Buffalo Bills: Top 3 takeaways from Week 10 loss at Arizona

Penalties

The Buffalo Bills have been no stranger to being on the receiving end of penalties, but Sunday’s penalties were excruciating.

Accumulating nine penalties for 69 yards, of which 35 yards came in the span of an eight-play drive ending in a punt, these mistakes costed them. Of the penalties that Buffalo was flagged for, Dawson Knox and Devin Singletary‘s let the most out of their tires.

This also goes hand-in-hand with their season-long reputation of letting their foot off the gas in the second half. Far too often this season, often ahead in the game, the Bills have come out of the half looking uninspired and like a totally different team. The issue with this is that no lead seems safe.

Last week Russell Wilson and the Seahawks hung in the game up until the last few minutes and Sunday’s game was more of the same. Allowing 24 second-half points to their 14, whether it be scripting plays coming out of the half or leaning on their leaders to keep the bigger picture in mind, the second half needs to be better.

While this loss was a hard pill to swallow, the world is not caving in on itself. The Bills are 7-3 with a bye week and a favorable schedule coming up.

In the next three weeks, the Bills will have had full-weeks rest for injury rehabilitation and will play two teams with losing records. The week off will allow players like Matt Milano, John Brown, Mitch Morse, and the litany of banged-up players to heal. That will be followed up by a game against the 2-7 Los Angeles Chargers and the 4-6 San Fransico 49ers.

These two games will allow Buffalo to get back in the win column, work out their kinks, and build some momentum. This is all before taking on the currently-undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers.

While reminiscing on the most recent series of events is certainly disheartening as a Bills fan, there is no reason to lose hope.