‘On the defensive side of the football, the Bills gave Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa fits early on in this affair. Miami was unable to generate any momentum on offense, and while trying to get a pass off Tagovailoa took a massive hit from Buffalo’s AJ Epenesa that forced the second-year signal-caller to be carted off the field.’
WGR
Opinion: Capaccio: Arrow Up/Arrow Down: Bills at Dolphins
‘For an overall performance, Allen does not deserve an Arrow Down. He made some dynamic plays and throws and led the offense to 35 points. It was not a bad game for him. However, he still seemed a bit off as far as accuracy and timing with some of his receivers which resulted in him completing only 17 of 33 passes for a completion percentage of a too low 51.5%.’
Opinion: Bills at Dolphins: Sal’s keys, notes, and stats
‘The Bills fumbled the football four times last week in their season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They have to be better at securing it this week.’
McDermott: ‘We cannot afford to do what we did last week’ against Pittsburgh
‘”One of their great strengths is taking the football away,” McDermott said. “We cannot afford to do what we did last week. We put the ball on the ground four times. So we’ve got to continue to work on it. I’m speaking to the discipline of our team, the discipline in this case of our ball handlers… Discipline leads to good things, if handled the right way.”‘
Gabriel Davis returns to Thursday’s practice
‘Davis was officially listed as “limited” along with defensive tackle Star Lotulelei (calf) and safety Micah Hyde (neck).’
Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs are cover boys for Sports Illustrated Kids’ ‘BFF’ issue
‘The superstar tandem are on the cover of SI Kids’ “BFF issue,” posing earnestly with each other. They’re also featured in a full-page photo shoot.’
COVID-19 vaccine now required for all future Bills, Sabres home games
‘Starting on Sunday, Oct. 31, guests must be fully vaccinated for entry at both Highmark Stadium and KeyBank Center. Guests are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second dose in a two-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or 2 weeks after a single dose vaccine, such as Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine.’
McDermott: ‘We didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the game’
‘“There’s a saying that goes, ‘before you win, you’ve got to prevent yourself from losing.’ In those situations, I didn’t think we gave ourselves a legitimate chance to win the game. That’s something we’ve got to do better this week. And when you get a punt blocked against you for a touchdown, statistically that’s hard to win, in those games. Then we don’t give ourselves a real legit chance on that fourth down to gain the first down. You go back and say, ‘hey, we’ve got to do a better job there as a coaching staff.'”‘
Wood: You’re ‘trying to calm yourself down’ during a game like Sunday
‘”You manage emotion kind of the other way… A game like yesterday, you’re almost trying to calm yourself down. I don’t know if that played any effect into Josh Allen’s missed throws.”‘
Opinion: Thud
‘Even into the fourth quarter, you might have had a lot of company if you were thinking one big play from the Bills offense and everything would get right in our little football world.’
Opinion: A deflating opening day for Bills
‘There were three big plays in the game, and all three went in Pittsburgh’s favor. Two of the three did not involve the Bills offense, but a bad performance from the offensive line and an off day by quarterback Josh Allen are clearly the main reasons why the Bills are 0-1 to start the 2021 season.’
Bills fall apart in second half; drop season opener to Steelers
‘Buffalo’s first offensive drive of the third quarter saw the team advancing into Pittsburgh territory, but instead of settling for a long field goal attempt by Bass, the Bills attempted to go for it on a 4th-and-8 play. At the Steelers’ 35-yard line, Allen fired a pass down the field intended for Davis, but his pass was knocked away.’
Three observations: Bills shoot themselves in foot against Steelers
‘While the Bills held a 10-0 lead heading into the locker room at halftime, things fell apart for Buffalo in the second half, as the Steelers executed their game plan well with some efficient play in all three phases of the game.’
Opinion: Bills’ offensive line play a concern
‘However, it’s hard not to wonder whether bringing back the same offensive line from 2020 – that struggled mightily, at times – was the best idea.’
Opinion: Arrow Up/Arrow Down: Steelers at Bills
‘Bills head coach Sean McDermott elected to punt on two different fourth down situations that he could have gone for – first on a 4th-and-1 from his own 46-yard line, then on 4th-and-3 from the Steelers’ 43 one drive later. Quarterback Josh Allen was even imploring his head coach to go for it both times.’