The Buffalo Bill lost their Week 5 game in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars 25-20. The team had to travel across the pond after a massive division win against the Miami Dolphins last week, and the team just didn’t look like they had it on Sunday from the opening kickoff. While there are plenty of excuses Josh Allen and company can make, the fact is, the team lost to an inferior team, so there is plenty of blame to go around. Here are the three Bills most to blame for the Week 5 loss to the Jaguars in London.

3. Matt Milano

Let’s start by saying, of course, the Matt Milano injury was in no way his fault. It was a freak accident, the kind of which unfortunately happened all the time in football. The reason Milano is to “blame” for this loss is twofold.

One is that Milano is one of the Bills’ defense’s biggest playmakers, and without him on the field, the Jaguars moved the ball much better and with greater ease than they should have. Buffalo is simply better on the field when Milano is in the lineup.

The other way Milano led to a loss is what his injury did to the Bills sideline. It seemed as though the team realized relatively quickly how severe the Pro Bowl linebacker’s injury was. NFL Network sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl did a great job reporting on how there was a pall over the group once players figured out that their defensive leader was likely done for the 2023 campaign.

That inevitability took a lot out of the Bills in Week 5. The team flew all the way to London, emotionally drained after their huge AFC East win, and (basically) the first thing that happened was a season-ending injury to a star.

All that is incredibly difficult to deal with, especially when you add it to the fact that the defense was already massively struggling with injuries. While they ultimately couldn’t get the job done, give credit to the D (specifically AJ Epenesa) for doing what they could to keep Buffalo in the game.

2. Stefon Diggs

Even with the injuries, poor play at times, and a general malaise, the Bills were still in the Week 5 matchup with the Jaguars. The team was only down 11-7 in the early fourth quarter. Then, with just over 13 minutes to go in the game, Josh Allen launched a bomb to Stefon Diggs.

The ball was slightly underthrown but catchable for sure. Diggs jumped with Jaguars defensive back Darious Williams, and the two fought for the ball. Williams wrestled it away from the Buffalo recover, and the pass went down as an interception, not a 50-plus-yard completion.

Diggs tried his best to get that ball, but in the end, he couldn’t come down with it. That play was the final turning point of the game. Jacksonville scored to make it 18-7 on the ensuing drive, and the game was essentially over.

Stefon Diggs was excellent for the rest of the game. He finished his day in Tottenham Stadium, with eight catches for 121 yards and a touchdown. Diggs was a huge reason the Bills were able to keep it as close as they did, but by not making that late play, he has to take some of the blame for the loss.

1. Josh Allen

Josh Allen rightly received heaps of praise after Buffalo beat Miami in Week 4, so it’s only fair he takes his fair share of the blame pie after the Bills’ Week 5 loss to the Jaguars in England.

When the dust settled, the Bills’ late rally helped Allen walk away with solid stats. He was 27 of 40 for 359 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, and as discussed above, the interception could have been a big completion.

Still, Allen ran just four times for 14 yards, and the offense struggled to make first downs all day. The Bills made just 18 first downs to the Jaguars 29 in Week 5, and Allen and his mates just 5-of-12 on third downs, which led to six Bills punts. For context, Buffalo punter Sam Martin had just seven punts all year before Sunday.

There weren’t any huge, identifiable Josh Allen issues in London. It was just an overall lack of sharpness from the QB and the offense as a whole. The running game never got going — RB Damien Williams was the second-leading rusher behind Allen with 13 yards, and James Cook had -4 yards — and the passing game just couldn’t click.

In the end, the Bills win or lose based on Allen’s play, and on Sunday in the UK, it just wasn’t good enough.