The Buffalo Bills are 4-1 and are coming off a wild win over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night, so everything is just peachy keen, right?
Well, not exactly. The Bills have a lot of stuff to clean up in order to put themselves in the best position possible to accomplish their ultimate goal.
Former SportsCenter anchor and analyst Trey Wingo recently took to X to point out just how much the Bills are lacking on defense, and with turnovers and penalties.
And, Wingo believes that what the Bills are doing right now just isn't sustainable.
Yes (the Buffalo Bills are) 4-1," Wingo began. "But look a little deeper: they’re 30th in total defense, 28th in points per game, have a -4 turnover differential and are a top 10 most penalized team… this is not a sustainable winning model. Lots to clean up here."
Bills' defensive, turnover and penalty struggles
The Bills have coughed up the football nine times this season and only four teams have more. What's worse is James Cook and Josh Allen have combined for seven of those, with Cook having two lost fumble and Allen having four picks and one lost fumble. In all, the two Bills stars have combined for eight fumbles, losing three in total.
That's a major problem in and of itself and things have gotten so bad with Cook that head coach Joe Brady even threateneed to take carries away from him, something the offense can't afford.
When it comes to takeaways, Buffalo only has five and just six teams in the NFL have fewer. The Bills could better cover for their poor defense by taking the ball away more often, but they have not been able to do so in 2026.
The Bills sport the second-worst pass defense in the NFL, but they have actually been decent against the run, ranking 15th.
Last but not least, we have penalties, with Buffalo notching 43 thus far, good enough for the sixth-most in the league, per NFLPenalties.com.
Is Wingo right?
In a sense, yes.
Now, again, the Bills can have these issues and make the playoffs, especially when they're scoring the amount of points they have been. Buffalo leads the NFL with 32.8 points per game.
But this is the Buffalo Bills we're talking about here. Simply going to the postseason is not enough. This team has to win a Super Bowl or it's a total disappointment, plain and simple.
Once the competition gets tougher in January, these issues will become more glaring and much more difficult to overcome.
Then, you're depending on perfect play from Josh Allen, which we know doesn't always happen, especially in the playoffs.
All of that adds up to an increased chance the Bills will do what they always do in the postseason, which is hit a wall and get eliminated.
Thankfully for Buffalo, it has ample time to clean all of this up, but whether or not they'll actually be able to do that remains to be seen.
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