With a Week 6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the Buffalo Bills are now on their first losing streak since early in the 2024 season. The team luckily has a bye week to recoup, and Sean McDermott intends to make the most of it.
McDermott believes the bye is coming at the right time for his team after consecutive losses in games where it was favored. The veteran head coach vowed to use Buffalo's Week 7 bye to “figure things out” on all aspects.
“We'll figure things out on offense, defense and special teams,” McDermott said, via ESPN. “We've got to start over and start from ground zero and figure this thing out and work our tails off to do it.”
The Bills' losing streak started in Week 5, when they dropped a 23-20 Sunday night affair to the New England Patriots. The result marked their second consecutive loss to the Patriots, who surprisingly defeated them in the final game of the 2024 regular season, securing one of their four wins for the year.
The Week 6 loss dropped the Bills to 4-2. After taking a commanding 4-0 lead in the AFC North, Buffalo is now second in the division, with the 4-2 Patriots now owning the tiebreaker.
Week 6 was only the Bills' second away game of the year, but they will be forced to travel more coming out of their bye. Beginning in Week 8, Buffalo will play six of its next nine games away from home.
Sean McDermott believes Bills will be healthier after bye week
McDermott also believes the bye week will help the Bills get back to full health. Buffalo played Week 6 without Dalton Kincaid, Curtis Samuel and Matt Milano, in addition to the seven players it currently has on injured reserve. Joshua Palmer, Terrel Bernard and DaQuan Jones also suffered injuries in the loss.
With two weeks until the team's next game, McDermott believes most of the lingering issues will be gone before the Bills take the field next. Several players, including rookie first-round pick Maxwell Hairson and kicker Tyler Bass, will also be eligible to return from IR before then.
Buffalo will also have defensive tackles Larry Ogunjobi and Michael Hoecht back for the first time in 2025. Ogunjobi and Hoecht were both suspended for the first six games due to PED violations.
The Bills have an excellent opportunity to snap their current skid in their next outing against the struggling Carolina Panthers. However, they will also face the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers within their next four games.
