With the Buffalo Bills facing the Los Angeles Chargers this Sunday at Highmark Stadium, both teams are entering the game with plenty to prove after just two games into the NFL season. The Bills are 2-0 for the third straight season, and their first under head coach Joe Brady.
It's still too early to be talking Super Bowl, as it is with 31 other clubs looking to make it to SoFi Stadium for the big game on Sunday, February 14. As for the Chargers, it's still too early to hit the panic button with their 0-2 start, as they still have a quality head coach and quarterback combination ready to win with their team moving forward.
With that said, the Bills still need to stay focused on this week's matchup in order to avoid a trap game at home vs. a hungry and desperate Chargers squad.
4 distractions Bills must overcome in Week 3
1.) Buffalo Bills 2-0 hitting their stride
Before the season, the NFL schedule makers scheduled this game thinking it would be a battle of two 2-0 teams looking for early AFC conference supremacy. Instead, they are now treated to a Week 3 matchup between two teams already facing opposing records even though it's still early in this young season.
On paper, the Bills are obviously the better team against a desperate Chargers team. But as we've seen in recent years in September, the Bills haven't won the game yet before even stepping out onto the field. The parity in the NFL has never been greater, and it's only going to improve.
The Chargers have their quarterback, Justin Herbert; although he is now considered a veteran, he hasn't played like one after two games into the season. He only has a 59.3 completion percentage and has two touchdowns to three interceptions, with defenses sacking him six times so far.
New offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel has a reputation of being an offensive guru, but so far it's been missing, and Jim Harbaugh's age could possibly cause their Super Bowl window to close earlier than Chargers fans thought when he was hired in 2024.
However, Herbert has a big arm and the capability to throw the ball downfield to his receivers with ease. McDaniels has been the head coach for the Miami Dolphins and even pulled off a big win against the Bills, 30-13 last year in Miami, and Harbaugh has excelled and won everywhere he's been: FCS, Stanford, Michigan, and the San Francisco 49ers.
The New England Patriots will be coming to Highmark Stadium in Week 4 to play the Bills, and the team can't be seen as looking forward to it, as this Sunday could represent a "trap game" for them.
Both teams must come out and play the game to their full potential.
2.) Joe Brady shown to be upgrade as Bills head coach
Joe Brady has brought a forward-thinking positive attitude and an aggressive mindset to the team. So far, that has worked, as the Bills in Week 1 finally beat the Houston Texans in a hard-fought 36-31 game for the first time since 2006. He then took control for most of the game in their 41-31 win over the Detroit Lions in their new Highmark Stadium opener.
He is the first Bills' coach to begin the season 2-0 in franchise history, showing that the Bills' organization made the right call to fire Sean McDermott and choose Brady as their next head coach. When it is all said and done, hopefully that will be the outcome; however, under McDermott, the team did win games, but they were put to the test when it came to playoff time.
The true question is whether the team can do it in the playoffs and whether Brady ends up being an upgrade from McDermott.
3.) Jim Leonhard's defense is prepared for Week 3 showdown
Jim Leonhard's new aggressive defensive scheme has worked wonders, especially in creating sacks on the quarterback. For one, Greg Rousseau: this defense allows him to come up on the edge as an outside linebacker and sack the quarterback freely, whereas in the past, he lined up as a defensive end who put his hand in the dirt and sacked the quarterback when the front four was generating pressure.
Bradley Chubb has also come through as the opposite edge rusher with 1.5 sacks, and Deone Walker with one sack. The Bills still have permitted 62 points in their first two games and have been horrible in pass defense, allowing 546 yards and six touchdowns.
While they need to up their game and contain the passing attack, there is still time for Leonhard and his players to improve as they are still learning together as a team.
4.) Turnaround of Keon Coleman
Keon Coleman is an interesting player who is hard to figure out. Talent-wise, he can be a big, physical nightmare when catching the ball against smaller cornerbacks, but going back to last year, his maturity level was not there.
This year, he's starting to mature better, and he's also starting to show off his talent on the football field. Against the Lions, Coleman had 63 yards on six catches and really stepped up in D.J. Moore's absence as a No. 1 receiver.
While the young receiver has shown signs of great play, this season, he hasn't been consistent. Coleman has to step up and become a leader if Moore is out, as he did against the Lions; however, presuming he will reproduce his stats from Week 2 may be an overstatement.
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