Nobody expected the 2024 NFL season to play out as it has thus far for the Buffalo Bills.
They were widely viewed as a prime regression candidate entering the new campaign, a team that had found recent success that was set to freefall due to offseason turnover across the roster. Several franchise stalwarts departed One Bills Drive in the 2024 offseason, with perennial Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs perhaps being the most notable name among the omissions; the elite pass-catcher, who became Buffalo’s fourth all-time leading receiver in just four seasons, was unceremoniously traded to the Houston Texans in April, his departure alongside (alongside that of Gabriel Davis) leaving the Bills with a bevy of question marks in their receiving corps.
Buffalo planned to get aerial production through a makeshift receiving corps headlined by the likes of Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, and second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, a strategy that many pundits deemed disastrous. A large number of national analysts felt as though the Bills were set to tumble in the division standings and potentially even fall out of the playoff picture, with some even projecting the “self-destruction” of quarterback Josh Allen.
Fast forward to Week 13 of the 2024 campaign, and Buffalo sits at 9-2, its best start since 1992. It’s just one game back of the No. 1 seed in the AFC and has the head-to-head tiebreaker over the top-ranked Kansas City Chiefs, suggesting that the team has a realistic path toward finishing atop the conference. Allen has not self-destructed in the wake of Diggs’ departure, but has instead cemented himself as one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, spreading the ball out amongst the likes of Shakir, Coleman, Kincaid, and the recently-acquired Amari Cooper to lead an offense that currently ranks third in the league in points per game at 29.1
As many were projecting the unit to take a step back, the Bills’ offense has remained just as, if not more effective without its previous No. 1 target, with the group looking more cohesive and versatile. This, according to some, can be attributed to the lack of a player like Diggs serving as a schematic centerpiece and demanding a heavy target share, allowing Buffalo to achieve offense success in a myriad of ways as opposed to primarily targeting one player. One anonymous NFL coach even feels as though Diggs may have been holding the team back both on and off the field while still present, recently telling The Athletic’s Mike Sando that Buffalo was wise to part ways with the veteran receiver last spring.
“The coach and GM [Brandon Beane] had the foresight to get rid of the receiver [Stefon Diggs] because they knew it was detrimental to the quarterback and the atmosphere,” the coach told Sando.” “All of [the] sudden, they are playing with Curtis Samuel and draft picks and just whatever, and the quarterback is playing good. And then they add Amari Cooper.”
Diggs’ off-field happiness and relationship with Allen long served as the subject of questions from outsiders, at least some credence added to them given Buffalo’s offseason decision to eat roughly $30 million in dead salary cap space to part ways with him. Though it’s difficult and irresponsible to pinpoint the absence of Diggs as the sole reason for the seemingly improved atmosphere in Orchard Park this season, the team has found success with the “everyone eats” offensive philosophy it adopted after the wideout’s departure, and the players have wholly bought into it. Allen also seems to be benefiting from a lack of pressure to focus on one player in the passing game, as he’s at the forefront of NFL MVP discussions.
It’s not all that fun to continuously beat a dead horse, especially when the Bills are 9-2 and have moved on from their former pass catcher both on and off the field. Sando also shared some insight into this year’s rendition of the team in his article for The Atheltic, with an executive from another team telling him that Buffalo is a dangerous squad down the stretch.
“I don’t see how Buffalo belts down unless they have a ton of injuries,” the executive told Sando. “I’m not sure what the catalyst has been, except that maybe they have been off everybody’s radar long enough, and the offseason did not target them as much, and they are clearly operating better in those conditions than having the spotlight on them.”
