Preseason results may not count in the standings, but they aren’t meaningless.
That was part of Bills head coach Sean McDermott’s message after Saturday’s preseason opener against the Bears. His team was outgained by 140 yards while giving up eight sacks, committing 11 penalties, turning the ball over and failing to score a touchdown in a 33-6 loss.
“Our standard was not out there today,” McDermott said, via the team’s website. “That’s not how we play, so there is a lot we need to do to get ourselves ready to go here. . . . But we’ve got to learn from it. We have to be truthful about what we saw out there . . . Self-inflicted wounds are hard to overcome, and then you’ve got to play an opponent on the other side. So, give them credit. They played well.”
The Bills will be in Pittsburgh next Saturday, so they’ll have a week to work on what went wrong before trying to show McDermott that they’re on a better path heading into the regular season.