Josh Allen unable to cover up three glaring weaknesses in Bills' first loss of season

A healthy Josh Allen can cover up a lot of weaknesses. Such has been the case for the Buffalo Bills in recent years.

In Week 5, however, the New England Patriots and head coach Mike Vrabel found ways to exploit the Bills' vulnerabilities, and Allen was unable to overcome multiple self-inflicted wounds.

The end result was Buffalo's first loss of the season — a 23-20 dud on an otherwise beautiful night in Orchard Park.

Here are the three lingering issues that cost the Bills dearly on Sunday Night Football.

Subpar secondary

While head coach Sean McDermott's defensive scheme has been known to cover up any weak spots in the secondary, there are simply too many to hide right now.

Coming off an ACL tear, Stefon Diggs abused cornerback Tre'Davious White for most of his 146 yards and 10 receptions. Although he's a smart player of high character, White doesn't seem to have much tread left on the tires and seems physically incapable of performing at a high level moving forward.

On the opposite side, cornerback Christian Benford, who earned a hefty contract extension this past offseason, has looked average at best through five weeks. Meanwhile, safeties Taylor Rapp and Cole Bishop are nowhere close to the standard set by prime Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer.

Wide receivers struggle to separate

It's been a perception over the past couple of seasons, and it shows no sign of fading. The Bills' wide receivers struggle to separate from defenders when not specifically being schemed open.

Allen doesn't need much room to fit a ball in, but the Bills' wide receivers struggle to create even the slightest window when facing man-to-man coverage. The Patriots effectively employed such coverage on Sunday with Allen routinely having plenty of time to scan the field, but no open targets to hit.

According to Next Gen Stats, both Joshua Palmer (2.2) and Keon Coleman (2.9) average less than 3.0 yards of separation per route through five games.

McDermott's mismanagement

For all the stability he's brought to the organization, McDermott has a tendency to wilt when the lights are brightest and the opposition is led by a formidable head coach.

It's hard to overlook the fact that the Bills' defense has allowed more than 33 points per game in their last five playoff losses starting with the 2020 AFC Championship Game in Kansas City. Meanwhile, it's hard to forget the primetime losses against Vrabel's Tennessee Titans in 2020 and 2021.

The defense was solid against the run on Sunday night, but Patriots' quarterback Drake Maye was able to make multiple key plays off script while averaging 9.1 yards per pass. The Bills allowed Maye and the Patriots to bleed the clock on their final possession and failed to keep them out of field goal range.

Then, there were 11 penalties accepted against Buffalo. Granted Shawn Hochuli's crew has a reputation for inserting itself into the game flow at every opportnuity, the pre-snap errors, at home, are simply unacceptable. For those of you fluent in McDermott speak, back-to-back weeks of double-digit penalities is not playoff caliber work.

Oct 6, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; NFL referee Shawn Hochuli (83) signals a penalty on the Dallas Cowboys against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the third quarter at Acrisure Stadium. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The Patriots seemed to have the answers for Buffalo on both sides of the ball in Week 5, and McDermott and Co. were unable to counter.

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