Mickey Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 Four division winners go and two wild cards. The Division leaders in the AFC are NE, Pitt, Den and Indy. The wild card contestants that are ahead of the Bills right now are SD 7-3, Balt 7-3, Jets 7-3 and J'ville at 6-4. At 4-6, it looks near impossible but, looking at the schedules, it is not as bad as it would seem. SD's remaining opponents are a combined 34-31, J'ville's are 32-28, Balt's are 34-25 and the Jets' are 36-23. Buffalo's are only 24-36 and that is with the Steelers at 9-1. Take them away and our remaining opponents are a pathetic 15-35. We get the Steelers at home on the last game of the season. There is a chance that they will have locked in home field advantage by then so they could be resting their starters. Even if they aren't, if we we're lucky enough to be playing at home on the last game of the year with a shot at a playoff birth, I'd like our chances. The Ravens have games left against Indy, Pitt and NE on the road. Those teams are a combined 24-5 and have only lost one game at home all year. J'Ville has tough games left at Minn and GB. They also have to play Pitt at home. The Jets have Pitt on the road, NE at home, Seattle and St. Louis. San Diego has games against Denver and Indy as well as always tough Tampa. By contrast, the only teams with winning records we play are Seattle and Pitt. If we can pull off a road win against Seattle, things really get interesting. Just for starters, figure that J'ville loses next week to Minn on the road and Balt loses to NE also on the road and we pull off a win in Seattle. That puts us at 5-6, J'Ville at 6-5 and Balt at 7-4 (with road games ahead at Pitt and at Indy). If we win the following week at Miami (1-9) and J'Ville loses to the Steelers which isn't hard to imagine, we will be at 6-6, tied with J'ville. That isn't at all impossible and at that point J'ville would still have an away date with the Packers. We don't have to beat out all 4 of those teams, just 3 of them. Yeah, it is one huge long, long shot but as the saying goes, we 'aint out of it yet.
Terry Tate Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 Four division winners go and two wild cards. The Division leaders in the AFC are NE, Pitt, Den and Indy. The wild card contestants that are ahead of the Bills right now are SD 7-3, Balt 7-3, Jets 7-3 and J'ville at 6-4. At 4-6, it looks near impossible but, looking at the schedules, it is not as bad as it would seem. SD's remaining opponents are a combined 34-31, J'ville's are 32-28, Balt's are 34-25 and the Jets' are 36-23. Buffalo's are only 24-36 and that is with the Steelers at 9-1. Take them away and our remaining opponents are a pathetic 15-35. We get the Steelers at home on the last game of the season. There is a chance that they will have locked in home field advantage by then so they could be resting their starters. Even if they aren't, if we we're lucky enough to be playing at home on the last game of the year with a shot at a playoff birth, I'd like our chances. The Ravens have games left against Indy, Pitt and NE on the road. Those teams are a combined 24-5 and have only lost one game at home all year. J'Ville has tough games left at Minn and GB. They also have to play Pitt at home. The Jets have Pitt on the road, NE at home, Seattle and St. Louis. San Diego has games against Denver and Indy as well as always tough Tampa. By contrast, the only teams with winning records we play are Seattle and Pitt. If we can pull off a road win against Seattle, things really get interesting. Just for starters, figure that J'ville loses next week to Minn on the road and Balt loses to NE also on the road and we pull off a win in Seattle. That puts us at 5-6, J'Ville at 6-5 and Balt at 7-4 (with road games ahead at Pitt and at Indy). If we win the following week at Miami (1-9) and J'Ville loses to the Steelers which isn't hard to imagine, we will be at 6-6, tied with J'ville. That isn't at all impossible and at that point J'ville would still have an away date with the Packers. We don't have to beat out all 4 of those teams, just 3 of them. Yeah, it is one huge long, long shot but as the saying goes, we 'aint out of it yet. 128841[/snapback] Worth bumping back up. Good job of schedule review. No reason to be overly optimistic, but I don't give up while it's still possible. Goes against my nature.
stuckincincy Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 Nice info, Mick. Still, even clearing the table has the problem (I think) of their AFC w/l record; 2 and 6 now and 6-6 being the best possible.
_BiB_ Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 I'm definitely not writing off the Pittsburgh game. Cincy handled them fairly well. I see the Bills D matching up pretty well with them. My fear is the Bills choking against someone like San Fran.
sidbuff Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 I want to thank U for taking the time to review this and what the possibilities are out there. Like Mike M says, its not over till its over.
BF_in_Indiana Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 I want to thank U for taking the time to review this and what the possibilities are out there. Like Mike M says, its not over till its over. 129183[/snapback] HAHAHA Sid you've had too much to drink this morning buddy.
