Bills more complete this 2021 than in 2020
Not because defenses are not important, in fact, they are vital and even more so when the cold weather arrives and offenses suffer, but rather, because I believe that complete teams win championships and that is the main difference between last year’s Buffalo Bills and this season’s Bills, who have started off red hot.
Buffalo is a more complete team in 2021.
With Josh Allen at the controls, the Bills offense is going to be one of the most explosive in the NFL for many years to come. After a somewhat shaky start in the first two weeks, Allen was back to his best.
Stefon Diggs is his favorite target, although tight end Dawson Knox is getting more and more exposure and one of the new faces, Emmanuel Sanders, has already made his mark in the early season.
While Zack Moss has shown some interesting things, I still don’t trust Devin Singletary’s situational intelligence and Buffalo’s ground attack. Overall, it has a lot of room for improvement.
That said, the Bills offense is scary, explosive and hits in the blink of an eye.
I’m not blowing smoke and mirrors by saying that, which brings us to the main difference between the Bills who fell short of glory last year and the Bills who are genuine title contenders this season.
In the lead-up to the draft, Buffalo knew it had to get younger on the defensive line. Neither Jerry Hughes nor Mario Addison are getting any younger and the Bills had to start their succession plan before it became a pressing need.
That’s why they invested their first draft picks in defensive linemen Greg Rousseau and Carlos Basham Jr. Rousseau is a phenomenal talent coming out of the University of Miami who can form both inside and outside on the defensive line, but the reality is that he was somewhat green in his developmental process despite his high ceiling and even Buffalo didn’t think he would have such an immediate impact.
Rousseau has been vital when it comes to pressuring the opposing quarterback and also stopping the ground attack.
Tremaine Edmunds is arguably one of the best linebackers in the league that few people talk about; Matt Milano is phenomenal in coverage and the secondary of Tre’Davious White, Levi Wallace, Mycah Hyde and Jordan Poyer is among the best in the NFL.
That increased depth on the front line has made the Bills’ defense take a major leap in quality. So much so, that they have allowed the third fewest yards on the ground and the second fewest yards through the air.
To top it off, they have been a turnover machine. They have forced 15 (+11 differential) in three games, while recording 14 catches.
At the beginning of the season, the Kansas City Chiefs started as favorites in the AFC, something understandable considering they have reached the last two Super Bowls and have perhaps the best quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, but Kansas City’s defense has been a sieve and for now they are in the basement of the AFC West.
In other words, if you haven’t jumped on the Bills’ bandwagon yet, it’s time to do so.
Buffalo is currently the most balanced team in the NFL and a clear title contender. It becomes difficult to find many holes in these Bills, who unlike last year, are a much more complete team and it’s those sets that win championships.
