Bills vs. Raiders: How Buffalo Can Benefit From Short Week

The Buffalo Bills are looking forward, not backward, after a crushing defeat at the hands of the New York Jets.

Nobody in the NFL pretends to enjoy short work weeks. There is less time to recover, less time to prepare, less time to do everything.

That's not to say a short week can't prove to be the best thing in some instances. The Buffalo Bills, coming off a sudden-death defeat at the hands of the New York Jets to open the season last Monday night, certainly are hoping that's the case as they get ready to host the Las Vegas Raiders Sunday afternoon.

Many teams shorten their video review session of the previous week's game or eliminate it entirely. In the Bills' case, that can only be a good thing, considering how everyone from the bottom of the roster to all the coaches wearing headsets were to blame.

© Vincent Carchietta, USA TODAY

They won't have any time to dwell on their total team failure in which the defense was gouged by chunk runs, their offense was limited to one touchdown and committed four turnovers and the special teams gave up a punt return for a touchdown that ended the game.

"It's never as bad as you think and it's never as good as you think," quarterback Josh Allen said Wednesday. "You know, if you have a great win and you go back in, it's never as good as you think, either. So, obviously, got to play smarter football.

"I thought our team did a lot of good things. Don't want to take away from that. In the grand scheme of things, it's one game, and we're not going to let it turn into two." 

He knows whereof he speaks. Losing streaks have been uncommon in the Allen era. The Bills have never lost more than two games in a row with Allen under center.

On the other hand, he led the league in turnovers last year and has four already with 16 more games to go this season.

"I let it get away from me this last game," Allen said, "but I'm not going to let it affect me going forward."

The Bills and Raiders kickoff from Highmark Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.