PhilsBills Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 Four division winners go and two wild cards. The Division leaders in the AFC are NE, Pitt, Den and Indy. The wild card contestants that are ahead of the Bills right now are SD 7-3, Balt 7-3, Jets 7-3 and J'ville at 6-4. At 4-6, it looks near impossible but, looking at the schedules, it is not as bad as it would seem. SD's remaining opponents are a combined 34-31, J'ville's are 32-28, Balt's are 34-25 and the Jets' are 36-23. Buffalo's are only 24-36 and that is with the Steelers at 9-1. Take them away and our remaining opponents are a pathetic 15-35. We get the Steelers at home on the last game of the season. There is a chance that they will have locked in home field advantage by then so they could be resting their starters. Even if they aren't, if we we're lucky enough to be playing at home on the last game of the year with a shot at a playoff birth, I'd like our chances. The Ravens have games left against Indy, Pitt and NE on the road. Those teams are a combined 24-5 and have only lost one game at home all year. J'Ville has tough games left at Minn and GB. They also have to play Pitt at home. The Jets have Pitt on the road, NE at home, Seattle and St. Louis. San Diego has games against Denver and Indy as well as always tough Tampa. By contrast, the only teams with winning records we play are Seattle and Pitt. If we can pull off a road win against Seattle, things really get interesting. Just for starters, figure that J'ville loses next week to Minn on the road and Balt loses to NE also on the road and we pull off a win in Seattle. That puts us at 5-6, J'Ville at 6-5 and Balt at 7-4 (with road games ahead at Pitt and at Indy). If we win the following week at Miami (1-9) and J'Ville loses to the Steelers which isn't hard to imagine, we will be at 6-6, tied with J'ville. That isn't at all impossible and at that point J'ville would still have an away date with the Packers. We don't have to beat out all 4 of those teams, just 3 of them. Yeah, it is one huge long, long shot but as the saying goes, we 'aint out of it yet. 128841[/snapback] Thanks for the info. GO BILLS!!!!
Guest Guest Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 But the season comes down to this week at Seattle. We gotta have this one!! Go Bills!!
John from Riverside Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 Thanks for doing the homework on this.... To me this is all a moot point until we prove we can win on the road.... After we actually win one.....well.....
JasoninMT Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 This will be a tough game, maybe the toughest of what's left.... A win proves you aren't a pretender... a loss is just further proof that you are... Seattle is a lot like Buffalo, they sometimes just lose it when they are supposed to win, so it isn't impossible to get a win there. I think we can contain Alexander, and sometimes Seattle tries to do a St Louis imitation and doesn't even go to Alexander.... If Hasselback is back (and he probably will be) it'll be a different passing attack than Dilfer... Miami could have won yesterday - it was close.... but that was with Dilfer, not Hasselback.
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 Let's see them win a big game on the road...then there's cause for a small amount of hope.
Guest Guest Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 That shows you how big the Jacksonville Game was... Think... If that ball bad been knocked down in the endzone at the end of the game. Buffalo would be sitting at 5-5 just the same as Jacksonville... -fK
YOOOOOO Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showtopic=10583 I made a schedule break down last night... We gotta run the table, Get some help from KC/TENN and a few NFC Teams If we can win this road game @Seattle(big if...)...I think we can win the remaining 5 games of the season....
BuffaloWings Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 That shows you how big the Jacksonville Game was... Think... If that ball bad been knocked down in the endzone at the end of the game. Buffalo would be sitting at 5-5 just the same as Jacksonville... -fK 129279[/snapback] Or if the defense had actually stopped one of the other two 4th down attempts...lots of coulda, woulda, shouldas. Remember, they lost to Jacksonville and Baltimore, so the Bills would have to pass them to get a playoff spot. At this point, only the game at the Meadowlands against the Jets gives me a reason to believe they can steal ONE road game, much less two. Having said that, I don't want to hear gripes from people about how Mularkey is just full of malarkey when he says they're not out of it. With the defense playing the way it is, Buffalo has a legitimate reason to believe they're not done.
erynthered Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 Nice analysis Mick. Thanks I hope ICE doesnt see this thread.............................DOOOMED!!
bills_fan Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 MIck & YOOOOO, thanks for the breakdowns. It appears we need to root for NE & Pitt to roll (maybe Denver as well). That way, we fight it out with the Jest, Bal, SD and JAX.
Realist Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 Thanks for the great analysis. But I don't want to get my hopes up until after the Seattle game. I'd still like to see them win a big road game before any mention of the playoffs comes into play. Especially, since if we miraculously get into the playoffs, guess where that first game is...on the road against a difficult team.
Mickey Posted November 23, 2004 Author Posted November 23, 2004 It all comes down to Seattle. Road games are won with good defense. That is what we need, some big plays on defense. Certainly, we have the special teams talent to do some damage there. We have to be patient on offense and avoid the big mistakes. Seattle has not beaten a team with a winning record and lost to the Rams twice. Their wins came against SF (beat them twice) who is 1-9, the Fins who are also 1-9, Carolina who is 3-7, and the Saints and Bucs who are both 4-6. They lost to Arizona, NE and the Rams twice. These guys can be beat.
eball Posted November 23, 2004 Posted November 23, 2004 It all comes down to Seattle. Road games are won with good defense. That is what we need, some big plays on defense. Certainly, we have the special teams talent to do some damage there. We have to be patient on offense and avoid the big mistakes. Seattle has not beaten a team with a winning record and lost to the Rams twice. Their wins came against SF (beat them twice) who is 1-9, the Fins who are also 1-9, Carolina who is 3-7, and the Saints and Bucs who are both 4-6. They lost to Arizona, NE and the Rams twice. These guys can be beat. 130231[/snapback] exactly. it all starts with seattle. if the bills find a way to win and get the "road monkey" off their backs, the schedule is set up for a run. there's no reason for buffalo to lose to san fran, cleveland, or miami. then we're all of a sudden looking at 8-6 w/ the bengals and steelers left. it's all about this week. the bills should be treating this as their super bowl. wait, scratch that. their AFC championship game. much better memories there.
Ray Posted November 23, 2004 Posted November 23, 2004 We could go 6-0 the rest of the year--very unlikely, and still miss the playoffs because we'd lose every tiebreaker. We lost to Jacksonville and we'd have a poor AFC record. We would have to hope the Jets, Jags, San Diego, et al collapse to 9-7 and they all lose 4 or 5 of their last six games. Well never say it's over until it's over. The key game is this weekend. If they win, then it is Miami and then another home game.
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