Seattle, WA
Top 5 storylines to follow for Buffalo Bills at Seattle Seahawks | Week 8
đź’¨4. Turning halftime adjustments into fast starts
The Bills have been solid when it comes to making adjustments at the half. In two of their five wins this season, Buffalo has been trailing heading into the third quarter.
The Bills were down by seven against Arizona (Week 1) at the half and were trailing by three against Tennessee (Week 7) entering the third quarter. In both games, Buffalo made key adjustments at halftime that allowed them to finish with victories.
Against the Titans, Buffalo’s defense allowed 10 points and 217 total yards in the first half. In the second half, they allowed only 72 yards and zero points.
The Bills have been firing on both sides of the ball in the second half so far this season. In fact, the Bills are outscoring opponents 52-20 in the third quarter through seven weeks of play.
While it’s great that the Bills have been able to turn it around in the third and fourth quarter, the team is ready to turn the adjustments into fast starts.
“Honestly, I’m kind of sick about talking about the strong second half,” defensive coordinator Bobby Babich said. “They’ve done a great job in the second half. We just need to come out firing…you go to this game (against Tennessee), we come out with a four out…I believe it was the next two series, second, third series, they moved the ball a little bit and we have to maintain that same energy and focus that we had on the first series as we do those next two.”
Babich is happy with the way the defense is grasping what the offense is doing at halftime but wants that to start sooner. It’s not just on defense either, head coach Sean McDermott wants to see it from all three phases.
“I think just execute, comes down to execution,” McDermott said. “And as you saw against Tennessee, some fundamentals and then not beating ourselves with pre-snap penalties. So, I give all the opponents credit, but there’s also an element for us of just execution more than anything.”
In terms of overall execution, the Bills rank fifth averaging 28.4 points per game. On defense, they’re allowing the fifth-least points per game (19.4).