Ozymandius

That may be right. Afterall, 10-6 teams are only 29-6, not 35-0 in making the playoffs. Maybe this will be another exception. But as of right now, I think 10-6 still gets the job done. The playoff picture looks very crowded right now but the view could change drastically in a few weeks. Would anyone really be surprise if the Ravens continue to lose games they "should" win, given how shaky Flacco and that offense is? Would anyone really be surprised if the Bengals finish 9-7 or worse? Isn't it possible the Jets faceplant a few more games after that devastating loss to New England and given how shaky Sanchez is?

This person got a lot of crap. How the Bills finish will determine whether he's vindicated or not.

I would say they would be on schedule, not ahead. In any rebuild with a new regime, you would expect the team to suck Year 1, be .500-ish Year 2, and make the playoffs Year 3. Ahead of schedule would be making the playoffs Year 2. Consider also that the Bills already improved a lot last season, going 4-4 after starting 0-8. You would think that with another year of experience in Gailey's system, they could get ahead of the .500 pace a bit. Finally, how many times can we really expect this team to start 3-0? How rare is a win over New England? To waste those two things and finish 8-8 would be a bitter pill to swallow.

I'm not predicting 10-6. This thread is more about how 10-6 usually gets the job done and about the three ways the Bills can reach 10-6.

Let me say right off the bat that the Bills have sucked the past two weeks. We all know that, and getting to 10 wins seems to be far-fetched the way things stand right now. But let's assume for a second that the Bills can turn things around. I went back and did some research and found out that ever since the NFL went to the current 8-division format, teams that go 10-6 are 29-6 as far as making the playoffs, meaning they have reached the postseason 29 out of 35 times. (Actually the real number is 29-5 but for obvious reasons, I went ahead and counted the New England team that missed the playoffs at 11-5). So the goal is still to get to 10 wins. If the Bills get to 10 wins and miss the playoffs, so be it. We can still be proud of the team because they did their jobs and were just a bit unlucky since 10-6 usually gets in. Right now, I see three paths to 10-6: (1) Upset the Jets at the Meadowlands and go 4-2 in the rest of the games (2) Upset the Patriots in New England and go 4-2 in the rest of the games (3) Lose to both the Jets and the Patriots but go 5-0 against mediocre to bad opponents (Miami x 2, Tenn, SD, Den) Again, none of those possibilities seem likely but they are all doable. If the Bills can't win just ONE tough road game all season long (Options 1 and 2), they don't deserve to be in the playoffs. And if the Bills can't take care of business against mediocre to bad teams (Option 3), they don't deserve to be in the playoffs. But if they ARE able to pull off either 1, 2, or 3, they will likely be in according to the history of 10-6. If not, we can still be proud of them. Make us proud, team. For the first time in 12 years, makes us proud of your season.

They still COULD go 6-2

There's no harm in trying. I mean, what's the risk? That he sucks as much as Donald Jones? Somehow I doubt that would happen, though. The guy is a physical freak, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and someone who just last year produced 983 yards and 9 TDs. It would be irresponsible not to give it a shot.

Injuries happen in football. Coaches, players, and fans would laugh at that list of players being used as an excuse (except for Kyle Williams).

what i wouldn't give to trade places with David Nelson tonight

lol, stock tumbling if so, I'm sure you'll be glad to make a wager that he won't be the #1 pick, right?

Jets.

Keep it simple. Does anyone think the Bills would recover from 5-4 to make the playoffs? Yeah, me neither. Bills need to go 1-0 in the next game. Season is on the line against Dallas.

you read about players finding out about their own cut/trade on the internet all the time bills are not alone on this, especially for fringe players like Wang

loss to the Jets was huge. dropped us from a 73% chance of making playoffs to now a 36% chance, the biggest drop for any team last week http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/playoffodds

I want Jim Kelly

Need more data on Dalton. If he's an eventual Pro Bowler, you clearly would take him. Kid's off to a great start despite being an ugly ginger.

Every loss this season has made sense so far. The Bengals are a good team that is actually 4-1 on the road right now. The Giants are very good and just won at New England. I think by the end of the season, we'll know that the Jets are a very, very good team as well. They're 5-3 now but I could see them finishing 12-4 with a first-round bye. They're pretty stacked as long as the QB doesn't hold them back.

Tend to agree, Estro. Bills will bounce back and play much better. I don't know if it'll be enough to get the win against a Dallas team that desperately needs this game, too, but +6 seems a bit much.

The decisions to repeatedly kick long, low-percentage FGs were dumb, too. Saban kept allowing LSU to flip field position on those misses. The best thing to do was to punt and try to pin them deep.

Strangely, me too. 38-22 Bills. (The actual game won't be nearly that high-scoring, imo)

Send Wood out there so Maybin poops his pants.

Fiction. It's literally impossible to negotiate several contracts at once and clearly every player who becomes a free agent at the end of this season is more important to negotiate with than Fred Jackson.

I'll tell you what I enjoy. Your total violation of the Terms of Service of this board. WWJD

I dunno about the other guy but that was the worst first quarter of my life.

Blah blah blah unproven blah blah blah not a savior blah blah blah This thread is a rehash of dozens of others on this forum and thousands of others on NFL message boards across the internet. I think the one thing everyone can agree on is that time will tell. We all have our predictions on how this play out. Let's see what happens. I do like the needless platitudes about "you can't win in today's NFL with one player" (was there ever a time when you could?") Because that's EXACTLY what all the NFL fans who want Luck are saying. They're all like "Hey let's draft Luck and then immediately stop building the team afterwards. We'll sell our other draft picks and even better, not sign any free agents! Is there a penalty for One Man on the Field?"