ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Bills were on bye this past week, but over the weekend, coach Sean McDermott was, "itching a little bit and fidgeting" -- something his wife, Jamie, took note of.
"My wife's like, 'Hey, you need to go in?' I'm like, 'Yeah, I need to go in.' She knows," McDermott recalled on Wednesday.
McDermott described it as an unsettled feeling.
"When you don't feel great about things, with great clarity, total clarity, I need to go in there and watch the film and be by myself and just with my thoughts," McDermott said. "It's powerful. And you come out of it with better clarity on where we're at and where we need to go."
The Bills (4-2) are coming out of the bye week looking to move in a positive direction. Buffalo will try to avoid a three-game losing streak -- which would be the team's first three-game losing streak since it lost four straight in 2018. Quarterback Josh Allen has never lost three straight games as a starter. Under McDermott, the Bills are 8-0 coming out of the bye and the franchise has won 10 straight, the longest active streak in the NFL.
In hopes to get a win against the Carolina Panthers -- on a three-game winning streak -- on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX), the Bills could be aided by an infusion of defensive players. Free agent additions defensive end Michael Hoecht and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi are back on the active roster from their six-game suspensions for violating the NFL's policy on performance enhancing drugs. Simultaneously, rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston is back on the practice field.
"You want to rally, you want to get this thing going in the right direction," Ogunjobi said when asked if he gets the sense the team feels a cavalry is on the way.
The pair of linemen will aid a struggling defense, especially against the run. The Bills go into this game last in yards per rush allowed (5.8) and 30th in first downs per rush (31.3%), while the Panthers have two healthy talented running backs in Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle, who is averaging 78.7 rushing yards per game, fifth-most.
"We had a couple guys that couldn't get in cause they left their I.D. home, and now they're at the club and they let them in," left tackle Dion Dawkins joked of the suspended players. "So, now they turnt up with the guys, so that's how I see it. I'm thankful to have them in the club cause it's time to party."
This is not, however, a fix for the Bills defense. There are still other injuries to deal with.
Safety Taylor Rapp (knee) is not practicing, while both starting linebackers Matt Milano (pectoral) and Terrel Bernard (ankle) are limited.
Starting defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (calf) is week-to-week, while rookie T.J. Sanders is on injured reserve.
Cornerback is another position the Bills could use some help with rookie Dorian Strong (neck) also on IR.
A potential solve for the position could be Hairston's return. The first-round pick remains on injured reserve with a right LCL sprain suffered on July 2 but had his 21-day practice window opened Monday.
Hairston joined the Bills as they returned from the bye on a strong note, putting on pads Monday, but he was a limited participant in Wednesday and Thursday's practices. McDermott has emphasized managing expectations with the rookie since he's missed so much time with the team and not rushing his return.
"I've been working on my mental since I did get hurt," Hairston said. "So, I feel like in that aspect, it's not as bad.
"If I have a bad play, being able to mentally forget about it and move on to the next, I feel like that would be probably more of a bigger test. But just as far as the playbook, as far as getting a feel for how this stuff goes, I feel like mentally, I've done just about what I could do in that aspect."
Even for the players who were suspended, there were mental components to handling the suspension that they hope will come in handy.
Hoecht, 28, prioritized sleeping in his own bed and keeping his routine, and is thinking of his return like he is a player the Bills traded for at the deadline, but he already knows the playbook. He did say he was screaming at the TV sometimes watching games, but that it was hard to process what was going on without knowing the playcalls.
The five-year veteran, who the Bills had eyes on for multiple seasons before signing him in free agency, will add to the outside of the line and in general to a defense that has also had issues on first down, especially in the first half of games (51.2% conversion percentage in first halves, 30th). He should add to the pass rush and help lower Joey Bosa's snap count (68.3%).
McDermott tried to temper expectations, saying, "We'll see," when asked if Hoecht and Ogunjobi will play. But both went into the suspended period with a clear plan of action with the team and are fully participating in practice. An imminent return is likely.
"Let's get them integrated and get them rolling here," McDermott said. "There's certainly a conditioning piece. There is a physical piece to it as well, and then there's a schematic piece to it also. So just trying to manage expectations and just take it one the time right now one day at a time."
Hoecht and Ogunjobi were able to be back in the Bills' facility after the first three weeks of the suspension but not allowed to fully participate in practices or certain other team activities until this past week.
They spent the first three weeks in slightly different ways. Obunjobi, 31, went to Boulder, Colorado, to work with Andreu Swasey, the strength and conditioning coach at Colorado. Hoecht stayed in Western New York, and even trained at local Hamburg High School, "home of the Bulldogs," he quipped.
"I was over on their softball field and a couple times in the morning as the school buses pulled up, they were like, 'Oh, Joey Bosa! Joey Bosa!' Not quite, but you're really close," Hoecht joked.
Both Hoecht and Ogunjobi emphasized that despite the defense's struggles, it is early in the season for the team to get things going.
"I've been to the Super Bowl, and I've been 0-16, so I understand both sides of the spectrum," Ogunjobi said. "I understand there's ebbs and flows to the season. There's ups and downs, but the biggest thing is to stay together and to get this thing back on track."