By Jack Stewart
Through the first five weeks, the 2025 Buffalo Bills have provided fans with wild ups and downs this far. The Bills started the year with a dramatic last second win against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football. The following three weeks, Allen and the Bills secured three solid wins against the Jets, Dolphins, and Saints, before eventually falling to the New England Patriots in week 5. As of now, the Bills sit at 4-1, with that recent loss at the hands of the Pats being their only defeat.
So far, Josh Allen has looked great, with his only real misstep happening during the Patriots loss. He’s sitting at just under 1000 yards passing with a combined twelve touchdowns on the ground and through the air. Surprisingly, the main star of the Buffalo offense has been James Cook who was recently named to the AFC Offensive Player of the Month. He currently has 400 yards rushing, placing him second in the NFL, and five rushing touchdowns which leads the league. While he was good last season, this level of dominance has yet to be seen out of Cook and seeing him take this next step has been great. Additionally, second year wide receiver Keon Coleman has grown a lot over the off season, and his role within the Bills system is becoming much clearer. His rookie season was mediocre, but through the first few weeks it’s obvious that his chemistry with Allen is improving and he looks more composed than he did a year ago. His separation issues are still prevalent, but his ability to catch contested balls makes him an excellent target, especially in the red zone. Coleman is showing a lot of promise and he should continue to develop throughout the season and the coming years.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bills have not found the same success, and they’ve struggled significantly at times. While injuries to key pieces like Ed Oliver and rookie Maxwell Hairston have hurt, the performance by this Bills defense has been unacceptable at times. Despite securing a win against the Ravens, running back Derrick Henry ran through Buffalo’s defense, with the victory coming exclusively through a lucky turnover. The Bills run defense has been one of the worst in the entire league, with the Bills allowing the second most rushing yards in the entire league. While these struggles have been worsened by injuries, performance issues among all three levels have been big so far this season. The recent loss to the Patriots also exposed a lot of weaknesses in the secondary, which needs substantial improvement either at the trade deadline or next year’s draft. The current safety duo of Cole Bishop and Taylor Rapp is one of the worst Buffalo has seen in a while, with both of them being major liabilities. While Bishop is in his second year and needs time to grow, the performance issues from Rapp are inexcusable and changes need to be made. While the defense has mostly held up through five weeks, it’s looking more than likely that collapses will happen deeper in the season. Looking ahead, matchups against Tampa Bay and Philadelphia will be tough for the Bills defense to manage, and despite recent struggles from Saquon Barkley, he’ll more than likely dominate the Bills defense.
Overall, the Bills have started the season pretty well, with only a few major flaws up to this point. The defensive struggles and offensive stalls have been problematic, but they should be nothing more than small kinks to work out over the year. Buffalo should be on pace for another AFC East title and playoff appearance, with a relatively high floor for this season. Even with the unfortunate loss to New England, the Bills should bounce back against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night before heading into the bye week seven. If head coach Sean McDermott can find a solution to some of these problems, there should be no reason why this can’t be another great year for the Buffalo Bills.