Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘More than anything, I sought to gain a little perspective on where the Buffalo Bills are now as opposed to 365 days prior. I wanted to remind myself that while the Bills can be a maddening team to watch, especially when they have the ball, they are four games better in the standings, and that’s nothing to scoff at.’

‘It was inexcusable for Buffalo to have allowed the Redskins, now 1-8 on the season, to be even remotely close in this game what with their rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins making his first NFL start; what with their only legitimate offensive threat being a 34-year-old running back, even though Adrian Peterson will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.’

‘And from what I can see, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done because if this season is about not only making it to the playoffs but actually winning a game or two in January, it’s awfully difficult to imagine that happening if they keep underwhelming like they have.’

‘“A little bit,’’ said Singletary when asked if were able to digest the significance of the moment. “They were definitely giving me motivation, for them to be playing the game this deep into their careers, I was just trying to go out there and compete with them.’’’

‘It was a bit maddening to see the Bills screw up a great chance to take a 14-0 lead. They were first-and-goal at the 2 late in the first quarter and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll got way too cute and came up with three knuckle-headed play calls that resulted in a combined minus-22 yards. It was a complete over-think on his part that, against a good team, might have proven costly. Then in the second quarter, three straight runs by Frank Gore at the goal line failed before Allen sneaked the ball across. Another give to Gore blew up on fourth-and-1 in the third quarter. Yet again, the third quarter was a mess, too. On defense, kudos to whatever McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said at halftime because the run defense flipped a switch and was much better after a horrible start. Also, the decision to have White cover McLaurin no matter where he lined up was a sound one.’

‘“Well they’re human right?” he said when asked about the mood of the team. “We acknowledge that number one, but we also know that it’s a week-to-week league and the longer you wait around, you’re negative, you’re this or that, you don’t move forward. In this league, if you don’t move forward it’s going to linger. And so, it’s our job to move forward and address on Monday what we addressed and then move forward and be mentally tough and be physically tough and that’s how we do things around here.”’

‘Bills 20, Redskins 6.’

‘At 5-2, Buffalo embarks on a four-game stretch of games that if the Bills simply take care of business against teams already planning for the draft, it will all but guarantee itself a playoff berth for just the second time in the last 20 years.’

‘So why not throw the ball more to Singletary? Like the play last week, Singletary out in space can be a beautiful thing. Instead, the Bills have thrown to their running backs (Singletary, Frank Gore and T.J. Yeldon) only 37 times which is the fifth-fewest targets to backs in the league.’

‘“Brandon and I met and had conversations the last couple weeks,’’ McDermott said of potential roster moves. “He and his staff do a good job looking into things. At the end of the day, you all know that we’re going to do things that are in the best interest of this organization, short- and long-term. At the end of the day, we didn’t find something that would be responsible for us to do. I know a lot of teams go out there and just do things, but we’re trying to do things here the right way and we want to be responsible with that as well.’’’

‘The bottom line is that the Bills’ decision-makers probably recognize that they weren’t going to add a difference-maker worth the draft capital it would have cost. The Bills are 5-2, they have positioned themselves to get to the postseason if they continue to take advantage of their weak schedule, but this is not a team that is ready for a deep January run.’

‘And there sure was a lot that happened, and plenty that needs to be fixed, and it leaves us to ponder a rather important question. Was Sunday’s performance just a random bad day against a team with playoff-level talent, or does it raise doubt about the true viability of this unit?’

‘A 5-2 record is nothing to scoff at, but this was an opportunity for the Bills to add a little bit of legitimacy to it, and instead, their defense played its worst game of the season, and Josh Allen had another performance that makes you sigh deeply. It was a complete beat down in every phase.’

‘This season Allen now has 12 touchdowns (nine passing, three rushing) but he also has 10 turnovers (seven interceptions and three lost fumbles). That ratio is unacceptable, and in the second half when the Bills start playing the tougher part of their schedule, Allen can’t keep playing this way.’

‘Because this wasn’t like losing 16-10 to New England earlier at home when the defense did a masterful job containing Tom Brady. This was an old-fashioned butt whuppin’ by a team using an old-fashioned game plan.’