3 reasons why the Buffalo Bills overachieved in 2023

1.) Multiple injuries on the defense throughout the season

Going into the season, it was Sean McDermott who was going to be calling the plays after former defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier left the organization. McDermott has been a successful defensive coordinator with the Carolina Panthers so there was no doubt that McDermott could manage the defense.

It was just a matter of if he could be the head coach and get the defense prepared as well. McDermott was able to build the best defense he could going into the season and it worked out with players like Ed Oliver who had a career year and linebacker Terrel Bernard, who stepped into the empty shoes of Tremaine Edmunds and had a career year himself. 

However, the Bills lost great pieces around them early on the year and they were very thin in the secondary and at linebacker in the playoffs. In Week 4, cornerback Tre’Davious White tore his Achilles against the Dolphins which ended his comeback season after tearing his ACL back in 2021.

Then the following week, linebacker Matt Milano and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones suffered injuries that kept Milano from playing another down this season and kept Jones sidelined until Week 17 against the Patriots. 

Going into the playoffs, the Bills were short in the secondary to the point where they had Kaiir Elam playing in the game and then eventually lost linebackers in Bernard and Baylon Spector. 

Despite all of these injuries throughout the season, the Buffalo defense played the best that they could and only had one true bad regular season game against the Philadelphia Eagles.