The Buffalo Bills, once heralded as Super Bowl favorites after a 4-0 start, have hit a rough patch, dropping to 4-2 after back-to-back prime-time losses to the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. While the narrative around quarterback Josh Allen often centers on his need for more receiving weapons, the team’s most glaring issue lies elsewhere: their abysmal run defense. This weakness, exposed brutally in their 24-14 upset loss to the Falcons in Week 6, threatens to unravel their season if left unaddressed during their Week 7 bye.
Against Atlanta, the Falcons’ dynamic duo of Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier ran rampant, amassing 210 rushing yards. Robinson’s 81-yard touchdown scamper was the dagger, but the Bills were gashed from start to finish. This performance plummeted Buffalo’s run defense to 31st in the NFL, allowing a staggering 156.3 rushing yards per game. Only the 1-5 Miami Dolphins, the third-place team in the AFC East, rank worse.
This is a stark fall from last season, when Buffalo’s run defense was a respectable 12th. The contrast is even more alarming when compared to division rivals like the New England Patriots, who improved from 23rd to fourth against the run and now lead the AFC East. Five of the NFL’s top six run defenses are current playoff contenders, while only Buffalo and the 4-2 Philadelphia Eagles—another team reeling from run defense woes—represent the bottom six in the postseason picture.
The Falcons game wasn’t an outlier. Buffalo’s run defense has been consistently shredded this season. The Baltimore Ravens racked up 238 yards, the New Orleans Saints piled on 189, and even the Dolphins, despite their struggles, managed 130. The lone exception was a Week 5 outlier against the Patriots, but that performance hasn’t held up.
Compare this to the 2006 Indianapolis Colts, who won the Super Bowl despite a league-worst 173 rushing yards allowed per game. Their saving grace was safety Bob Sanders, whose return sparked a dominant playoff run in run support and coverage. Buffalo, however, lacks such a transformative figure. Key linebacker Matt Milano was absent against Atlanta, and while run-stuffing defensive tackle Ed Oliver recently returned from an ankle injury, the Bills’ depth remains thin. Even with reinforcements, a quick fix seems unlikely.
Josh Allen, the reigning MVP, has been a superhero for Buffalo, often masking deficiencies with his dual-threat brilliance. But even his magic has limits. Against Atlanta, facing a fierce Falcons pass rush, Allen was erratic, completing passes at an inefficient clip. His Week 5 performance against New England wasn’t much better, with moments of inaccuracy under pressure. Yet, even if Allen had delivered a signature Superman performance, it wouldn’t have addressed the Bills’ inability to stop the run.
The numbers tell a grim story. Teams that can’t stop the run rarely survive the playoff gauntlet, where physical, ground-based attacks dominate. Buffalo’s upcoming schedule—featuring juggernauts like Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, New England (again), and Philadelphia—will exploit this weakness mercilessly unless defensive-minded head coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich can find answers.
The bye week offers a critical opportunity for McDermott and Babich to reassess. Is the issue schematic, with poor gap discipline and missed assignments? Or is it personnel, with the absence of Milano and limited depth exposing the unit? Likely, it’s a combination of both. While Milano’s return and additional depth could help, expecting a dramatic turnaround to elite status is unrealistic. At minimum, Buffalo must become respectable against the run to avoid being steamrolled in the season’s second half.
The Eagles’ parallel struggles offer a cautionary tale. Like Buffalo, Philadelphia started 4-0 but stumbled to 4-2, with their run defense—rather than Jalen Hurts’ passing—proving the primary culprit in losses to the Broncos and Giants. Both teams face the same hard truth: no matter how dynamic their quarterbacks are, they can’t single-handedly fix a porous run defense.
For Buffalo, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Josh Allen’s brilliance has carried the Bills to the cusp of an AFC Championship multiple times, but their run defense could be the fatal flaw that derails their Super Bowl aspirations. Without significant improvement, the Bills risk squandering another season of Allen’s prime. The bye week is their chance to confront this damning weakness head-on—because even Superman can’t save a team that can’t stop the run.
