The Buffalo Bills have cruised out to a 4-1 start, but they haven’t exactly been as good as their record indicates to this point. Over their past three games, the offense (particularly the passing attack) has hit a rough patch, but with Josh Allen under center, it’s only a matter of time until he gets back on track.
The bigger concern, as it has been for years now, is the defense, which is fresh off a pair of lousy outings against the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams. While a lighter matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders awaits, former NFL MVP Rich Gannon made it clear that he believes his former team is capable of exploiting Buffalo’s subpar defense.
Rich Gannon Makes Thoughts on Bills’ Defense Very Clear
After another failed playoff run last year, the Bills once again made an effort to construct a defense that can properly support Allen and the offense. Sure, Allen hasn’t been perfect in the postseason throughout his career, but if the defense could pick him up every once in a while, that would go a long way towards helping him make an ever-elusive Super Bowl run.
The problem is that this unit once again looks lackluster. Besides Gregory Rousseau (who has six sacks to his name), the rest of Buffalo’s defense has just five total sacks, and opposing offenses are beginning to key in on Rousseau, realizing that he’s the only guy they really need to worry about in pass-rushing situations. Even worse is the secondary, as head coach Joe Brady cannot find a suitable collection of starters at the back end of his defense.
Both the Pats and Rams were able to exploit this unit’s weaknesses, and while the Bills admittedly got quite lucky against L.A. last week, they can’t bank on that happening every time they take the field. When previewing Buffalo’s upcoming game from a Las Vegas perspective, Gannon made it clear that he doesn’t think the Bills defense is going to pose much of a threat to the Raiders offense.
“I think offensively the Raiders can move the ball against this defense,” Gannon said in an interview with casino.org. “I mean, the Rams went up and down the field against this defense. The Bills don’t have a great defense, but they can be good when it matters, especially when they take the lead.”
Bills Desperately Need to Figure Things Out on Defense
The Raiders don’t necessarily have the sort of firepower that the Patriots or Rams possess, but they still can cause problems for the Bills. Who is going to go up against Brock Bowers, who has been on fire to begin the year? And if Ashton Jeanty can get going on the ground, it’s fair to suggest that Buffalo could be in trouble in this one.
Allen and the offense should be able to do more than enough to overcome any potential struggles from the defense, but this is the sort of mindset that the team wants to shift away from. Unfortunately, until the defense can get its act together, Allen is going to have to continue carrying Buffalo, or else Gannon’s criticism of the defense will look prophetic.
Former NFL MVP Bashes Bills Defense Ahead of Raiders Clash