SI:AM | New-Look Bills Are As Good As Ever

A lot has changed in Buffalo, but the results are the same.

Buffalo remains a Super Bowl contender despite several roster changes. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Don’t mind me. I’ll just be watching Jayden Daniels’s Hail Mary all day.

In today’s SI:AM:

🤯 Play of the Year
🏆 CFP update
🏀 Ranking every men’s hoops team

New faces, same outcome

The Buffalo Bills’ reign atop the AFC East won’t be ending this year.

Their division was projected to be one of the most hotly contested in the league, but Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s injury and the New York Jets’ complete implosion have left the Bills alone at the top of the standings. After Sunday’s 31–10 win over the Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo is now 6–2. That’s as many wins as the rest of the division has combined.

What makes the Bills’ success particularly noteworthy is that it comes after the team was forced to cut several key players because it was more than $40 million over the salary cap. Cornerback Tre’Davious White, safety Jordan Poyer and center Mitch Morse were released. Micah Hyde, the team’s other starting safety, was not re-signed after he became a free agent. The biggest departure was the trade that sent star receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans.

But these new-look Bills haven’t just been as good as the teams that won the last four AFC East titles, they’re among the best teams in the NFL. Sunday’s 21-point win over Seattle was the fourth time this season that Buffalo has won a game by at least three touchdowns—the most of any team in the league. There are only four other teams that have won more than one game by 21-plus points this season. The Bills have a point differential of +84, second only to the Detroit Lions (+100), and rank fifth in the league in scoring and sixth in scoring defense. They’re the total package.

So how are they doing it?

It all starts with quarterback Josh Allen, of course. It’s no secret that Allen has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league for years, but it’s at least a little bit surprising that he’s adjusted so well to life without Diggs. His stats this year are mostly the same as in previous years, but with one glaring difference. Allen’s biggest weakness has been a propensity to turn the ball over. Last year, he threw 18 picks, the second most in the league. It took until Sunday for Allen to throw his first pick of this season.

With Diggs in Houston, Allen is spreading the ball around a lot more than he previously had. Last season, Diggs garnered 160 targets, 69 more than the next closest player (tight end Dalton Kincaid). That’s 29.4% of all of Allen’s pass attempts. This year, Kincaid leads the way with 44 targets, followed by Khalil Shakir (38) and Keon Coleman (34).

Shakir is flourishing in an expanded role in his third season since being taken in the fifth round of the draft out of Boise State. He played in all 17 games last season but ranked fifth on the team in targets, catching 39 passes for 611 yards and two touchdowns. Diggs’s departure has allowed Shakir to slide up the depth chart. He’s now got 36 catches for 421 yards and two scores just eight games into the season. He had a career-best nine catches for 107 yards in the win over Seattle.

The rookie Coleman quickly became a fan favorite with an amusing introductory press conference after the Bills took him with the first pick in the second round of this year’s draft, but he has been more than just comic relief. Coleman is quickly developing into a dangerous deep threat. Nine of his 21 catches this year have been for gains of more than 20 yards and he currently ranks fifth in the league with 18.9 yards per reception.

The Kansas City Chiefs still rule the AFC and are the only undefeated team left in the NFL at 7–0, but the Bills are exceeding expectations this season. Is it too early to start thinking about yet another Bills-Chiefs playoff matchup?

Brown (left) caught the play of the week Sunday. / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Albert Breer spoke with the guy who made the biggest play of Week 8: Commanders receiver Noah Brown, who caught Jayden Daniels’s game-winning Hail Mary.

• Even if the Commanders’ hold on first place in the NFC East doesn’t last, Conor Orr thinks Washington fans should cherish Daniels’s Hail Mary forever.

• Orr also wrote about why the Panthers need to help Bryce Young at the trade deadline—either by sending him elsewhere or adding pieces to help in his development.

• Losses by Missouri and LSU mean the College Football Playoff picture is a little clearer, Pat Forde writes. Could Ohio State also be left on the outside looking in?

• One of the best things we publish every year is Kevin Sweeney’s annual ranking of all 364 Division I men’s basketball teams.

• Clare Brennan’s women’s basketball preview focuses on seven super sophomores.

• Stefon Diggs went down with a non-contact knee injury in the Texans’ win over the Colts and did not return.

• Jordan Love went down with a groin injury and Packers coach Matt LaFleur said the team has a “high level of concern” for the quarterback’s health.

The top five…

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Bears running back D’Andre Swift’s 56-yard touchdown run.
4. Lions running back David Montgomery’s perfect spiral on a touchdown pass.
3. Dwyane Wade’s reaction to seeing his highly controversial statue unveiled.
2. Jayden Daniels’s Hail Mary.
1. The video from the stands of Bears DB Tyrique Stevenson taunting Commanders fans during the game-losing play.