ORCHARD PARK - When Josh Allen was asked the other day about whether he misses the dearly departed Stefon Diggs, Allen provided an interesting and refreshingly honest answer.
“I think Stef’s a great player and what he brought to this team was special,” Allen began, probably wondering why the question was asked yet again. “So, miss is - I don’t know if I’d say miss. He was a guy that was reliable, you can look to and he’s gonna have the juice each and every day. I’m sure he’s bringing it over there in Houston. So definitely, you can’t say that you don’t miss that, but I am very happy with what we got going on here and how hard the guys have been working.”
Easily reading between the lines, what Allen was saying is that the page has been turned, stop asking about it, and he has moved on with a new group of passing game targets.
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Saturday afternoon, we got to see - ever so briefly in the preseason opener against the Chicago Bears - what life will be like for Allen and the Bills without Diggs on the field.
Allen played exactly a quarter in Buffalo’s terribly underwhelming 33-6 blowout loss. The moment the first quarter ended, even though the Bills were in the middle of an offensive possession, Sean McDermott pulled Allen and inserted Mitch Trubisky.
“Yeah, I was told I was going to get a quarter and coach McDermott stuck true to that,” Allen said with a smile. “I was hoping I could finish out that drive. But I felt good with what we did early on. Every game is something that we want to win, and today we didn’t do that. Lots to learn from. Again, it’s preseason, I know we’re not game-planning for these games. But we’ve got to be ready to go.”
The Bills opened the game with Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman as the two receivers along with tight ends Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox. Curtis Samuel jumped in on the second snap.
Allen went three-and-out on the first possession as he completed a seven-yard pass to Shakir, but two James Cook runs were blown up to kill the series. On his second possession, Allen started with a quick screen to Samuel who scooted 15 yards, but he had his third and final pass tipped by blitzing linebacker and former teammate Tremaine Edmunds.
The only positive development is that Allen, as well as the other starters, all got out of the game healthy which is always the primary goal in the preseason.
Here are some other observations:
1. The Bills offensive line did not shine
Unlike Allen and Cook, the rest of the starting offense finished that second possession which wound up being nearly eight minutes long and ended with a Tyler Bass field goal. However, even with the first-string line in the game, the running attack was non-existent.
Cook and Ray Davis combined for three yards on six carries behind the starting line which could not create any space. It’s nothing to be alarmed about, yet, but it was not a good first look with Mitch Morse gone, Connor McGovern replacing him at center, and David Edwards at left guard.
And things didn’t get much better thereafter as the Bears continued to win at the line of scrimmage. Taking QB scrambles out of the mix, the Bills’ running backs combined for 36 yards on 19 carries.
2. Mitch Trubisky was, well, Mitch Trubisky
Look, I know he’s in a tough spot like all backup QBs in the preseason. You’re playing with fellow second-teamers, even some third-teamers, and nothing is going to be smooth.
But Trubisky was just sloppy with the ball in terms of his accuracy. He had several open receivers and he simply misfired. He had Tyrell Shavers open over the middle for an intermediate gain and threw behind him, though Shavers probably should have caught it.
He had Quintin Morris open running a seam route and underthrew the pass and it was tipped by a Bears defender. And after getting the ball to the 5 he threw two incompletions in the end zone, one to Keon Coleman that was nearly picked off.
Trubisky finished 10 of 18 for 82 yards. His longest gain came when Shakir caught a quick pass on the right and showed excellent quickness to run away from Bears DB Josh Blackwell for a 19-yard gain.
3. We didn’t learn much about the kickoff play
The first two times Tyler Bass kicked off, he put it into the end zone which meant the Bears gladly took the touchback and possession at their own 30. I thought it was pretty dumb to waste a chance to practice covering the kick to figure out what it might be like in the regular season. Bears coach Matt Eberflus likely wasn’t thrilled either, because he would have preferred to see how his team handled the play.
Perhaps the Bills have certain plans, and that’s fine, but you don’t have to reveal your regular season strategy while giving guys reps on the timing of the play, and what the whole thing will look like.
Finally, on his third kickoff Bass kept it short of the goal line and the Bears’ return man, Velus Jones dropped it. He eventually gained control but the Bills covered well and tackled him at the 19.
Hey, if McDermott’s plan is to have Bass kick it to the end zone all season and sacrifice the five yards from the previous kickoff touchback spot, OK. I just thought it was a lost opportunity on the first two.
4. KJ Hamler made a poor first impression
The former second-round pick of the Broncos was given an opportunity to show something on kickoff return because that’s pretty much his best chance to win a roster spot. His first return went for 19 yards to the 29, so not bad there. But he muffed the second one at the 15 and wound up with just a two-yard return to the 17.
Then in the second half he got some time on offense and he got open on an intermediate out route and dropped Shane Buechele’s pass for what would have been a first down. On the next play, Buechele threw a pick-six to Chicago linebacker Micah Baskerville, so the Hamler drop was pretty consequential.
Hamler did have a nice 15-yard return on a punt, and he also caught a pass for nine yards so it wasn’t a total washout.
Rookie Daequan Hardy, who is also competing for both return jobs, was deep for both kickoffs and punts. His first chance on punt return died due to a well-placed out of bounds kick, and on his second, he made a terrible decision to make a fair catch inside his 5-yard-line. So yeah, the Bills have some things to figure out in this phase of special teams.
5. Bears rookie Caleb Williams had a nice debut
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft sat out the Bears preseason opener, the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio last week. So this was his NFL debut and it went well as he directed two field goal drives, completing 4 of 7 passes for 95 yards, 42 coming on one play when DeAndre Swift caught a pass in the flat, the Bills got messed up in coverage, and he raced downfield.
Williams showed mobility as he escaped pressure on a couple snaps and on one, he ran for a 13-yard gain. While he was in the game, the Bears gained 147 yards and made seven first downs, mostly against the Bills’ starting defense.
It feels like the Bears haven’t had a great quarterback since Sid Luckman in the 1940s, but Williams may finally break that drought if this was an indication.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
