ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Jim Leonhard leaned back to loosen his shoulders and let out a big yawn upon approaching the podium for his weekly news conference before addressing the first question of whether he got any sleep.
“Not much,” the Buffalo Bills' first-year defensive coordinator said.
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Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady stands on the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, right, makes a touchdown catch as Buffalo Bills cornerback Davison Igbinosun defends during the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer (87) makes a catch in front of Buffalo Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson (22) during an NFL football game in Las Vegas, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/David Becker)
FILE - Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard looks on during an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)
The lack of rest was the combination of the team’s late-night return home following a 33-30 win at Las Vegas on Sunday and whatever restlessness Leonhard is experiencing in attempting to plug a leaky defense that's among the NFL’s worst in yards and points allowed.
Tired as the first-year coordinator felt, the one thing Leonhard wouldn’t give into was frustration.
“Me being frustrated, it doesn’t help us get there,” Leonhard added, while looking ahead to Buffalo entering its bye week off with an AFC East-leading 5-1 record. “It’s going to be a couple of days in the office for us re-evaluating everything. If 75% of the problem is me, then we’ll fix that. But what’s the rest of it that we can clean up for these guys?”
His to-do list is vast.
Though pleased with Buffalo's pass rush, Leonhard conceded his secondary has been a weak spot while allowing 15 touchdown passes, tied for the second most in the NFL entering Week 7. On-field communication continues to be a problem even though Leonhard worked on simplifying the game plan last week.
“There’s too many times we look confused,” he said.
And then there are disciplinary issues, beyond safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson's ejection and one-game suspension for spitting in the direction of Raiders players.
A week after allowing the Rams to convert four first downs as a result of penalties in a 37-34 overtime win at LA, five more flags led to Raiders first downs. Overall, the Bills rank last in the NFL with 151 first downs allowed and 21 by penalties. And that has contributed to Buffalo ranking 28th in the league in allowing opponents to convert 45% of their third-down opportunities.
The problems reflect a defense that opened the season working in four new starters while also transitioning to a 3-4 system.
Leonhard has focused on addressing the issues with the players on his roster, though he has cautioned changes might be necessary. One reinforcement is already on the way with Buffalo bringing back Tre’Davious White, signing the veteran cornerback to the practice squad this week.
First-year coach Joe Brady refuses to fix blame on one unit by saying each of the team’s three phases needs to improve. That’s despite a sizzling Josh Allen-led offense that's tied for the league lead with Detroit in averaging 32.8 points per outing, and scoring points on 36 of 58 possessions not ending in a kneel-down.
“It’s never offense versus defense or anything like that with us. We’re going to win as a team,” Brady said. “There’s going to be games where we might try to find a way to win 10-7. And there’s going to be games like (the Raiders) where we got to go find a way to win in the 30s.”
More often than not, it has been the latter this season with Buffalo winning all four outings when allowing 30 or more points. The defense’s best showing was a 24-16 win over the Chargers in Week 3 in which Buffalo overcame committing five turnovers.
It was left to Leonhard to play the so-called bad cop in blaming the defense and praising the offense.
“It's great to have Superman as your quarterback,” he said following the win against the Rams, in which Allen had 210 yards passing and 121 yards rushing. “But we can't wait until it's our turn to go save the day.”
That wasn't the case in Las Vegas, with Buffalo squandering a 10-point lead by allowing the Raiders to score 17 points in the fourth quarter.
“It’s consistency. It’s finish,” Leonhard said this week. “And the ultimate job that we have is keeping points off the board, and we’re not doing that right now. And that’s a big problem.”
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady stands on the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, right, makes a touchdown catch as Buffalo Bills cornerback Davison Igbinosun defends during the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer (87) makes a catch in front of Buffalo Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson (22) during an NFL football game in Las Vegas, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/David Becker)
FILE - Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard looks on during an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After Ashley Hinson dropped off her boys at school earlier this month, she saw the initials “DJT” flash on her phone.
“'Ashley, it's your favorite president,'” Iowa's Republican nominee for U.S. Senate recently recounted to an audience of her supporters. “That's how he introduced himself.”
She had expressed a more forceful message about communicating with President Donald Trump on the debate stage with her Democratic opponent, Josh Turek, as she tried to win over undecided voters.
“I’ll be President Trump’s ally when it is important for Iowa, but I will push back on him,” promised Hinson, who currently serves in the U.S. House. “He knows this.”
Although many Republicans are walking a political tightrope in this year's midterm elections, Hinson's balancing act is more challenging than most. Iowans have been hamstrung by manufacturing job losses, healthcare clinic closures and shrunken farm profits since Trump returned to the White House, but Hinson also is relying on the president's loyalists to show up for her.
On Thursday, Hinson took the stage before Trump came on at a rally in Sioux City, which is in Iowa's conservative northwest corner. The visit to safe territory is geared toward boosting turnout even as it ties her more tightly to an unpopular president.
