ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen-led offense is misfiring, and coach Sean McDermott and coordinator Joe Brady have an extra bye week off to figure out what’s gone wrong.
Though injuries are a concern, one place to start could be cutting out the so-called "cute" plays, which have cost the Bills (4-2) in dropping their past two games.
Another is for Brady to begin leaning on his team's strengths, and specifically James Cook. After gaining 87 yards on 17 carries, the running back spent the final 11 minutes cooling his heels on the sideline of a 24-14 loss to Atlanta on Monday night.
Brady, evidently, didn’t get the hint McDermott dropped last week in saying he felt the offense was “too cute at times,” following a 23-20 loss to New England. Buffalo’s opening drive against the Patriots ended with Allen losing a fumble at midfield when flubbing a handoff to Dawson Knox on a tight end sweep.
It happened again on Monday. This time, receiver Elijah Moore recovered a fumble following Allen's botched handoff on third-and-1 from the Buffalo 48, four minutes into the fourth quarter.
“We can be better,” McDermott said, in reference to the play that led to a three-and-out after Greg Rousseau blocked Parker Romo's 37-yard field-goal attempt to keep it a one-score game.
“It’s a good point,” the coach said, when asked why Cook wasn’t on the field. “We've got to dive deep into what we're doing, how we're doing it, making sure we've got the right people in the right positions.”
In the end, Allen was sacked a season-high four times in being asked to do far too much in the face of Atlanta's relentless pressure, while overseeing an injury-depleted offense. Buffalo opened without its leading receiver, tight end Dalton Kincaid (oblique), and then lost its top deep threat when Joshua Palmer twisted his left ankle after a 15-yard catch a minute into the second quarter.
With Palmer accounting for 60 of Buffalo’ 180 yards receiving, the injuries exposed an ongoing weaknesses in a passing attack that lacks an identifiable threat.
Second-year receiver Keon Coleman’s production has all but evaporated. He’s combined for 125 yards receiving over his past five outings since gaining 112 in the opener. And slot receiver Khalil Shakir is struggling to find space with more defenses creeping closer to the line of scrimmage.
In two weeks, Buffalo has gone from squandering an opportunity to open a three-win edge on its division rivals, to sitting second in the AFC East behind New England (4-2).
Say what you will about a Bills defense that allowed 21 points and 335 yards in the first half. The unit, missing numerous key pieces, responded in limiting the Falcons to three points and 108 yards over the final 30 minutes.
This loss to Atlanta was on Allen and an offense that had season lows in points, yards (291), first downs (17) and third down conversions (2 of 9).
Most concerning is how Buffalo stalled after scoring a second-half opening touchdown to cut the deficit to 21-14. Buffalo’s next three possessions ended with two punts and a turnover on downs, when running back Ty Johnson was late turning back to catch Allen’s hurried, underthrown pass on fourth-and-2 at midfield.
Allen was left to defend Brady’s play-calling.
“Listen, if it works it’s a great call. If it doesn’t, it’s not,” the reigning NFL MVP said.
Red zone defense. Aside from the field-goal block, the Bills allowed a touchdown and a field goal on Atlanta's three drives inside the 20. Overall, Buffalo has limited opponents to 10 touchdowns and six field goals on 18 red zone drives.
Third down offense. Buffalo has converted 10 of 28 third down attempts over its past three outings, and is 28 of 72 overall.
Palmer, before he was injured. The offseason free-agent addition showed off his field-stretching ability with a 45-yard catch on the opening play from scrimmage.
Allen. The quarterback looked hesitant in the pocket, and threw two interceptions, his fourth in three outings, plus a lost fumble.
Aside from Palmer and Kincaid, DT DaQuan Jones was a late scratch after hurting his calf in pregame warmups. LB Terrel Bernard did not return after hurting his right ankle. McDermott listed Jones and Palmer as week to week, with Bernard, Kincaid, linebacker Matt Milano (pectoral) and receiver Curtis Samuel (neck/ribs) listed as day to day.
3-21 — Combined record of opponents Buffalo has defeated this season. The two losses are against opponents who are a combined 7-4.
Rest, recover and re-examine over a bye week before returning to visit the Carolina Panthers (3-3) on Oct. 26. Allen has never lost three consecutive starts.
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Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott speaks after an NFL football game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Buffalo Bills, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Buffalo Bills, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) is sacked by Atlanta Falcons cornerback Dee Alford (20) and defensive end James Pearce Jr. (27) during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
The midterm elections officially begin Tuesday with primaries in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas. As war with Iran breaks out, Democrats and Republicans are figuring out who they want to lead their party into November’s general election, when control of Congress and statehouses around the country will be up for grabs.
The most hotly contested races of the day are in Texas, with fierce competition on both sides of the aisle for U.S. Senate nominations. It’s possible that the Republican campaign will continue into a runoff.
Here's the latest:
And he argues that scenario is especially plausible if he doesn’t win the GOP primary.
“Republican voters are going to need to decide, do we want to win? Do we want to keep Texas red? If the Attorney General (Ken Paxton) is the nominee, that risks everything we’ve been working on for decades in Texas, with Republican leadership and conservative policies making Texas the envy of the nation,” Cornyn said on Fox News on Tuesday morning.
Cornyn faces a crowded field in the party primary, drawing challenges from Paxton, U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt and five others.
