Josh Allen was all praises for the Bills’ new WR Amari Cooper after their Week 7 win over the Titans. After trailing in the game, Amari led a second-half offensive charge and Allen knew they had a special talent on their hands. Cooper shone again, this time against the Chiefs, and they remain the only team to beat the Super Bowl champions this season. But the last two games have been challenging with their latest outing leading to calls for improvement by Allen.

Is the complacency creeping in the Bills? The AFC East leaders lost to the Rams 42-44 on December 9 and in their week 16 matchup, Josh Allen & Co. faced unexpectedly tough competition from their divisional rivals, New England Patriots. Even though they managed to eke out a 24-21 win, the game got too close for comfort for the Bills.

The Bills struggled in the first half defensively, which is no surprise given that they were without their four starters. Linebacker Matt Milano, safeties Damar Hamlin and Taylor Rapp, and cornerback Rasul Rapp were all missing against the Pats. But the bigger concern for HC Sean McDermott was the lack of offensive power, a concern shared by his QB.

During the post-game conference, when asked about his connection with receivers like Keon Coleman and Amari Cooper, he replied, “Yeah, always working. (I) feel like we can definitely be better there in the pass game, as a total today, wasn’t our best effort, so something we’ll learn from.”

The O-line has been performing fine for the Bills. After week 15, Pro Football Network ranked them 3rd in the league, only behind the Broncos (1st) and Ravens (2nd). But the Pats showed that the Bills’ there is still work to be done as the Patriots’ defense blocked the Bills QB. While Drake Maye recorded 22 of 36 passes in 261 passing yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception, Allen had 16 of 29 passes, his lowest conversion rate since Week 5, He threw for 154 passing yards, his fourth-lowest total of the season, and had just one touchdown and a first interception since Week 10.

Moreover, his 67.3 passer rating was his third-lowest of the year. After accounting for 14 total touchdowns over the last three weeks, this was a disappointing outing for Allen. The team struggled to get going offensively, especially in the first half. It was a far cry from the show they had put on the preceding weeks that saw them score 30 or more points in eight consecutive games.

Cooper, who has emerged as a key asset for the team, helping Allen to be in the conversation for the NFL MVP, had only one catch for 10 yards on Sunday. This was not the sort of performance that had Allen raving about the WR following the win over the Titans.

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“I think, being seven years in the league now, just, like, understanding guys of his caliber, they don’t need a lot,” Allen told reporters in October. “They go out there, give them a clear mind, and let them go play. That’s what he did out there a couple of times, just finding zones, finding windows. He made a really good catch on that slant. But again, just the professionalism that he has, the ability that he has, just trusting what I see with him, and things will turn out pretty good.” Cooper finished that game with four receptions for 66 yards and one touchdown.

As we head to the business end of the season, performances have to pick up.

It’s that time of the season when you want to win, especially after qualifying for the playoffs. Josh Allen would want to enter the postseason on a winning note. They play the Patriots again in the regular season, so there is a chance for a better showing. Before that, the QB would be up against Aaron Rodgers’ Jets.

The Bills’ HC was also unhappy with the performance despite the win. “I thought we played sloppy in the first half in particular, and then just overall we’ve got to clean some things up,” McDermott said. “Second half was a lot better, and [we] controlled the line of scrimmage offensively and defensively with the takeaways. Can’t start a game the way we did, kickoff return and just getting off to an overall bad start.” The Bills did in fact improve in the second half.

The defense came up with three turnovers and the team had 22 rushing attempts after just six in the first half. They managed to turn things around, bouncing back from their defeat to the Rams.

Meanwhile, during the game, Allen suffered a right elbow contusion in the fourth quarter and addressed the injury in the press conference.

Josh Allen revealed his injury status

While the QB was worried about the O-line, the fans are worried about him. He revealed the elbow injury in his throwing hand after the game and said, “Yeah, a little elbow. I don’t know if it was the elbow or helmet or the ground but lost some feeling in my hand, just hit the funny bone nerve and went to throw the ball and just had no feeling in the hand.” But there’s nothing to worry about now.

Talking about what happened afterward, he added, “It took a good five 5 to 10 minutes. So just making sure trying to get some blood flow back in there and some activation, you know. When it’s cold like that too it if the more you leave it out the number the whole hand gets so it was a weird feeling um just glad it’s gone now.” That’s an enormous relief to the Bills’ fans.

He’s their record-maker. He was the first to throw 3 passing and 3 rushing touchdowns in a single game (against the Rams). Notably, his non-throwing left hand has been broken since Week 1, but not only Allen has braved through the pain but has emerged as one of the best players in the league so far.

He is critical to the Bills’ success this season and an improved show of chemistry and better plays between him and the WRs would go a long way to turn this into a memorable campaign for the franchise.