September 27, 2026, 7:56 p.m. ET
ORCHARD PARK — The start of Joe Brady’s NFL head coaching career couldn’t have gone better given the way his high-powered Buffalo Bills offense lit up the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions in the span of four days.
The question we all needed answered about Brady is: How would he react when he and his team were punched in the face and faced adversity for the first time?
It would have to be said rather well, because Sunday’s 24-16 survival against the Los Angeles Chargers was fraught with challenges, almost all of which emanated from its offense, which for most of the game couldn’t stop making bruising errors.
“Every day is a test as a head coach and I believe I have to be the pulse and I have to be what they need,” Brady said shortly after the Bills won a game in which they turned the ball over five times.
Like Josh Allen said about the Bills coming into halftime tied at 10-10. “To be honest, being tied at half-time was like a dream,” he said. “We knew if we didn’t give the ball back we’d end up in good positions, and we still came out (in the second half) and turned the ball over, but our defense played fantastic. It’s not a game you expect to win, but we’ll take them any way we can.”
One of the reasons they won is because Brady steadied the sinking ship, and while he’ll do a lot of swearing during the film review Monday, he’ll also be proud of how his team responded in a game that seemed destined to be a loss.
At halftime, Brady said, “I told them it’s perfect. What, am I going to go out there and turn the table over? What’s that going to do? I think they needed to say, ‘Let’s see what we’re made of right now. Let’s see how we’re going to respond and see what we’re made of.’
“Sometimes you have to shout and at a time like that, at the beginning of the season, I thought it was absolutely perfect (even though) I hated (the way they played). But it was perfect in terms of building our football team, being able to look back and say, or later, ‘Hey, guys, it wasn’t perfect at the beginning, but so what? Let’s continue.”
Here is how I wrote down the invoices:
PASSING OFFENSE: C-
We don’t see Josh Allen struggle like this too often. There were times throughout the day where he looked completely baffled by what the Chargers were doing, both in their pressure schemes and in their coverage schemes. He made some unusually poor decisions with the ball, and he lost a fumble and threw two interceptions.
“I thought they did a good job with their pressure plan, showing a lot of different looks,” he said. “They had a good plan and that’s something we need to learn from. Teams will look at that and try to implement the same thing. But we still feel like we shot ourselves in the foot a lot tonight.”
DJ Moore had a few big plays among his six catches for 67 yards, two that converted third downs on the Bills’ TD drive late in the first half, then a 16-yard catch and run on a crossover route on third-and-10 on the final TD drive that put the game out of reach.
Dalton Kincaid had a big 25-yard reception, but he fumbled at the end, and Keon Coleman had a 37-yard catch that set up the Bills’ first touchdown, but Khalil Shakir had just one catch on three targets for just six yards.
RUN THE OFFENSE: A-
Facing a Chargers defense that entered the game ranked No. 1 in yards allowed per attempt at 2.7, James Cook ran through them for 154 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown. It didn’t start out well for Cook as he lost a fumble on the Bills’ first offensive play, which led to a Los Angeles touchdown, but afterward, Cook was the key man on a day when Josh Allen and the passing game couldn’t do much.
On the drive that put the Bills ahead for good at 17-13, Cook had three straight runs totaling 26 yards that put the ball on the 1, from where Josh Allen scored his second QB diving TD of the day. And on the drive that made the score 24-13, Cook broke a 23-yard run that ultimately set up his own three-yard touchdown run. And on the final possession as the Bills were killing the clock, Cook’s nine-yard run gave them the first down that ended the game.
DEFENSE PASS: B+
There were too many dropbacks where Justin Herbert had too much time, despite the fact that Pro Football Focus credited the Bills with 23 individual pressures on QBs, with Greg Rousseau making the only two sacks among his team’s seven pressures.
Despite the weather, Herbert didn’t pick the Bills apart as he finished with 226 yards and threw the deadly interception to CJ Gardner-Johnson in the fourth quarter that turned the game in Buffalo’s favor.
CBs Davison Igbinosun and Max Hairston stepped up and competed well on a day when Christian Benford left in the third quarter with a toe injury. In total, the Bills completed eight passes to Herbert on the 14 passes he did not complete.
RUN DEFENSE: C
It wasn’t a stellar day for the Bills as Omarion Hampton and Keaton Mitchell combined for 108 yards on 23 attempts and the Chargers finished with 131 yards and a 4.7 average.
Deone Walker provided some pass pressure and had another deflected pass, but he and Ed Oliver had little impact against the run and it was very disappointing considering the tattered state of the Chargers’ interior offensive line. This was supposed to be a big advantage for the Bills and it wasn’t.
Michael Hoecht is a player who got off to a bit of a slow start and the Bills need to get more out of him, especially when he takes reps at 4i. It was also a quiet day for Terrel Bernard, but Dorian Williams took over and led the team with nine tackles.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B
Greg Dortch, who was added to the 53-man roster this weekend, made Ray Davis the invisible man. They’re both deep on kickoffs, but Dortch had the only three returns that totaled 92 yards, a nice average of 30.7. He returned the opening kickoff 38 yards to 43, not mattering because Cook fumbled the ball on the next play. He also had an eight-yard punt return.
Thanks to the five turnovers, Tommy Doman was only called upon to punt once and it was a 51-yarder although it was returned 14 yards for a 37-yard net.
Tyler Bass made all four of his kicks, three extra points and a 28-yard field goal.
COACHING: A-
Thanks to defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard who squeezed some juice out of his beleaguered defense, which had been torched for 62 points in the first two games. The Bills held the Chargers to one touchdown early in the game and forced them to settle for three field goals, then had a big turnover early in the fourth quarter.
Leonhard also did a good job in the second half with the young corners playing while Benford was sidelined, but there still needs to be more pressure in front of someone other than Rousseau and Walker.
Offensively, Brady admitted as much afterward, saying any mistakes were a direct reflection of him. It’s nice of him to say that, but he’s not the one throwing picks and losing fumbles. What I thought was important was that he stuck to the game plan and didn’t seem to panic, even when things were going horribly wrong for so long.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades, including 37 years as a full-time writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books on the team’s history and is also co-host of the podcast/YouTube show BLEAV in Bills. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
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