To hundreds of Trump's supporters, Hinson played up her relationship with the president.
“I’m not sure, frankly, that he’s always happy when we’re talking because I ask him for a lot of things for Iowa when we’re on the phone,” she said. “And that’s exactly what you would expect me to do, right? As your next United States senator.”
Trump later joked that Hinson is “such a pain” for those asks. Trump also spent time casting Turek as a “woke, far-left radical” and called on Iowans to reject him. He said if Democrats win in the midterms, that would be the “start of something very bad, very dark, very horrible for our country.”
“I'm asking you to do me a very big favor," Trump said. “I'm asking you to pretend that I'm running.”
Trump is expected to visit the other side of the state on Nov. 1.
Turek, a state lawmaker, was in Sioux City for a campaign event Tuesday and told reporters he was happy for Trump to visit to see how his tariffs and the Iran war have “hurt Iowa more than any other state.” Although Turek says he's willing to work with Trump on issues like immigration, he calls Hinson a rubber stamp for the president's bad policies.
When Hinson kicked off her campaign last year, she touted Trump’s endorsement and said she was running to be Trump’s “top ally” in the Senate. Almost a year later, Hinson instead says she wants to be “Iowa’s best bipartisan fighter."
The message has crystallized since the summer, with more examples of Hinson vocalizing positions at odds with the president. Recent polling from late September and early October suggests it could work as she carves out about 1 in 10 voters who disapprove of the president even as she continues to secure overwhelming support from those who approve of Trump.
In August, she said Trump’s plan to increase beef imports from foreign countries in an attempt to lower prices was "a bad idea” that would hurt Iowa farmers.
Last month, two of Hinson's Iowa colleagues in the House broke with the White House and voted against Trump's ability to continue the war with Iran without congressional approval.
Hinson didn’t, but she said later the war has gotten too costly for Americans and called for Trump to bring the conflict to a “successful and immediate end.”
More recently, Hinson criticized Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russia in exchange for diesel fuel. She said Tuesday that the U.S. needs to make sure “dictators aren’t allowed to win wars.”
“I think the president and I share the goal of lowering costs for working families and for people who are using diesel,” she told reporters after a campaign event. “I, again, just don’t think we need to be making any deals with Russia.”
Hinson said she hadn’t talked with the president about the issue.
“Maybe I’ll have a chance to come have a conversation with him at the rally," she added.
Hinson isn't the only one pitching bipartisanship. So is Turek. In fact, he's the only Iowa candidate seeking federal office who explicitly mentions Trump in general election television advertisements, according to an Associated Press analysis of AdImpact data.
In one, Turek is behind the wheel speaking directly to a camera about Interstate 35, which “connects Iowa to the southern border and the broken immigration system that both parties have failed to fix." He says: “In the U.S. Senate, I’ll work with anyone to fix it, including President Trump, to secure the border, stop the flow of drugs into Iowa.”
Turek has pushed back on the president’s policies, including tariffs and the war in Iran, as the catalysts of high costs that are hurting Iowans, but his message on working with the president on immigration and other select issues stands out from other Democrats. Republicans say he's just pretending to be a moderate to get elected.
Mazie Stilwell, executive director of the progressive organization Progress Iowa, said Turek's message on immigration targets a bloc of voters on an issue that's particularly important to them but doesn't overshadow his otherwise disciplined focus on the high costs facing Iowans.
Trump’s visit to the state Thursday, she added, is “a terrific reminder of the disaster that he has been and his administration has been for our bottom line, for everyday Iowans who are trying to make ends meet.”
Iowa is no stranger to competitive Senate races even though Trump won the state by double digits in the last presidential election.
Ad spending on broadcast and cable television has already surpassed $200 million this cycle, AdImpact shows. But in today’s dollars, the total ad spending in the 2020 Senate race was even higher.
Republicans have spent slightly more for Hinson than Democrats for Turek. That was the opposite in 2020, when Democrats spent nearly $30 million more than the GOP did in their unsuccessful effort to unseat Sen. Joni Ernst.
Iowa Republican activist Kelley Koch has been concerned that complacency will dampen turnout from conservatives, even those who are loyal to the president.
"They say, ‘Why are you all hyped up about the midterms, Kelley, Trump will take care of everything,'” Koch said.
It’s an assumption she’s working to counteract, and she expects “the Trump effect” from his visits will help protect Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
And while Koch supports Hinson, she doesn’t like it when she talks about pushing back on Trump.
“Right now,” Koch said, “we had better unite around our president.”
Associated Press reporter Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed.
President Donald Trump greets Iowa U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, at a campaign rally at Sioux Gateway Airport, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn gestures as President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Sioux Gateway Airport, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
People listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Sioux Gateway Airport, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., left, Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn, right, and Iowa U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, second from right, listen as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Sioux Gateway Airport, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Sioux Gateway Airport, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, speaks to supporters, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Ankeny, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
