The Buffalo Bills are 0-2 and with few redeeming qualities. But there are some positives, even if they are really hard to find.
The Bills aren’t good. Hell, they’re terrible. Like, easily the favorite for the first-overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, especially after seeing the Cleveland Browns get a tie last week and the Indianapolis Colts win on Sunday.
For Buffalo, the season is long and only getting longer. After losing 47-3 to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1, the Bills opened up their home slate with a not-as-close-as-it-looked 31-20 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
So where are the positives?
For starters, Josh Allen played better than could be reasonably expected. He’s an extremely raw rookie out of the University of Wyoming on a team with no weapons to speak of and a Swiss cheese offensive line. Still, Allen threw for for 233 yards on 18-of-33 passing, albeit with a pair of interceptions.
Defensively, the Bills tightened up in the second half of the game against Los Angeles. The Chargers were certainly p[laying ball-control, but Buffalo held them to a meager three points while trying to come back. The Bills were also able to sack Philip Rivers twice, something that is considerably difficult to do when you understand Rivers is always among the league leaders in time to release.
All told, none of this is going to make the next 14 games easy. Buffalo is going to get its doors beat off in most of the contests ahead, simply because the team doesn’t have enough talent to compete against quality teams. The effort can be there and the execution can improve, but in the NFL, that only goes so far. This ain’t high school.
Ultimately, if Allen continues to provide hope and the Bills gain a top pick, that’s plenty to be excited about as the year goes on.