The Buffalo Bills entered Sunday's game against the New England Patriots as 8.5 point road favorites, which had been an unthinkable line for years for any team heading to Foxborough. That wasn't scaring away bettors, who were taking Buffalo over New England at a 5/1 rate, according to Vegas Insider. And could you blame then? Nobody was giving the Patriots a chance… so naturally, New England won.

After the game, Sean McDermott was asked about Buffalo's recent offensive struggles, and his response likely won't inspire confidence amongst Bills fans.

“I wish I could tell you, Joe. I really do,” Sean McDermott said. “We talk about it. We talk about being more detailed. Getting into a rhythm early. Playing complementary football. All three phases working together. We haven’t been able to get into a good rhythm in the first quarter, let’s just start there, right? So, just overall, we’ve got to find the answers there” (h/t Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic).

McDermott went on to elaborate further on the Bills struggles on first down, saying, “Winning first down so you can stay on schedule, so you can move the chains. If you look at their offense, they did that today. They won first down, they stayed on schedule, they stayed out of third-and-long for the most part of the day.”

Sean McDermott alluded to part of the problem here for Buffalo. New England's offense had their best game of the season against a Bills D that, although missing All-Pro linebacker Matt Milano and All-Pro cornerback Tre'Davious White, is supposed to control the game against Mac Jones and an uninspiring support cast of Patriots skill position players that was mustering under seven points per game in their last three losses.

Back to the offense though… there's no shortage of theories as to why the Bills offense is in such a funk. Over the last three games, the normally potent Bills are 1-2, have turned the ball over six times, and are averaging under 20 points per game. So what then is the underlying problem here?

You could point to the turnovers, which have been a major problem for Josh Allen and the Bills since Brian Daboll left Buffalo to become the head coach of the New York Giants. Buffalo went from 13th in turnovers in 2021, Daboll's final year in Buffalo, to 31st last year and 21st so far this season. Meanwhile, in Daboll's first year with the G-Men, the Giants finished with the second fewest turnovers in the NFL.

So is the problem new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey? Maybe. I asked my cousin, a former Bills season ticket holder, what he thought the problem was. His response: “Dorsey is so bad. He's a square peg in a round hole type of guy.” And speaking of the play calling, so far this season we've seen far fewer designed runs for Josh Allen, who is averaging a career low 21 yards rushing per game. Is that a conscious decision made to preserve Josh Allen's legs and health for later in the season? Perhaps.

We're only seven games into the season, and Buffalo is 4-3. Conventional wisdom says there is time to figure things out, but in the crowded AFC, every game matters, even in October. It's time for the Bills to circle the wagons and turn this thing around.