Bye week blues: reflecting on the first six weeks

The Bills are on their bye week in Week 7, sitting at a record of 5-1

If you had told me before the season that the Bills would be 5-1 going into the bye week with wins over the Chiefs, Ravens, Titans and Rams and at the top of the AFC, I would’ve signed up for that in a heartbeat. The brutal part of the Bills’ schedule is over and it should lighten up a little bit down the stretch.

As we reflect back on the fast start for the Bills over the first six weeks, here are some things that stood out to me:

Kaiir Elam is a stud

Elam has been a tremendous rookie cornerback and has filled in nicely for Tre’Davious White thus far. He has two interceptions on the year, including one this past week off of Patrick Mahomes in the endzone.

There were some early concerns about Elam in training camp, but he has quickly put those to bed. The Bills have been thin on the outside. Obviously White has been out, but then Dane Jackson and Christian Beneford have been banged up as well.

Elam has held it down so far. He has been on the field playing his heart out and he has been a stud for this team. He will only get better as the season goes on, and once White comes back, that secondary is going to be on lockdown for the rest of the year.

Von Miller was worth every penny

In his first six games as a Buffalo Bill, Von Miller has recorded six sacks. He has a sack in each of his last three games and dumped Mahomes twice on Sunday, one on a very critical 3rd down that allowed Buffalo to get the ball back late in the fourth quarter.

Buffalo brought Miller in to be that guy that can finish the game for them when they need a stop.

He is in Buffalo to be that closer and to be the missing edge rusher that Buffalo has been craving these past couple years. He is going to take Buffalo from a Super Bowl contending team to a Super Bowl winning team. He is going to be that difference maker, and he has already shown why he was worth the money.

Josh Allen is who we thought he was

Not much needs to be said about Josh Allen. He is who we thought he was. He is an animal at the quarterback position. He is the best player in the league right now and he is the front runner for the MVP by a long shot.

Allen will bring a Super Bowl to Buffalo one day soon. He is that good. And my fantasy team thanks you very much for being you, Josh Allen.

The coaching has been phenomenal

The coaching gets overshadowed by the play on the field, but let me tell you that this is one of the best-coached teams in the league. You can tell just by the chemistry the team has on and off the field. They play very soundly on the field, they know exactly what they need to do when called upon, and you rarely see sloppy mistakes from this team.

A lot of the media and some Bills fans thought the offense was going to take a big step backwards this year with Brian Daboll leaving to coach the Giants, and man, he’s doing a hell of a job down there. However, Ken Dorsey has filled in and he has been tremendous thus far. He picked up right where Daboll and the offense left off and you can tell that he’s learned a lot about the offenseive players in recent years.

Dorsey knows this offense well. He has a fiery passion for the game and he accepts nothing less than perfect execution. That’s exactly what you need in a coach. You need someone who cares about winning, about his team, and about his players and their execution. Dorsey has been pushing all the right buttons on offense so far this year.

On defense, Leslie Frazier has shown why he is very deserving of a head coaching position. He has the defense playing extremely well despite all the injuries he’s had to endure on his defense.

Buffalo is currently the #1 defense in the league. Frazier’s defense held Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to 20 points and two turnovers, all while confusing Mahomes all night long and playing outstanding defense against him. If Frazier continues this elite level of defensive calling, he should be given the opportunity to be a head coach once again next year.

And of course, Sean McDermott continues to do a tremendous job in leading his group of men. He knows the goal for this season, but he also preaches to take it one game at a time. He has his team ready each week and keeps the bond and chemistry of the team strong on and off the field.

The Bills sit atop the AFC, and aside from the Chiefs, there really aren’t too many threatening teams so far that we’ve seen in the conference. If Buffalo continues this play throughout the year, they will find themselves having a bye week in the playoffs and having the playoffs run through Orchard Park.

Just thinking about an AFC Championship game in front of 70,000 screaming and crazy Bills fans gives me goosebumps. No team will want to go into that environment. But first things first, they need to take care of business over the next 11 weeks of the regular season.