*(same intro every day) Right before the new preseason starts, I like to go back and re-read our Week 1 reports from the prior season...just for fun and for seeing what our first reactions to the new season were--what did we see that we would soon regret, what was revealed that we were wrong about all preseason (last preseason), and where we were on the money for the season about to unfold...were we more right than wrong about the first reactions to 2025 going into it.
So, I'm going to post one a day for 16 days leading right up to the 2026 HOF game that kicks off the preseason. I'm not adding any notes or trying to explain or make excuses or let you know we figured it out the next week. It's just here to read...open source, not behind the paywall. Judge it how you like to judge it if you're a nonsubscriber--I'm not going to try to whitewash anything or give extra explanations. This just some reading material from what is the single most important thing we do each year--watch and scout the games each week and report out our findings and make FF reactions to them. Every week, it's a new week to make adjustments to. This is just every team's Week 1 as we wrote it. Enjoy...or don't.
What I like is some of the memories of Week 1 that comes rushing back when I'm reading these a year later...on top of seeing what we were seeing right off the bat.
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You saw the game live or the condensed version/highlights...you don’t need me to tell you about how fun/exciting of a game this was to watch. Two top teams battling and a somewhat miraculous comeback by the Bills. These are two top tier teams in the NFL, and one of them pulled off a shocking comeback victory. Not much more to say. They play the game a hundred times and it’s likely 50/50 on the outcomes.
I’m not going to go on and on about how great Derrick Henry is, or Lamar, or Josh. We all know this. I rewatched this game from the standpoint of scouting all the other options, looking for ‘things’. So, I’m just gonna report out on my impressions of them below. No Henry-Lamar-Allen talk, they’re great...the end.
Keep in mind, from the Bills side of things...they were down by 15pts with 11 minutes left and mounted this furious comeback behind 46 total passes by Josh Allen, so of course the receivers are gonna have huge games. This is not the way Buffalo wants to play, they were forced into it. So, my general vibe is gonna be a bit ‘skeptical’ on these bigger receiver numbers from Bills players.
Player Notes...
-- The player I really wanted to scout from this game was Keon Coleman (8-112-1/11). He looks in great shape and really worked on that in the offseason...as well as working on his routes, which looked a lot better here in 2025 than his ‘nothingness’ of routes last year. He’s been a guy you just fling the ball towards and try to let him make a play...but he’s trying to become a real WR.
Coleman has all the natural talent in the world, but has never been consistent going back to the multiple college teams he played for. How he follows up this event will tell us a lot about whether he is maturing as a human/WR.
More so, it will tell us what Josh Allen thinks of him. Coleman didn’t see his first target in this game until the 2nd-quarter...a quick screen that Keon dropped.
At the half of this game, Coleman had 1 catch on 3 targets. His first target of the 2nd-half was a misconnected 2-pt conversion try. After three quarters of play, Coleman had 1 catch still on 3 official targets, 4 targets if you count the 2pter. That’s not the sign of a QB desperate to get the ball to this WR as a major game plan.
Starting the 4th-quarter, down 15, going heavy pass comeback...Coleman caught 7 passes on 8 targets, not including a 9th target he got PI’s on, and not including another missed 2pt conversion attempt.
So, what do we make of a WR who gets 1 catch in three quarters in a critical game/big time opponent matchup...but then gets 7 catches in a furious 4th-quarter comeback (5 catches in the final 5 minutes)? Will Coleman need his team to be down 15 points going into the 4th-quarter to be a 4th-quarter hero and WR1? If Buffalo had gotten the lead going into the 4th-quarter or soon after, or what if Baltimore just controlled the clock and ran the game out...might Coleman have ended the week with 1-2-3 catches and then started being dropped in some leagues this week? Instead, he’s the golden boy this week.
He looks pleasing to the eye, but my mind says: Buffalo/Allen spreads it around and the fact that Coleman had 1 catch in the first 3 quarters is something I should be wary of...not to think Coleman is a lead punch in this passing game.
I could see this going either way, but there are many reasons to be a bit skeptical that it’s breaking out to greatness.
I will say this...Coleman is now, officially, another 2024 WR that is better than Marvin Harrison. That list continues to grow.
-- As for the other Bills receivers...
Khalil Shakir (6-64-0/9) is a BFF throw for Allen and will always be in the mix to be the top targeted WR any given week.
Josh Palmer (5-61-0/9) had basically the same flow/game as Coleman...didn’t see his first target/catch until the 2nd-quarter...one catch/target at the half, total. One catch in the 3rd-quarter...and then a flurry of targets/catches in the furious comeback. He didn’t look like he was an important part of the offense for three quarters and then had his spurt. I don’t think this is a great FF WR option...a WR4, in my mind. Nowhere near the upside of Coleman but does command some targets.
41 points scored and a furious comeback game where Allen threw the ball 49 times for nearly 400 yards, and Dalton Kincaid (4-48-1/4) had basically the same game he has every week...only this time he caught a TD. He is what he is in this offense, whether it’s high scoring or normal.
-- And then we have the Ravens...
Keep in mind this was an offensive explosion for them too, controlling the game for 55 minutes...and doing it with Henry-Lamar-Zay...and that’s all that’s FF-worth having from this team.
A lot of flimsy outputs here (below) but consider the offense only had 51 snaps total (Buffalo had 85 by comparison).
Mark Andrews (1-5-0/1) was good for one target in a 40-point game. Isaiah Likely should be back Week 3. Andrew was nothing for 5-6 weeks of the 2024 season, then was a hot TE1 the rest of the season.
Rashod Bateman (2-10-0/4) got 2 catches on 4 targets. No, thanks.
DeAndre Hopkins (2-35-1/2) got a nice TD pass/catch, but that was one of his 2 targets...he’s not the guy from 5 years ago. He’s a 2-3 targets a game guy now.
Keaton Mitchell was set inactive because he’s lost his juice from his wicked injury 2 years ago. Rasheen Ali (1-5-0) is the handcuff option over Keaton. Justice Hill would lead (if Henry went down) with Ali working with him in some capacity.
-- IDP Notes
Rookie Mike Green (1 tackle) was quiet in his debut.
Cole Bishop (4 tackles) is now the Bills starting SAF, and he was ‘meh’/OK.
Snap Counts of Interest:
75 = Coleman
60 = Shakir
53 = Palmer
17 = Shavers
48 = Cook
28 = Ty Johnson
48 = Knox
43 = Kincaid
29 = Henry
23 = Justice
01 = Ali
46 = Flowers
37 = Bateman
18 = Hopkins
