control was nonexistent. The coach put it plainly, per Brasky’s report: “We need to be able to make a tackle,” he said, before adding the most damning part, “And secondly, we shouldn’t be out of our gaps to begin with.” A situation made worse by DT DaQuan Jones popping his calf before the game, forcing him into a walking boot afterward, per Jon Buscaglia.

Bills’ 3rd-down blunders and McDermott’s cryptic response

But the conversation got truly sticky when the topic shifted to the offense’s futility and that baffling 3rd-down personnel swap. The Bills went a terrifyingly low 2-for-9 on 3rd down conversions, a measly 22% success rate. McDermott acknowledged that the pressure applied was immense, confirming that “It was too hard tonight on our quarterback.”

He also had to answer for the second-half decision to pull James Cook (who was cooking, totaling 87 rushing yds on 17 carries) off the field for Ty Johnson on a crucial third down. When pressed on the substitution, the coach, in a perfect example of Rapoportian brevity, simply offered: “It’s a good point.” 

Now, the Bills (4-2) find themselves in unfamiliar territory, looking up at the Patriots (4-2), who hold the tiebreaker. Allen knows the rub: “We had our opportunities to take advantage of and we didn’t,” he conceded. “I’ve gotta be better.”

With key weapons like Dalton Kincaid and Curtis Samuel already sidelined, and Josh Palmer leaving the game injured, the lack of depth showed. McDermott’s final assessment: “We need to spend a lot of time figuring out what’s going on and fixing it.”