Tanu Sani, a Democrat, said she had been undecided on who to vote for but ultimately chose state Rep. James Talarico, saying he “really spoke to me in the way he tries to unify.”
Andrew Kern, who said he leans Democrat, said he went the same way. Kern said he feels Talarico “is taking an approach that’s bridging some of the divisiveness.”
Sen. Tom Cotton was unopposed in his 2014 and 2020 primaries, and Sanders and Republican U.S. Sen. John Boozman won their 2022 primaries with 83% and 66% of the vote, respectively.
Cotton faces two challengers this year. Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is seeking a second term, is running unopposed in the primary.
The state’s Republican lieutenant governor, attorney general, auditor and treasurer also face no primary challengers in their reelection bids.
In almost all cases, races can be called well before all votes have been counted. The AP’s team of election journalists and analysts will call a race as soon as a clear winner can be determined.
In competitive races, AP analysts may need to wait until additional votes are tallied or to confirm specific information about how many ballots are left to count.
Competitive races in which votes are actively being tabulated — for example, in states that count a large number of votes after election night — might be considered “too early to call.” A race may be “too close to call” if a race is so close that there’s no clear winner even once all ballots except for provisional and late-arriving absentee ballots have been counted.
The AP’s race calls are not predictions and are not based on speculation. They are declarations based on an analysis of vote results and other election data that one candidate has emerged as the winner and that no other candidate in the race will be able to overtake the winner once all the votes have been counted.
The AP’s vote count brings together information that otherwise might not be available online for days or weeks after an election or is scattered across hundreds of local websites. Without national standards or consistent expectations across states, it also ensures the data is in a standard format, uses standard terms and undergoes rigorous quality control.
The AP hires vote count reporters who work with local election officials to collect results directly from counties or precincts where votes are first counted. These reporters submit them, by phone or electronically, as soon as the results are available. If any of the results are available from state or county websites, the AP will gather the results from there, too.
In many cases, counties will update vote totals as they count ballots throughout the night. The AP is continually updating its count as these results are released. In a general election, the AP will make as many as 21,000 vote updates per hour.
The 2026 midterm season begins in earnest Tuesday with two of the nation’s most consequential Senate primaries playing out in Texas, a political behemoth Democrats have been fighting to flip for decades.
Is this the year? Republican leaders in Washington openly fret that a victory by conservative firebrand Ken Paxton over four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn would give Democrats a rare shot of winning the seat come November. The contest has already cost Republicans tens of millions of dollars, and there will be much more spent ahead of a May 26 runoff if no one gets 50% in the three-way primary that also includes Rep. Wesley Hunt.
Democrats, meanwhile, are picking between two rising stars with conflicting styles. There’s U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who made a name for herself through confrontation, and state Rep. James Talarico, a former middle school teacher who’s working toward a divinity degree.
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The United States doesn’t have a nationwide body that collects and releases election results. Elections are administered locally, by thousands of offices, following standards set by the states. In many cases, the states themselves don’t even offer up-to-date tracking of election results.
The AP fills this gap by compiling vote results and declaring winners in elections, providing critical information in the period between Election Day and the official certification of results, which typically takes weeks.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said in January that the state should seize control of elections in Harris County, which includes Houston and is a key battleground.
His comments continued years of Republican criticism over how elections are run in the county of more than 5 million, where Hispanic and Black residents make up a majority. Democrats have controlled the county since 2018.
Abbott signed laws that eliminated Harris County’s independent elections administrator and banned drive-thru voting in Houston. And last year he waited nine months to hold a special election to fill a U.S. House seat representing Houston, saying the county needed extra time to prepare for a vote without any problems.
Democrats accused Abbott of delaying that election to help Republicans maintain their razor-thin margin in the House.
Republican incumbents, including U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, are heavy favorites to win their primaries in Arkansas.
Cotton, who is seeking his third term in office, will face Jeb Little, an Arkansas State Police trooper, and Micah Ashby, a minister from Bradford.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as President Donald Trump’s press secretary during Trump’s first term, is seeking her second term in office. She did not draw a Republican opponent.
Arkansas hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide since 2010, and Sanders and Cotton will be heavy favorites to win reelection in November.
Polls have now opened for voters in El Paso and Hudspeth counties, an area of about 1 million people on the western tip of Texas in the Mountain Time Zone.
Polls in Arkansas are open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and voters are required to show photo identification before voting.
About 2,600 sites opened statewide at 6:30 a.m. ET and will close at 7:30 p.m. ET. Some ballots have already been cast by mail or during an early in-person voting period that ended Saturday.
There’s an open race for a seat in the U.S. Senate because Republican Sen. Thom Tillis decided not to seek reelection after clashing with Trump. Former Gov. Roy Cooper is seeking the Democratic nomination, while former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley is running to represent his party.
Voters are also picking nominees for U.S. House seats, including the Republican choice to challenge Democratic Rep. Don Davis in the 1st District. That district became more Republican as state legislators redrew it during Trump’s redistricting effort to help his party maintain control of the House.
A man wears an "I voted" sticker outside a polling location Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Spring, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
A voter makes his way into a polling location, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Spring, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
FILE - An election judge arranges "I Vote, I Count" stickers on a table in the Marion County Clerks office as voters cast early ballots in Indianapolis, Oct. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
