NFL Admits the Buffalo Bills Loss in London Was an Experiment

The Buffalo Bills have all focus on the New York Giants this week, which will be the first primetime game played at Highmark Stadium this fall: Sunday Night Football in Orchard Park.

However, news and discussion over the loss in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars this past weekend.

The loss was blamed mostly on the offensive struggles. Despite the 25 points given up, the Bills for the vast majority of the game had only given up 11 points to the Jaguars, which was all early in the game. Given the mounting injuries on defense, it was a marvelous job by Buffalo.

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On Wednesday morning, the Bills officially placed both linebacker Matt Milano and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones on injured reserve. This does not mean either are done for the season, but does mean that the Bills can have the luxury of freeing up two roster spots. Players placed on IR during the season must sit out at least four games.

The Bills almost lost nickel cornerback Taron Johnson to a knee injury, but despite how serious it first looked, he came back a few plays later.

Johnson ripped into the field turf used at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, saying the league needs to take it out and calling for a return to grass fields at all NFL stadiums.

The Bills were also at a competitive disadvantage, since they came over to London Friday morning, while the Jaguars had been there for two weeks, having played the Atlanta Falcons the week prior in London.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell admitted this week that the league wanted to see "how teams react to that."

"Is it a competitive disadvantage or advantage, one way or the other? We'll learn something from that, that will help us determine; can we play more games here (London)," said Goodell.

This was a first: a team playing consecutive games in London. This means the Bills were essentially used as guinea pigs to see how they and the Jaguars would react to this. The results showed that the Bills were nowhere close to being ready to play.

Would they still have lost had the game been in Orchard Park? That's impossible to say but it's evident the Bills did not have the same energy as the Jaguars and the fact the field turf was as brutal as it was, compounded the problem.