Biggest disappointments of the Bills season so far
With the season officially halfway done, now it's time for us to look back at the first half of the Buffalo Bills season. We're going to be doing a series of mid-season articles that will talk about both the good and the bad of this year so far. Here's what we have discussed so far: […]
With the season officially halfway done, now it's time for us to look back at the first half of the Buffalo Bills season. We're going to be doing a series of mid-season articles that will talk about both the good and the bad of this year so far. Here's what we have discussed so far:
- Bills' mid-season rookie report cards
- Bills' mid-season MVPs
- Bills' mid-season grades for offense, defense, and special teams
While there is plenty to love about this team and what they've been able to accomplish, we wanted to take a look at some of the biggest disappointments thus far. There will be another article talking about all the good the team has done, but let's get a little negative and dive into some things that haven't met our expectations.
Dalton Kincaid’s early usage
Now, Dalton Kincaid has shined in the past few weeks with the unfortunate situation surrounding Dawson Knox requiring surgery and being out indefinitely. Still, there were such high hopes that Kincaid would immediately come in and contribute at a high level on this offense, and that didn't happen to start the season.
Kincaid had shined through the Tampa Bay Buccanneers and Cincinnati Bengals game, getting far more targets than he had previously, but he still let us down in the first few weeks.
During training camp, Kincaid was the talk of the town. He was bringing in nearly everything thrown his way, pulling off acrobatic catches, and making lives miserable for the Bills' secondary. Once the season began, Kincaid went quiet, and in the first few weeks, people were questioning Ken Dorsey and Josh Allen's execution of getting him involved in the passing game.
It's a good day when our first major disappointment through the midway mark has already shown signs of growth and improvement. He has a long career ahead of him and can easily make our end-of-the-season surprises. However, for now, and based on his limited usage to start the season, we were a little disappointed.
These stats were compiled before the Bengals' loss, Kincaid has amassed 30 catches for 258 yards and a touchdown. In the team's first five games, Kincaid had 17 catches for 118 yards and no touchdowns but has since exploded onto the scene, furthering our comments that he could easily turn things around.
Ineffectiveness in stopping the run
Now, much like we've discussed through these midseason articles, injuries are important and we must bring them up. Matt Milano, DaQuan Jones, and Tre'Davious White are cornerstones on this defense, and having them out for what could be the entire season is a big reason why the team has been unable to stop the run in the past few weeks. Milano was an expert at exploding into the hole while Jones was a one-man wrecking crew on the interior of the defensive line.
Regardless, one of the biggest disappointments this season is how the Bills are seemingly unable to stop the run. During the embarrassing loss to the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick routinely leaned on the running game, with a massive hole opening up on the interior of the defensive line.
Again, Jones being out for the year has absolutely hurt this unit, and we're hoping the addition of Linval Joseph can allow the team to clean things up. For right now, this needs an immediate adjustment. As we talked about previously, Buffalo ranks near the bottom 5% of teams across the league in terms of stopping the run. Specifically, Buffalo has allowed the 22nd-highest rushing yards per game and the second-highest rushing yards per play.
If Buffalo wants a deep playoff run, they'll need to find a way to fix these issues immediately. While there is a hope of Jones' return, the team can't lean on that as a band-aid solution, they need to find answers quickly.
CB Kaiir Elam
Now, there weren't too high of expectations for Elam coming into the season, but I don't know if anyone could've predicted just how far he's fallen on this roster.
Elam has been a healthy scratch for the majority of this season, an indication of how the front office feels about his progression as a professional. Not only that, just recently Brandon Beane made the announcement that they would be 'shutting him down' for the next few weeks as he deals with an ankle injury.
While this undoubtedly impacts his performance, he just hasn't been a reliable option for the team. With Christian Benford being taken in the same draft and getting the start over Elam, to even newly-acquired Josh Norman being activated over him, his future with the team hasn't looked worse.
What makes this even more puzzling is that Elam played well at the tail end of last season, earning him unexpected MVP honors from the Bills Mafia after a dominant performance over the Miami Dolphins.
With the trade deadline coming and going and Elam not being dealt, he's nothing more than a depth piece at this point. The team so desperately needed CB reinforcements that they went out and made a trade with the Packers for Rasul Douglas, pushing Elam even further down the depth chart.
He's young, but as of right now Elam's usage and his failure to see meaningful snaps is one of our biggest disappointments this season.
Bills grades for offense, defense, and special teams
The Buffalo Bills are midway through their NFL season. Our team broke down their grades for offense, defense, and special teams.
