ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. [WKBW] — For the first four weeks of the season, it appeared the Buffalo Bills had a high-powered offense that could score at will. On Monday night, the Bills scored just 17 points against a Chiefs defense that allowed 40 points last week.
So where did it all go wrong? You can blame the units on both sides of the ball, but plain and simple, you'll never beat the defending Super Bowl champs when you only score 17 points.
"We weren't good enough, I was not good enough, I've got to do a better job, it's plain and simple, I didn't play very good tonight and I know that, I understand that." Josh Allen said after the loss. "This team can't afford to have me play poorly."
"We take it hard, there are no moral victories, we've got to really look at our football team and be truthful with ourselves and see what we have to get corrected and have those conversations." head coach Sean McDermott added. "If we do that, our team will move forward, as we continue to grow through the season and we'll peak at the right time. At this point, that remains to be seen."
Before their touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, Allen had just 66 yards passing. With the game still in striking distance in the second half, the offense, led by Allen, had two uninspiring drives that ended in just four plays. When asked about their lack of rhythm offensively, both Allen and center Mitch Morse said they did a poor job executing and were never able to get in a groove.
"For us, I think we beat ourselves quite a bit," Morse added. "I know I didn't put us in a few good positions early on. Kudos to them [Kansas City], they came out and fought and it's on us to be better."
While Allen will certainly shoulder much of the blame, he could've used some more help from his running backs. Devin Singletary finished with just 32 yards on 10 carries and Zack Moss, in his first game back from injury, had 10 yards on five attempts. Allen led the way for the Bills on the ground with 42 yards.
"We didn't play up to our standard, I think that was the biggest thing," Singletary said. "We need to get back to the drawing board and find a way to get back to that standard."
But their lack of success on the ground was just one of the many problems for an offense that was averaging 28 points a game before Monday's loss. Wide receiver John Brown didn't have a cacth and tight end Tyler Kroft caught just one pass for seven yards. Yet Allen was quick to point the finger for the loss squarely back at himself after another uninspiring effort.
"16 or 17 points isn't going to cut it in this league. It didn't matter who we played tonight, if that's how we play, we're going to struggle to win games. It is what it is, right now, we'll learn from this. Obviously, I'm super frustrated with myself and how I performed tonight and I can't do that to this team, so, I've got to be better and I will be better."
Perhaps what this defense needs is a game to regain their confidence. Lucky for them, later this week, they'll go against the only team still winless in the NFL. If we're talking about these same problems on Sunday night, then it'll be time to say the sky is falling.
