Vikings Patrick Peterson celebrates as Bills quarterback Josh Allen walks off the field. Minnesota scored when Allen didn’t handle the snap at the goal line and the Vikings recovered the ball in the end zone.
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Week 10 of the 2022-2023 NFL season has just come to a close, and it’s no secret the Buffalo Bills are in a rut. The Bills have dropped two straight games to the New York Jets and the Minnesota Vikings. Since their week 7 bye the Bills are 1-2, having defeated the Green Bay Packers, although, struggles popped up in that game as well. The Bills are literally doing whatever it takes to lose these games, especially down the stretch near the end of the games. A great quote to put it into perspective, shared by a Bills fan on twitter is; “The Bills really know how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
The question is though, why are the Bills defeating themselves? The main reason is not because they are simply being outplayed or out-coached, they are shooting themselves in the foot on multiple occasions. The biggest one that sticks out is quarterback Josh Allen’s knack for turning the ball over as of late. In the last three games, Allen has tossed six interceptions, with multiple of them coming inside the red zone. What hurts most is that they have come late in the games. Allen now leads the league in interceptions with 10 total this season. No fan base loves their quarterback like Bills Mafia loves Josh Allen, and it has been a warzone between fans on social media. At the end of the day, it is okay to criticize Josh Allen. We all know what he is capable of, and he has not been at that level the past few games. That does not mean he won’t get back on track, but in plain sight, he has to be better. That is no knock on him, it is just simply that his team needs him to be, especially in the turnover department. The Buffalo Bills live and die by Josh Allen.
Allen is not the only one to blame. The entire team has just been non-existent in the second half for the past three games. After halftime, the Bills have not scored a touchdown since they played the Chiefs on October 16th. Not only that, but the Bills defense is also absolutely killing themselves with missed tackles. They were up 24-10 at the half and let Dalvin Cook burn them for an 81-yard touchdown run. That turned the whole game around. The coaching staff also seems to not be making adjustments as of late, which is what they were so good at doing through the first quarter of the season. Red-zone offense is a huge reason for the sputtering of the Bills unit as a whole. They are ranked 21st in the league, converting only 52% of the time.
The Bills have lost three games this season, all by a combined 8 points. In each and every single one of those losses, they have handed the game to their opponent on a silver platter. You can even make the case that in their wins this season, the Bills made many mistakes, and they almost had no business winning. When the team is on and firing on all cylinders with limited mistakes, you can honestly say there might be not a single team that can beat them. The problem is, the Bills love to make things interesting and let their opponents hang around. When the opportunities to blow things open and put the game on ice are there, the team has failed to do it. The turnovers, missed tackles, and mismanagement of late game situations is holding Buffalo back from being the juggernaut they started off as and everyone knows they can be. One thing is for sure though, the team is going to do everything in their power to right the ship.
