Last week, the Bills took a pretty brutal loss to Jacksonville in London. The team came into the game looking very sluggish, particularly on offense. They seemed to be sleepwalking as first downs were fleeting; they punted on their first four drives and on six of seven drives. I’m never one to blame the refs after a loss, and I won’t do that here. My overwhelming thought is any game that the refs are making themselves the stars more than the players is going to be a game I don’t enjoy. Despite the struggling offense and injuries piling up on defense, the Bills still made a game of it in the waning minutes. The production was simply too little too late. This week the Bills take on their former offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll, as he leads the Giants into Orchard Park on Sunday night. Here are some of my keys to the game.

What Does the Defense Look Like?

Before the first game of the season, I was very curious what the Bills’ defense would look like under McDermott. Now, headed into week six with injuries piling up I have the same question, but for different reasons. Not only did the Bills take on several injuries, they were serious injuries to some of the most integral pieces of the defense. The team lost Tre White in week four and in week five, added two studs to that list in DaQuan Jones and Matt Milano, both likely out for the remainder of the season. These two players were both playing at a very high level and towards the top of their respective positions. These injuries are absolutely brutal to overcome, but this is where Brandon Beane’s building of depth comes in. The defense faired pretty well overall after the injuries last year, and I am curious to see what they look like going forward. I was very excited about the addition of Poona Ford this off-season, and he has been a game-day inactive each week this year. I will be looking for him to make some meaningful contributions. We will also get to see a lot more of Dorian Williams than I expected this year. He has some very big shoes to fill, but I thought he performed admirably last week. Hopefully, the young players and depth pieces can keep this defense afloat.

Get the Run Game Back on Track.

The Bills’ run game was cruisin’ headed into week five. In week five in London, it came to a screeching halt. Josh Allen led the team with rushing yards with 14, and James Cook finished with negative yardage. Not a recipe for success. I would personally love to see more of Josh under center and more play-action from under center. I have never been a huge fan of running out of shotgun. Every player on the field gets a jump on the play before the guy who actually gets to try to move the ball. Sure, it’s only a half-tick, but that matters so much in the NFL. I think running out of formations not only gives the RBS better opportunities, but I think it sets Josh up to use more play-action, which is something he excels at but is very underrated. Josh is very good with the sleight of hand and selling fakes, and I think that should be used early and often. Using great ball fakes to make the defense process one more thing and slow them down just a bit will do wonders in opening up the rest of the offense.

Get Kincaid More Looks.

I guess the wording here could be a bit better, as Kincaid has gotten a decent amount of targets for a rookie tight end. I guess I would say more here to get him more quality looks. He was drafted to be a big slot more than a tight end, as we were told. The times he gets the ball are short receptions with opportunities for YAC or simply designed to move the chains. Both things are great, but in rewatching the game, there seem to be quite a few plays where he seems to be quite open down the field and just happens to be the third read in the progression. Many of these players were, in fact, completed to Diggs or Davis, so I think it becomes pretty easy to ignore. My point here is you dropped a first-round pick on the guy to be a difference-maker and a match-up nightmare, and I haven’t seen a ton of opportunities for him in that fashion. The offense has largely the same weapons as last year in Diggs, Davis, Knox, and Cook, and we saw come playoff time (and over the past couple of seasons) that if teams were able to take away Diggs, the ancillary weapons weren’t enough to make other teams pay. Now, maybe this is by design, and they want to unleash his full potential later in the season and bring him along slowly. Still, I think that moving him up in the progression reads will give us a better idea of who he will be for this offense rather than trying to find out when the important games are being played down the stretch.