Week 8 Preview: Buffalo Bills @ Carolina Panthers
It’s Week 8 and we’re coming off of three weeks of misery. That hasn’t been the case too many times in the Josh Allen era. Having to deal with two straight losses heading into a bye week has sent the Mafia into a tailspin. I’ve been no different.
Early in the year, I was making plans to close out Highmark Stadium at the AFC Championship game. Even selling my tickets to the Jets game to close the regular season seemed safe. That has since changed. I’m wondering if I made a mistake. I don’t even know if we’ll see a home playoff game at seasons end.
So how does that translate to this week? What can the Bills do to restore confidence?
The Bills Are Getting Help
The team has players coming back and not a moment too soon. Michael Hoecht, Larry Ogunjobi and Maxwell Hairston are all back at practice. Hoecht and Ogunjobi coming off of suspension, Hairston off of IR.
So how much will this help? Neither Hoecht nor Ogunjobi move the needle for me individually in regards to how I view this defense. That being said, I don’t see how the combination of the two doesn’t help the defense. They need the juice, and hopefully they’re getting it.
Maxwell Hairston on the other hand, will be under a microscope, at least in my eyes. I don’t have super high hopes for an immediate impact here. I don’t even have high hopes for playing time – McDermott has historically taken his time integrating players in this situation. But, Hairston can’t be much worse than we’ve seen. Tre White is a shell of his former self. Hairston doesn’t have a high bar to clear to be an upgrade over the production we’ve seen from that position so far. If he shows flashes, I’m calling it a W.
Ultimately, the defense has to show that they can put it all together. Rico Dowdle has been on a tear this year. But Andy Dalton – or Bryce Young if you want to believe that there’s actually a chance he can play this week – should not be able to pick apart your defense. Dalton is probably more capable of it than Young. But Dalton is aged and less capable of it than he once was. This is an opportunity to shut down an inferior offense and make a statement.
The Offense Needs to Move
This is my biggest gripe. You have a Ferrari at quarterback but you’re unwilling to push it past 30 mph. Get the offense firing on all cylinders, and you’ll hear a collective sigh of relief from an entire fan base. I can completely understand wanting to balance both passing and running games. I get it. But you’re not going to hang with the top teams in the league without being able to open up the passing game.
Unleash Allen in this game against the Panthers, and you’ll see a much more confident fan base heading into a home game against the Chiefs. If it continues to struggle, that is going to be a very tense crowd in Highmark Stadium, that could very easily get taken out of the game early by Patrick Mahomes.
Jaycee Horn and Derrick Brown are my biggest concerns on that defense. Horn doesn’t shadow the opponents best receivers. Move Shakir – or Kincaid if he plays – away from him and profit. And ideally, move Brown away from running lanes. Keep those two away from the ball, and you should be able to move the chains.
My Take
I go back and forth on this game. There are times that I think about it and think that the Bills are going to come out and make a statement. There are other times where I think the issues with this team show up again this week. I think it’s a pivotal game for not only the psyche of the fan base, but the team as well. And I keep going back to McDermott’s undefeated record coming off of the bye. 8-0 off of the bye is not an accident.
Prediction
All things considered, at the time of writing this – I’m feeling confident. I think that they’ll come out and remind everyone who they are. I don’t think it’ll look as difficult as it has the past two games. There will be difficult moments, just not as bad.
Buffalo Bills – 34, Carolina Panthers - 24