Bills flip off-season script with impressive 2-0 start

In a period of five days, the Buffalo Bills have flipped the script on the narrative surrounding this team heading into the season.

No longer are they playing second-fiddle to the New York Jets on the AFC East FanDuel betting markets.

No longer are they a team that’s supposedly reeling from the departures of receivers Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis.

No longer are they a team ripe to be shredded due to a defence short on talent and experience.

There’s a long way to go this National Football League season, and there will undoubtedly be bumps and dips along the way. That’s the nature of the sport. But in terms of answering early questions, the Bills have ticked a lot of boxes over the course of their 2-0 start.

The Bills have been exactly as advertised on offence, a balanced attack between run and pass that complements Josh Allen with an assortment of playmakers able to fill diverse roles.

While the Bills directed more than 44 per cent of all throws to Diggs and Davis a year ago, defences this season are left guessing where the football is going every time Allen drops back.

In Week 1 versus Arizona, rookie receiver Keon Coleman led the team in targets and catches, then had just one pass directed his way for zero catches against the Dolphins on Thursday night. Second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, who had a single catch for 11 yards in the opener, had four against Miami.

Third-year receiver Khalil Shakir, who quietly led the NFL in reception percentage last season by catching more than 86 per cent of the balls sent his way, leads the team after two games with eight catches on eight targets.

Meanwhile, the Bills have run the ball more than they’ve thrown it in both wins, and Allen has fewer than 400 yards passing on the season.

He’s still capable or making magic when necessary, but the Bills aren’t nearly as reliant on his Superman cape as in the past.

So yes, this offence is different than what we’ve become used to from the Bills, but 58 points in two games doesn’t lie.

What’s more surprising is way the Bills have played on defence, particularly against the Dolphins, who led the NFL in passing yards and deep passes in Week 1.

Heading into Thursday’s game at Miami, the Bills faced the daunting prospect of facing the Dolphins high-powered offence without slot corner Taron Johnson, a hybrid defensive back who is among the very best at what he does in the NFL.

Johnson’s loss on the first series of the season due to a forearm injury, combined with the training camp injury suffered by linebacker Matt Milano, left the Bills with some serious holes on defence headed into Miami. And that was before middle linebacker and defensive captain Terrel Bernard left game with a pec injury on the Dolphins’ second series of the first half.

That left Cam Lewis, Dorian Williams and Baylon Spector – three players slotted as backups when training camp began at the end of July – as the second level of the Bills defence. Combined with a new starting safety tandem of Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin, both of whom were backups on last year’s team, five of Buffalo’s back seven for most of Thursday’s win were reserves at the end of last season.

Buffalo committed Hamlin and Rapp to playing a two-deep safety look most of the night, and then relied on their front two levels to fly to the football each time it was handed off or Tua Tagovailoa threw short.

The result? Holding Miami’s fantastic duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle to just 65 yards receiving through three quarters, and picking off Tagovailoa twice in the first quarter for the first time in his career.

A third interception, returned for a pack-six in the third quarter, came via Ja’Marcus Ingram, a cornerback who’d spent most of two seasons on the Bills practice roster and had been active for all of five games heading into this season.

The Bills also managed to be disruptive up front, forcing sacks on two of the Dolphins fourth-down gambles.

Buffalo now has a mini bye before facing Jacksonville at home on Monday Night Football Sept. 23, before road games against Baltimore and Houston. Those later two will present another set of challenges and the margin for error will be small.

But the Bills can approach the next few weeks with the confidence of knowing their off-season decisions have paid dividends so far. This is once again a deep, talented team that has every right to believe they can claim the AFC East for a fifth consecutive season.