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Priority No. 2 was to put the game out of reach as soon as possible.

With a Thursday game looming, getting the starters out of the lineup was a topic of conversation for head coach Sean McDermott on the headset with his positional coaches as the Bills opened a 30-3 lead in what ended up being a 30-10 victory.

鈥淣ever want to get ahead of ourselves, but doing the best that we could to try and get as many guys out as we could,鈥� McDermott said.

For the Bills, preparation for the Week 3 game against the Dolphins at Highmark Stadium began well before Week 2 concluded. That鈥檚 a requirement in the NFL, which routinely asks teams to complete the quick, Sunday-to-Thursday turnaround.

Players generally hate it because it鈥檚 simply not enough time to recover from the previous game, but TV ratings and the money from such games stuff the pockets of everyone involved with the league mean they aren鈥檛 going anywhere.

鈥淚 don't like it,鈥� nickel cornerback Taron Johnson told The Buffalo News of playing on just four days of rest. 鈥淏ut I didn't play this past weekend, so I feel pretty good. Whereas other guys, they're pretty beat up. I don't like it in that sense. No one is fully recovered by the time Thursday comes.鈥�

Still, the Bills have performed quite well on the shortest amount of rest teams can receive, going 5-1 on Thursday night after a Sunday game under McDermott. After losing to the Jets on a Thursday in 2017, McDermott鈥檚 first season, the Bills have run off five straight victories with Josh Allen as their quarterback 鈥� including a 31-10 demolition of the Dolphins in Week 2 of the 2024 season.

The two teams meet a week later on the calendar this season. It鈥檚 still early enough in the season that McDermott said his team is still trying to piece together the foundation and identity of this year鈥檚 team, which undoubtedly will be different than last year or the year before. How the team prepares on a short week will be a bit of a learning lesson for the coaching staff, especially as it relates to players who have not been through the process with the Bills.

The key to preparing on a short week, according to several Bills asked about the topic this week, is to follow a 鈥渓ess is more鈥� philosophy.

鈥淭rust in the base game plan, sticking to what we're doing,鈥� Allen said. 鈥淛ust understanding who we are and what we're trying to do on the offensive side of the ball. On shorter weeks, it kind of comes down to what you've practiced in training camp and really sticking to your base rules. We feel like we've got a pretty good grasp of those.鈥�

With less time to watch film, the game plan is significantly scaled down. There is less time to put in new plays, because the practice time isn鈥檛 allotted to repping them. One way to expand the game plan is to keep in any plays from the previous week that weren鈥檛 used, because they are still fresh on the mind. Given the lopsided nature of the win over the Jets, the Bills likely didn鈥檛 have to go deep into the playbook in the second half, meaning there should be some of those plays to choose from against Miami, because they are still fresh enough on the mind.

鈥淭he rest aspect. It sounds cliche 鈥� get your rest, but the key is sleep,鈥� right tackle Spencer Brown said. 鈥淟ess is more on a short week. Just get the basic stuff in, stick to the plays you know that we've ran.鈥�

The Bills conducted a walk-through practice Monday and weren鈥檛 in pads Tuesday, which is generally the only day of the week leading up to a Thursday game that a team can get in a more intense practice.

鈥淭he coaches do a good job of taking care of us, not making us put pads on and be physical out there,鈥� defensive end A.J. Epenesa said.

McDermott chalked that up to meeting the team where it鈥檚 at right now on the schedule. Last week, he turned Thursday鈥檚 scheduled practice into a walk-through, which he believed necessary for recovery after a physical Week 1 game against the Ravens.

鈥淢aking sure we're doing right by them as it relates to the rest that they need, how we shape game plans and just meeting them physically, emotionally, just mentally where they need to be met right now,鈥� he said.

Thursday鈥檚 game is the first of two on short weeks the Bills will have this season. They play Houston on the road in Week 12. Epenesa said the short turnaround is more challenging mentally than physically.

Defensive linemen must prepare for an opponent鈥檚 foundational run and pass concepts, along with the different protections that the offensive line uses.

鈥淭here are some things you have to be aware of, certain blocks and things that they might try and surprise us with, but for the most part our fundamentals are going to be the same every single game, every single week,鈥� he said.

The benefit of a Thursday game is the added 鈥渕ini bye鈥� that follows it. The Bills鈥� bye week falls in Week 7, so having an extended break after Week 3 and again after Week 12 nicely breaks up the schedule.

鈥淚t gets the body turned around and feeling as best as you can possibly be,鈥� Brown said of those breaks. 鈥淓verything we've installed from training camp to now is good to go (Thursday night). The key is not overthinking it and relying on our technique.鈥�

Cleaning up

While the 2-0 start to the season looks great on paper, there are still issues for the Bills to clean up. Defensively, the Week 1 performance against the Ravens has been thoroughly dissected, and that unit made many necessary improvements against the Jets.

Offensively, despite racking up 30 points, the Bills know there were at least a couple of statistical areas that could have been better 鈥� and would have allowed them to put the game away even earlier than they did. The offense went just 5 of 14 on third down and 2 of 4 in the red zone.

Those 鈥渇our-point plays,鈥� as offensive coordinator Joe Brady calls them, allowed the Jets to stay in the game.

鈥淲hen you score touchdowns, it can change a game from 6-0, to 14-0. It can change a game from 9-0 to 21-0, and it feels completely different,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat's obviously something we have to do a better job.鈥�

The Bills also were called for six accepted penalties, four of which went against the offense and two of which stalled drives.

鈥淲e have a lot that we have to clean up, and we got a short amount of time to do it,鈥� Brady said. 鈥淏ut I think the fact that we were able to put together 30 points (against the Jets) and not play to the standard that we feel like we should is encouraging. Our guys came in knowing that we got to continue to get better.鈥