Buffalo Bills' Week 5 receiving production proves they have major WR problem
By Brandon Ray
Through the first three weeks of the NFL season, the Buffalo Bills seemed to have shown the rest of the league that they didn’t need a true number one receiver. Trading away Stefon Diggs last offseason didn’t seem like such a mistake when they were putting up 30+ points on their opponents. However, the narrative is starting to change due to their last two games.
In Week 4 against the Baltimore Ravens, the Bills simply could not get anything going on offense. They couldn’t establish the run and Josh Allen had a tough time completing passes to his receivers. It’s one bad game, every team has those from time to time. In Week 5, the passing/receiving game continued to struggle and it ultimately put the Bills in a hole that they couldn’t dig themselves out of in the second half.
With Khalil Shakir being ruled out for this game, the Bills needed to rely on guys like Mack Hollins, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Keon Coleman at the wide receiver spot. Even though they have Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox at the tight end spot, the receivers need to get involved somehow, someway.
The receivers they have outside of Coleman were very quiet and it made life difficult for the Bills’ offense against the Texans. Seven Bills players were targeted by Allen in the passing game, three of them being Dalton Kincaid, James Cook and Ray Davis. So the other four were true receivers (Coleman, Valdes-Scantling, Hollins, and Curtis Samuel.
According to Matthew Bove, the four receivers that were targeted by Allen had 18 combined targets but there were only four total catches.
Between all four, they had a combined 76 yards. That is absolutely pathetic and it shows that the Bills have a major problem at wide receiver.
Buffalo Bills need to address this concern sooner than later
Even though the Bills are at 3-2 and have been on the road the last two weeks, they have dropped multiple games to AFC playoff contending teams. Both of which have true team identities unlike the Bills. When the Bills don’t get off to a fast start early in the game, they get some of their weaknesses exposed and teams attack them.
Going into Week 6 for a Monday night clash with the New York Jets, Brandon Beane needs to look at the free agent market and even start to inquire about receivers who could be on the trade block. There have been rumors all week regarding Raiders’ star wide receiver Davante Adams wanting out of Vegas, and the Bills should be making those phone calls.
Maybe they go out and acquire a receiver that no one is thinking about. Either way, they need to put some effort into fixing this issue because it could very well be the reason why the Bills get eliminated from the playoffs or even cost them a spot in the playoffs.