Trip To London Steered Buffalo Bills To Wrong Side of The Road

Heading into their October 8th match-up across the pond with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Buffalo Bills were rolling. After stomping the high-flying Miami Dolphins by four touchdowns the week prior, head coach Sean McDermott had his team poised to dominate most any opponent, except the city of London.

Get our free mobile app

Not only did the Bills look flat on that early October Sunday morning (9:30 am Eastern Standard Time) vs. Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Buffalo hasn't looked the same since. Why?

The easy response is: 'the Bills lost linebacker Matt Milano and defensive tackle Daquan Jones that day in London.' True. But then what is the problem with the offense and why was it crushing defenses prior to the trip across the ocean?

Before the Bills European excursion, Buffalo's offense generated 145 points in four games. Over the next four match-ups, Josh Allen and the offense have put up 126. That is almost a touchdown a game less. Is it all due to injuries? On the offensive side of the ball, that is doubtful. Only Dawson Knox and Damien Harris are missing from the offense due to injury and Harris only had 94 yards rushing all season, before he got hurt during the week leading up to the Patriots loss.

It may be coincidence. It may be coaching. But one thing is for sure, the Buffalo Bills offense has not been the same since traveling to London. Fans are screaming for offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey to run the ball more with James Cook. Well, besides the mess across the Atlantic, where Cook only ran the ball 5 times for -4 yards, the second year running back has averaged about 20 carries or targets per game. Given the number of weapons that Josh Allen has to make happy (see Stefon Diggs for details) that is a pretty good number for Cook.

The answer appears to lie with Josh Allen. Some experts that follow the Bills are calling for Allen to go back to more of his cowboy/gunslinger ways that made him so successful. Former Bills quarterback and Amazon Prime NFL analyst, Ryan Fitzpatrick even goaded the sixth-year quarterback into running "somebody over" last Thursday in order to fire up the stagnant Buffalo offense.

Yes, the Bills came away with a win but they are 2-and-2 following the game in England. Buffalo certainly doesn't look like the Super Bowl destined team fans were excited about following the Miami massacre. Hopefully, someone in London will return Buffalo's lost luggage containing their mojo. They will need it if this is going to be the Bills team that returns to the Super Bowl.