Coach Sean McDermott says Bills must use bye week to start over - ESPN

ATLANTA — The Buffalo Bills enter their bye week on a two-game losing streak after a 4-0 start. Coach Sean McDermott said after Monday night's 24-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons that the team has to «start from ground zero.»

«We'll figure out things on offense, defense and special teams,» McDermott said. «We've got to start over and start from ground zero and figure this thing out and work our tails off to do it.»

With the loss to the Falcons, the Bills dropped to 4-2 to fall behind the New England Patriots in the AFC East. McDermott repeated multiple times in his postgame news conference that the effort was «not good enough.»

The Bills also hope the bye will allow some players to recover from injury, but McDermott noted there are no guarantees on how many they will get back. Tight end Dalton Kincaid (oblique) missed the game, defensive tackle DaQuan Jones popped his left calf in pregame warmups and couldn't play, wide receiver Joshua Palmer (ankle) left in the first half and linebacker Terrel Bernard (ankle) did not play in the second half.

The defense struggled early, allowing 335 yards in the first two quarters, the most the Bills have allowed in the first half of a game since 2001. Most of those yards went to two players — 152 to running back Bijan Robinson and 147 to wide receiver Drake London. McDermott said the defense will continue to work on fundamentals, adding, «It's got to improve.»

While the defense stepped up in the second half, giving up only a field goal and one drive over 35 yards, the offense struggled throughout the game to find any consistency against one of the league's top statistical passing defenses, punting six times. Quarterback Josh Allen threw two interceptions as the Bills lost the turnover