Buffalo Bills Divisional Round Overreactions

Well, buckle up because it’s about to be a long article. The Cincinnati Bengals came into Buffalo Sunday and literally ran them off their own field. After the game, Stefon Diggs and other players ran out of the locker room before assistant coaches even made it through the tunnel. Both the offense and defense came out of the gate looking like they’ve never seen a football field before and didn’t know how to act. The Buffalo Bills make it to the playoffs, and all of a sudden the defense acts like they tied both their shoes together. Not reading the field well, not in the right spot, and not making the plays needed to win a football game. And that happens year after year. But, let’s get into the final overreactions piece of the 2022-2023 season.

1.) Where was the pass rush?

The Cincinnati Bengals had three starting offensive linemen out for the game, and their Ccnter playing injured. The Bills pass rush was STILL nonexistent, only getting to the QB three times for one sack. They completely took Ed Oliver, Greg Rousseau, and Boogie Basham out of the gameplan with their backups. Not having DaQuan Jones cost the Bills more than a lot of people realize. He was huge for the pass rush all season, eating up blockers, and even totaling two sacks. The Bills need to figure this defense out next year, or it’s going to be the same old story, just a different season.

2.) The Bills need to fire Leslie Frazier.

They won’t fire him, but they should. The Bills need to finally wipe their hands clean of the Leslie Frazier era, and probably should’ve done it last year. How do you go into this game and put out a group of 11 starters that look that bad? You put Matt Milano on Ja’Marr Chase? He’s lucky that Chase bobbled that ball because that was the dumbest thing he could’ve done. You know the run is coming, and Joe Mixon still torches the defense with 65% of the starting OL not playing? When is McDermott going to realize Leslie Frazier isn’t working anymore and there are much better candidates out there?

3.) The Bills need more than just a passing game to win in the playoffs.

Year after year the Buffalo Bills go into the postseason with no run game and hope Josh Allen can do it all. And guess what happens? They look bad and get bounced early. It’s the same thing this year, they just have James Cook and Nyheim Hines now. They need to go into free agency/the draft and figure out how they improve the run game. Whether that’s improving on the OL or getting a top tier RB, the Bills need to finally figure that out in 2023. Because relying that much on the passing game doesn’t get you as far in the playoffs as it does in the regular season.

4.) It’s basically just Stefon Diggs in that WR room.

The Buffalo Bills need a REAL WR2 this off-season. They tried the Gabe Davis experiment and it didn’t work out, which is fine. They thought they had something there, but now you need to find a real WR2 opposite Stefon Diggs. Because, if he gets clamped in a game, who’s Josh going to throw to? Gabe will just drop the pass and Isaiah McKenzie is unreliable. Those are two receivers you banked on having a good season this year and they didn’t. But it just can’t be only Stefon Diggs in that WR room if you want to have a successful passing attack again.

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