By Rich Kowalski / Billswire.usatoday.com
If you’ve been keeping up with the rest of the NFL this year, you’d know that league has been a scoring fest. The NFL has quickly become the fast-paced, high-scoring league some fans dreamed of.
There have been a record number of points scored around the league in 2018 but there are still a few teams lacking offensive firepower, one of them being the Buffalo Bills (2-6).
As you’d expect with a quarterback room such as Buffalo’s, the team isn’t putting the ball into the end zone. The Bills offense is averaging just 10.9 points per game. That’s an astounding 25.4 points less than the NFL’s highest-scoring team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Granted the Chiefs are killing it with their 36.3 points per game but 10.9 is just embarrassing.
To make matters worse, the Bills are might have to put Nathan Peterman back onto the field. Peterman needs no introduction and the sky really is the limit for him. He can’t go much further down than he already has considering he’s thrown an interception on 11.5 percent of his career passes.
It’s depressing and it should be but Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott is still beating the same drum over and over.
When asked Tuesday if he can put into words how he’s managing the 2-6 start, McDermott talked about his experiences before the Bills.
“No, listen. I’ve been a part of… once in Philadelphia, once in Carolina, I’ve been a part of this before. You know, there’s challenging moments, especially early. It’s always a challenge,” said McDermott.
“…I know we’re getting it turned in the right direction, and I have a vision for this football team…I know it’s frustrating for our fan base. But I know we’re doing things that are right that are going to lead us to that down the road.”
Frustrating might be too tame of a word for what’s it’s been like for western New York. The franchise clinched their first playoff birth in 17 seasons last year and the team repaid them with a weak offseason that led them to a point where options at quarterback are a concussed Derek Anderson or Nathan Peterman.
Not ideal.
The optimist in one says to wait this out and believe that this is a long-term plan but it’s been hard to see the forest through the trees thus far.
Game after game, Buffalo’s flaws have been taken advantage of and this offseason and the free agents out there don’t look like they’ll offer up much help in terms of weapons for this offense which is severely lacking them.
As the Bills continue through this season, one thing is certain, the team is going to figure out which players want this and which players don’t. They’re going to find out who is on-board with the “process.”
Really none of Buffalo’s future games offer up much hope as they still have five divisional games remaining but the Bills and McDermott will continue to press on and keep grinding until they figure out who they are as a team and where this ship is headed.