ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills wide receiver Keon Coleman said that he's "got to be more accountable" after being benched for the first series of the team's Week 5 loss to the New England Patriots due to what coach Sean McDermott said was disciplinary reasons.
The second-year receiver spoke about the benching on Thursday, saying that they are keeping exactly what happened in-house.
"It wasn't really no reaction. It was expected," Coleman said of hearing he would be benched. "We communicated that, so understandable."
And he called it a "growing pain in a sense."
"It is frustrating because you know you're better than that as a person and individual," Coleman added. "And you don't like the things that it shows. Sometimes it might show that you don't care and that's not the case. You want to eliminate those things."
He went on to play the rest of the game against the Patriots (42 snaps, 62%), including recording a receiving touchdown and a fumble. Coleman, a 2024 second-round pick, was also benched for the first quarter of a Week 3 game last season against the Jacksonville Jaguars after a timing issue during the week.
Moving forward, Coleman, 22, said that he will respond by "Just being what I'm supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed to do and showing that level of maturity."
Coleman said that he and McDermott are on the same page.
"I think [Coleman] understands, I think he knows," quarterback Josh Allen said on if he feels like he needs to say anything to Coleman. "At the end of the day, this locker room, this team, you don't ever want to let your teammates down and I think he understands that, and he doesn't want to let us down. We move forward."
