Buffalo had their first practice of the week on Wednesday as they prepare to head to New Jersey to face the Jets on Sunday afternoon. The Bills have won eight of their last 10 games against the Jets dating back to 2020.
Head coach Sean McDermott provided an injury update and addressed what he wants to see out of his team this week.
Injury update
Before practice, McDermott announced nickel cornerback Taron Johnson (quad) and linebacker Shaq Thompson (hamstring) would not participate in Wednesday's practice.
"Neither of those two will practice today," McDermott said. "And then everyone else will be practicing in some capacity. Tre White will be out there. For all three of those guys, we'll see where it goes this week, and we'll take it one day at a time."
White did not play in Sunday's game against the Ravens and missed all of last week's practices due to a groin injury.
A change at punter
Buffalo made a change at punter on Tuesday afternoon. The Bills signed punter Cameron Johnston and released punter Brad Robbins. Johnston is from Australia and played for the Steelers last year.
McDermott said the team is always looking to improve.
"Didn't feel like we were where we needed to be maybe," McDermott said on the reason for the change. "And so, like anything else, we're always looking to see how we can improve."
Johnston didn't see much action in 2024 because he suffered a season-ending knee injury in early September. The punter is in his eighth NFL season and has a net yards per punt average of 42.2. He's had plenty punts downed inside an opponent's 20 – 183, which is good for 40.9% of his punts.
With multiple changes to the core special teams group early on, signing kicker Matt Prater and Johnston, McDermott said he builds confidence in the group by setting expectations.
"Making sure expectations of one's job is clear and also trying to simplify and build some order into what we do," McDermott said. "That's the first step in mastery, really, is simplification and order. So, I think that's important for anyone at any position."
A tough week ahead
The Bills rightfully celebrated their epic comeback win against the Ravens in Week 1. Now, it's about correcting the mistakes and getting ready for Week 2.
After allowing 40 points to the Ravens and failing to keep some drives alive offensively, McDermott and his players know there's things to fix before facing the Jets on Sunday.
"We've got to make sure that this week is hard, this week really needs to be hard for us as a team even though you win the game," McDermott said. "It's too early in the season to say, 'Hey you know this or that.' It's we got to buckle down and get ready for us and how we can improve."
"I know Coach talked about it in the meeting room today," quarterback Josh Allen said of McDermott's tough mentality this week. "And, this is a tough sport. It's not for everybody. You got to be a little sick to love this game, and we got some sickos."
Defensive tackle Ed Oliver, who was a huge factor in the Week 1 win thanks to a forced fumble, felt the toughness of the week in Wednesday's practice.
"Full pads on a Wednesday after a 60-minute game, where we had to play all 60 minutes is a little challenging," Oliver said. "It's trying mentally to get yourself back right. And you're still kind of hurting…You put on a full pads and you go out there and you compete because that's who we are."
Aside from an intense practice, a hard week to McDermott means having meaningful, truthful conversations.
"Making sure we all know where we can improve, not beating around the bush in those conversations because if you don't know what you have to improve on, how are you going to go out and improve it?" McDermott said.
Some of those conversations are about improving elements of Buffalo's offense after failing on three two-point attempts against the Ravens.
"Two-point attempts haven't been great for us of late, so it's another area early on here that we need to focus in on and figure out what we can do better," McDermott said. "Is it execution? Is it design? What is it? Because those plays are important in terms of factoring into the overall score in the game."
"(There's) a lot of things that I can do better and be better at and there's a couple times where the ball was in harm's way," Allen said of what he can work on. "Got to clean that up. But just making sure that each and every play that we have our plan, we have our answers, and we go out try to execute to the best of our abilities."
Defensively, McDermott wants to see that entire side of the ball focus on fundamentals this week.
"It's never just one area or one guy," McDermott said of defensive errors. "Like I mentioned before, there was fundamentally some things, there was assignment-wise some things, there were some signs of youth for sure as well, all areas we can improve on and in and it's all about growth this week for us."
Getting ready for the Jets
Week 2 features a divisional matchup against the Jets at their place. The Jets have plenty of newness to their team this year, including a new head coach in Aaron Glenn and a new quarterback in Justin Fields.
Glenn wants to bring his winning ways from Detroit, where he was defensive coordinator from 2021-24, to the Jets. In his first game as head coach, the Jets went down to the wire with a Steelers team led by Aaron Rodgers. The Steelers had a game-winning field goal with one minute to play, and the Jets lost by two (34-32).
The Jets had more yards (394), held onto the ball longer (34:43) and had a better success rate on third down (7/14) than the Steelers.
"You can tell they're trying to kind of revamp things there, and I respect that," McDermott said. "It reminds me a lot of our early years here, and they're good coaches, really good coaches on both sides of the ball and special teams there, and certainly a talented roster as well."
In Fields' first game as the Jets QB, he showed off his versatility in the air and on the ground. Fields completed 72.7% of his passes for 218 passing yards (119.1 passer rating) and racked up three offensive touchdowns. Running back Breece Hall has also started off his season with a bang, picking up 107 rushing yards in Week 1.
The Jets had 39 rush attempts against the Steelers, second most in the league. The Bills want to make sure they're ready to contain the run in Week 2.
"They do have two hell of fire running backs in number 20 (Hall) and number 0 (Braelon Allen)," Ed Oliver said. "I think they ran about what 39 times this past game. So first thing first, you got to knock that out and then we worry about the pass and stuff like that. But as far as the inside guys, they were getting movement on guys. They looked pretty good."
"We're going to see this every week," defensive end A.J. Epenesa said of being ready for a versatile offense. "I think the league is changing. Everyone's got a dynamic quarterback that can throw and run. Running backs are evolving as well. So, this is just going to be something we got to get used to."
Defensively, Allen is getting ready for a squad who will try to pressure the quarterback on every play. They've got a talented group up front that features Quinnen Williams, Jermaine Johnson, Will McDonald IV and former Bill Harrison Phillips. The group had seven quarterback hits in Week 1, which was good for eighth most. Allen knows he also has to worry about a talented secondary with Sauce Gardner and Brandon Stephens.
"They got some absolute studs on this defense," Allen said. "Obviously their front is really solid. They get after the quarterback really well. They work together really well. And their front end and the back end are working in unison right now. So we're going to have our hands full…we only have one game of tape, so we gotta trust our base rules and be prepared for whatever they can throw at us."
