Early AFC stakes grow as Bills search for offensive answers

ORCHARD PARK - Two games into the 2026 NFL season, the Buffalo Bills' offense was humming to the tune of 77 points, 36 of those coming against a Houston Texans defense that, at least heading into the year, was considered the most ferocious unit in the league.

Memories of 2024, when the Bills scored a franchise-record 525 points, were dancing in the heads of Bills fans who wondered if this version of the offense, led by then-offensive coordinator and now head coach Joe Brady, could challenge that mark.

Since then the Bills have tacked on 50 more points which is nothing to sneeze at, but no one - least of all Brady and Josh Allen - would consider either performance against the Los Angeles Chargers or New England Patriots impressive.

They survived five turnovers to somehow beat the Chargers, but they could not overcome two more killer turnovers and seven of 11 possessions where they made one or zero first downs in their loss to the Patriots .

"There's a standard by which we play, and we're either playing to that standard or not," Brady said, the insinuation that the standard has not been met the last two weeks. "It obviously wasn't good enough, and we didn't find a way to go 1-0."

Going 1-0 is going to be even more difficult this week when the Bills have to play the preseason Super Bowl betting favorite Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football at SoFi Stadium.

"I've always believed that great teams don't have to lose to learn, but we lost (Sunday) and it's now what are we putting out there," Brady said. "We're still learning about our football team. I think everybody in that locker room right now needs to sit there and say, 'Hey, I've got to be better. If I'm better and I worry about making myself better right now then we'll continue to improve as a football team.'"

As dynamic as the Rams ' Matthew Stafford-led offense can be, their often overlooked defense is coming off a tremendous shutdown of the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday, granted an Eagles team playing without four offensive stars in RB Saquon Barkley, WR DeVonta Smith, OL Lane Johnson and TE Dallas Goedert.

Rams defense fuels comeback win over Eagles

On the flip side, though, the Rams did not have two of their future first-ballot Hall of Famers, edge rusher Myles Garrett who is on injured reserve, and Aaron Donald who sat out with a minor back injury, plus starting corner Jaylen Watson.

The Rams gave up 20 first-half points due in large part to a pair of Stafford interceptions and a punt coverage breakdown that gave the Eagles scoring driving starts at the Rams 28-, 17-, and 35-yard line, but thereafter the Rams obliterated Philadelphia the rest of the way.

In the second half, the Eagles managed four first downs and 72 yards and for the game, Philly had 12 first downs, 172 yards and went 1-for-16 on third- and fourth-down plays.

That domination kept the Rams in it and set the stage for Stafford-led drives of 98 and 79 yards which resulted in two TD runs by Kyren Williams in the final four minutes of the game to pull off a 24-20 victory.

"Our defense was outstanding, getting that stop a bunch of times," Stafford said. "Can't say enough good things about our defense and how resilient they played."

Rams coach Sean McVay wholeheartedly agreed, admitting that the offense and special teams made it very difficult, but the defense persevered.

"I thought our guys answered the bell," McVay said. "For them to be 1-of-16 on conversion downs, that's so big. In the spirit at which they kept competing in spite of some other things that maybe weren't going our way with the offense or in the kicking game, I think it says a lot about them but it was their ability to consistently execute.

"Somebody sent me something that at one point there was a 3% chance we win that game. But those defensive guys, they didn't give a (crap) about those chances. They kept playing and make them snap it one more time. Then the next thing you know, it leads to a stop. Offense goes 98 yards, they get another stop, offense goes 79 yards, before you know it you're taking a knee and you're like, 'Holy geez, that was awesome by the D.' They did a great job. I was really proud of them."

You would expect the Rams - who are expected to get Donald back - will get a much tougher test from Allen and the Bills, provided Buffalo gets back to playing the way it did in the first two weeks, and McVay is already gearing up for the challenge.

Sean McVay praises Bills offense ahead of Monday matchup

"I know we're playing a great offense, I know we're playing a really good football team that's complete," McVay said, though having admitted he hadn't quite delved into the film, he perhaps hasn't seen how troubled the Bills' defensive backfield is, or how mistake-prone the Bills' offense has been.

Continuing, McVay said, "Joe Brady's done a great job with their offense the last handful of years, Josh is really high level, they've added some new playmakers in DJ Moore, they have an explosive back in (James) Cook that can really make you pay. It seems like (Dalton) Kincaid has been balling and doing his thing. I've always thought (Khalil) Shakir is really one of the more underrated players in this league and (Dawson) Knox is great. They have a great offensive line, great personnel.

"It's a great football team, but I'm interested to see how we can play cleaner football. I love the way that we played defensively. How do we build on that but know that it's going to be different with what Buffalo presents compared to what we defended (last Sunday) in terms of what's required to play at a high level."

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.