Head Coach Didn't Hesitate to Call Out Team's WRs and TEs

The Buffalo Bills are riding a two-game losing streak, which happens to coincide with the noticeable struggles of the team’s passing game.

Buffalo totaled 245 yards passing in Week 5’s loss to the New England Patriots, and an even more underwhelming 157 yards passing in Monday night’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Josh Allen has also thrown three of his four interceptions in those games.

The Falcons matchup really highlighted what some had been worried about since the beginning of the season: Buffalo doesn’t have a true No. 1 wide receiver who can take the top off the defense like Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase, Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson, or Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb.

While it should be noted the Bills were without top pass-catcher Dalton Kincaid on Monday, nobody stepped up to pick up the slack. Joshua Palmer led all receivers with 60 yards on two catches, and Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir—Buffalo’s two leading receivers—combined for just 44 yards on six catches.

After the game, it was painfully obvious to head coach Sean McDermott what needs to be addressed heading into the bye week, and he didn't hesitate to let the players he ws disappointed in hear about it.

“You have to evaluate everything to make sure that we’re looking in the right spots in terms of the coverages we’re getting and the quarterback’s progression overall, I could feel…it was too hard on our quarterback,” he told reporters.

“It doesn’t need to be that hard all the time, where he’s having to run out of the pocket. I thought at times we picked up the pressure and other times the pocket was getting affected early, so the rush and coverages…it was disrupting our offense to early in the down.”

The lack of explosive plays from the passing game wasn’t Buffalo’s only issue either.

Star running back James Cook had just 17 carries for 87 yards, and he was an almost non-factor for much of the game because the team was playing from behind.

“In the first half, if you look back at it, I think James had seven carries, roughly,” McDermott added. “So getting him in a rhythm, staying in a two-dimensional offense against a good pass-rushing defense — we knew that was going to be important. We were off schedule quite a bit, and that can’t happen against a defense like that.”