Buffalo Bills trending up, down ahead of Week 18 at New England

The Buffalo Bills have the AFC’s two seed secured as they travel to New England to take on the Patriots in Week 18, for their last game of the 2024 NFL regular season.

This scenario gives head coach Sean McDermott an opportunity to use his roster the way he sees appropriate, trying to have his team as close as possible to 100% healthy and prepared for the playoffs.

With that in mind, here are the players and coaches trending up, and the ones trending down as Super Wildcard Weekend approaches.

Rising — S Cole Bishop

The rookie has started the last four games and has shown he’s ready for a bigger role on defense. Bishop is bigger, faster and more athletic than Damar Hamlin, and it opens up more possibilities for defensive coordinator Bobby Babich when calling his defense. He also has communicated very well in this latest stint, avoiding the costly mistake he made against the Texans early in the year.

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When asked if Bishop has earned a more prominent role going forward, head coach Sean McDermott was noncommittal with a “we’ll see” response. He also mentioned the importance of Hamlin playing alongside Taylor Rapp this week, to avoid coming back in the playoffs rusty. It shows he doesn’t have a plan of moving on from the starter and making Bishop the new one.

Despite the loyalty to the veteran, it’s good to see Bishop closing the season trending up. He should be ready when his number is called and I’m pretty confident he’ll enter next season as a starter, just like linebacker Terrel Bernard did in his second season.

Falling — Special Teams coordinator Matthew Smiley

The Bills will be entering the playoffs with an awesome offense, and with a questionable defense that, despite some struggles, has been able to adjust in games and get the job done. The biggest concern, though, is on special teams where the kicking game has been very unreliable (a blocked punt directly impacted the team’s last loss), and the coverage unit hasn’t looked good when tested by opponents’ returns.

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McDermott has shown trust in his Special Teams coach, but it’s clear he’s been responsible for the most underperforming area of the team. In close games between powerhouse teams, it can make the difference between a win or a loss, as we unfortunately saw when Harrison Butker hit his 49-yard field goal attempt to send the game to overtime three years ago, but last year Tyler Bass couldn’t hit a 44-yard field-goal attempt to tie the game last year.

With two consecutive poor seasons, Smiley needs a great playoff run or his seat should get warm next offseason.

Rising — WR Amari Cooper

The five-time pro bowl wide receiver hasn’t had a lot of targets and receptions since arriving in Buffalo midway through the season. However, every time the offense seemed in trouble to beat man coverage, quarterback Josh Allen hasn’t hesitated to throw the ball to his most accomplished weapon, and he hasn’t disappointed.

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After making two huge catches against the Kansas City Chiefs, changing the way they tried to defend the Bills’ offense that game, last week he was crucial again when the Jets’ defense was finding ways to make things tougher for Josh Allen and co.

Well, it didn’t last long. Two quick completions to Cooper — one on an in route in the middle of the field for a first down, where he surpassed 10,000 career receiving yards, and another one on a play Allen showed extreme confidence in his WR, and he delivered again, high pointing the ball in the end zone for an amazing touchdown.

The Bills’ offense has been great with the “everybody eats” mentality, keeping everyone involved and making it tougher for opposing defenses to identify where the ball is going next. With that said, when things get more difficult, they’ll need their best players making game-changing plays. Cooper has shown he can do it, and it’ll be crucial to count on him even more in the playoffs.

Falling — CB2 spot

This one hasn’t been talked about enough. The Bills have played more man coverage this year than they have ever done under Sean McDermott, and that’s something that makes sense — against the top quarterbacks in the league, those zone coverages can only achieve a certain amount of success. Defenses have to be able to man up and run with some of those dangerous receivers and tight ends on crucial situations.

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That’s where CB2 has become something to monitor. Rasul Douglas isn’t a bad cornerback by any means — he can play the Bills’ zone schemes really well with his size, tackling ability, and his savviness reading opposing quarterbacks’ eyes and jumping on some routes (something that hasn’t happened as often as before). However, Douglas can’t play man well enough due to his lack of closing speed. He simply can’t keep up with fast or quick-twitching receivers and it shows every time he’s tested on those situations.

This limitation in Douglas’ game has made me want to see Kaiir Elam get more opportunities at the CB2 spot. The former first-round pick is a better athlete and has the athletic ability to succeed where Douglas has been a liability. The lack of game time has hurt his development, though. With three starts this season, Elam played two good games against the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions, but struggled against the New England Patriots and that’s been enough for a lot of people to simply give up on him.

Maybe another opportunity against the Patriots can make him enter the playoffs trending up. I hope so because, in the playoffs, with cornerback Christian Benford playing lights out, and nickel cornerback Taron Johnson being himself defending the slot, we’ll see that CB2 spot being targeted by opponents, especially when playing man. How they respond can make the difference for or against the Bills in this postseason.