Buffalo Bills: Week 3 of preseason exposed the Bills’ biggest offseason mistake

The Buffalo Bills got embarrassed from the get-go at home vs the Bengals in the granddaddy of the preseason, the third game. The Bills’ biggest flaw from the offseason was the reason they lost and put Bills fans on high alert.

The Buffalo Bills finally have the right pieces to begin trying to build a winner that will last. However, this offseason they really only failed in one area.

The offensive line lost all of its biggest stars and best players and the offseason line is what cost them in Week 3 of the preseason and probably Josh Allen‘s chance to start in the regular season.

The Bills offensive line looked, to put it bluntly, abysmal. Abysmal only begins to describe how bad they looked.

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A plethora of penalties, getting out hustled, worked, and simply made look silly, they offensive line did nothing to make rookie Josh Allen’s transition into the NFL nay easier.

To be fair, the Bengals have a decent pass rush. Defense is far from the problem with the Bengals. And to be even fairer, the Bills offensive line woes did not really start with the game vs the Bengals.

The offensive line woes really started this offseason. Eric Wood, shortly after playing in his first career playoff had to abruptly retire.

Tragic for any player, let alone one of his caliber. A staple of the Buffalo Bills and future Wall of Famer for sure.

So, the Bills lost a pro-bowl center.

Then, in what has become a sad story of what could either be considered a mental breakdown or simply a move to get more money out of a team, Richie Incognito, a multiple time pro-bowler on the offensive line.

He retired, I guess?

But, either way, losing one great offensive lineman in an offseason can be a disaster let alone your two best.

So, what did the Bills do?

They did absolutely nothing, quite frankly.

They even traded Cordy Glenn. He is talented but was fading quickly after battling injuries. The Bills, ironically traded him to Bengals this offseason. That move now looks more and more painful.

With all due respect, and I mean all due respect because the Bills’ offseason was otherwise successful, the Bills failed to help the offensive line this offseason.

They did draft, Wyatt Teller, but he is unlikely to start or make a difference right away.

The Bills’ offensive line looked okay in all the other games this preseason. But, in their biggest test, even if all they had to do was give Josh Allen time to shine, they failed. Not admirably either.

The Bills failed to do anything significant after losing two of their best players on the team. Both of which ended up being integral pieces to their playoff run.

Failing to address the most underrated, but most important part to a football team in an offseason where rare circumstance forced them too, is not ideal.

It finally costs the Bills a football game. Nathan Peterman will likely start now simply because he survived playing behind it.

Since offensive linemen do not grow on trees, do not expect the Bills to all of a sudden fix this potentially fatal flaw.

At this point, all the can do is adjusted to what they have and hope it works out.

But, in the regular season, some games might get ugly quickly. This offensive line is not ready to go back to the playoffs. This is not only a reflection of the preseason, but the front office simply failing to address it this offseason as well.