Bills Coach Sean McDermott Delivers Warning to Defense After Dolphins Win
The Buffalo Bills escaped their Thursday Night Football showdown against the Miami Dolphins with a 31-21 win, but it was a defensive performance the team may want to forget.
Though the Dolphins had struggled on offense in falling to an 0-2 start, they gave Buffalo’s defense fits as they went 10-for-15 on third down and converted their only fourth-down attempt. After the game, Bills head coach Sean McDermott delivered a warning to the defense about the need to improve on third downs.
Bills Struggled on Defense Against Desperate Dolphins Team
The Bills had a difficult time keeping the Dolphins off the field, allowing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to make a number of key plays on third downs. McDermott warned that his team would need to correct those mistakes for the future.
“Still too many third-down conversions where he was extending the play more than I would like to have seen,” McDermott said. “We’ll need to look at that.”
McDermott laid blame both on the pass rush and the secondary, saying they allowed Tagovailoa to extend too many plays and find open receivers.
“That’s something that we need to look at and continue to tweak to figure out, especially with Ed [Oliver] not being available,” McDermott said.
McDermott ultimately praised the unit despite the struggles on third downs, saying they did what was needed to get the win.
“I tip my hat to the defense,” he said.
McDermott said the Bills did well in other areas, including linebacker Terrel Bernard’s late interception of Tagovailoa. McDermott said Bernard had a good read on the pass and jumped the route, snagging the team’s first interception of the season.
Despite the team’s struggles, McDermott shared praise for how they came through in the fourth quarter. After the Dolphins committed a roughing the punter penalty to extend a fourth-quarter drive for the Bills, they responded with a Josh Allen touchdown to Khalil Shakir and then forced an interception on Miami’s next drive to ice the game.
“The mental toughness of our football team was on display, especially in the fourth quarter,” McDermott said.
Bills Using Long Week to Regroup
Bernard also admitted that the Bills struggled to get the Dolphins off the field and would use the long break to fix their third-down woes. The Bills now have 10 days off before returning to Orchard Park for Week 4.
“We’ll go back and watch the tape, get some things corrected and grow from it,” Bernard told reporters after the win.
Bernard shared praise for the players thrust into the lineup after a pair of big injuries. The Bills lost linebacker Matt Milano and defensive tackle Ed Oliver to injuries, but Bernard said veteran Shaq Thompson did a good job of stepping up at linebacker. Thompson had six total tackles including one for a loss.
While Bernard said the Bills will be watching tape during the long week, they’ll also be hoping the break will give Milano and Oliver time to heal. The Bills return to the field on September 28, hosting the winless New Orleans Saints.
Packers’ Josh Jacobs draws huge confidence-boosting praise from OC
The Green Bay Packers are gearing up for an intriguing matchup this coming Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. It will be the first time in the 2025 season that Green Bay will play in enemy territory, and it will be against a winless Browns side.
As usual, running back Josh Jacobs will be among those heavily counted upon by the Packers to deliver. The former Alabama Crimson Tide star has 150 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries so far this season. That’s an average of just 3.6 yards per carry, which isn’t exactly great, but Jacobs is getting the job done nonetheless.
The Browns present a tough challenge for Jacobs, just based on how they performed in Week 2 against the Baltimore Ravens. Although Cleveland got crushed in that game, 41-17, hulking Ravens running back Derrick Henry was held to just 23 rushing yards on 11 carries or 2.1 yards per rushing attempt.
Packers coach expresses confidence in Jacobs before Week 3 clash against Cleveland
While speaking to the media on Thursday, Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich praised Jacobs for being such an effective weapon on the ground for Green Bay.
“The guys just creates plays,” Stenavich said of Jacobs on Thursday (h/t Ryan Wood of USA Today).
“He just has a knack for finding the seam, getting in the end zone. He’s a huge confidence boost getting down inside the 5-yard line, and you’ve got a touchdown.”
The 27-year-old Jacobs has yet to log in a full practice this week, but there doesn’t seem to be any concern regarding his availability for the Browns game.
As a team, Green Bay is averaging 106.5 rushing yards per game and 1.0 rushing touchdowns per contest, 18th and eighth in the NFL overall.
