Successful season...what will it take?

[SloanBillsFan]

As usual, I'm cautiously optimistic but I'm still not expecting playoffs. If - if - if - if - IF Oliver, Ford, et al perform as expected along with the free agents I'd bet a dollar that 9-7 is definite. (yeah, I'm a high roller ?) 

[GottaRun]

Get to the playoffs and it will be successful. 

Win 1 against New England and it will be superb.

Win 2 against New England and I'll give everyone in my family extra Christmas presents.

[Buffalo Boy]

When I saw the schedule 10-6 was my first thought. I don’t have spect 11 wins but if JA improves accordingly it is not a stretch. 

We should be entering an extended playoff contention era and have a few more years before the cap becomes a major concern.

[GunnerBill]

6 hours ago, Zerovoltz said:

Big Ben threw for 30 something TD and 5000 yards and Pittsburg did not make the playoffs.  

 

Our defense is way better than theirs. 

[Bookie Man]

Wild card win. 

[Zerovoltz]

3 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Our defense is way better than theirs. 

 

QB A threw for 21 TD, 11 INTS and 4299 Yards 66.0 Comp % in 2018  His team went 5-11.

QB B threw for 21 TD, 11 INTS and 3777 Yards in 2018  66.1 Comp % His team went 5-11 also.

The combined QB's for the team with the 5th best D threw for 15 TD, 13 INTS, 3431 Yards and 61.4 Comp %.  They also went 5-11.

 

Teams threw for 20 or fewer TD had a combined record of 54-90.

 

QB A was Eli Manning, B was Matt Stafford and last was the combined efforts of the Jaguars QBs.

 

You could argue Buffalo has a better D than the Giants and the Lions...Jacksonville finished 5th in overall D....

 

If you add in teams that threw for 25 or fewer TD, that gets you 2 more losing teams, plus the Cowboys.

 

The lowest QUALIFYING (meaning, he had enough pass attempts to count) QB completion PCT to make the playoffs was Jared Goff, who completed 64.9 pct of his passes.

If you take non qualifiers, then you can throw in Jackson who only completed 58.2 pct of his throws in the 7 games he played, going 6-1 helping baltimore to qualify for the playoffs.

 

Allen needs to show substantial improvement.....I don't care how many times people want to define accuracy, etc...the bottom line is...in todays game, your QB and targets need to connect at minimum, 60% of the time...and realistically that number needs to higher to be considered a real threat.

 

Allen doesn't need to get to 60 this year....but he can't be at 53 again....that needs to be 57, 58 or better this year to show that he is growing and improving toward being the elite QB everyone his hoping for.  if he hits 60, no matter what the record is...I'd consider that wildly successful and I'd be pumped for 2020 in that case.  

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, Zerovoltz said:

 

QB A threw for 21 TD, 11 INTS and 4299 Yards 66.0 Comp % in 2018  His team went 5-11.

QB B threw for 21 TD, 11 INTS and 3777 Yards in 2018  66.1 Comp % His team went 5-11 also.

The combined QB's for the team with the 5th best D threw for 15 TD, 13 INTS, 3431 Yards and 61.4 Comp %.  They also went 5-11.

 

Teams threw for 20 or fewer TD had a combined record of 54-90.

 

QB A was Eli Manning, B was Matt Stafford and last was the combined efforts of the Jaguars QBs.

 

You could argue Buffalo has a better D than the Giants and the Lions...Jacksonville finished 5th in overall D....

 

If you add in teams that threw for 25 or fewer TD, that gets you 2 more losing teams, plus the Cowboys.

 

The lowest QUALIFYING (meaning, he had enough pass attempts to count) QB completion PCT to make the playoffs was Jared Goff, who completed 64.9 pct of his passes.

If you take non qualifiers, then you can throw in Jackson who only completed 58.2 pct of his throws in the 7 games he played, going 6-1 helping baltimore to qualify for the playoffs.

 

Allen needs to show substantial improvement.....I don't care how many times people want to define accuracy, etc...the bottom line is...in todays game, your QB and targets need to connect at minimum, 60% of the time...and realistically that number needs to higher to be considered a real threat.

 

Allen doesn't need to get to 60 this year....but he can't be at 53 again....that needs to be 57, 58 or better this year to show that he is growing and improving toward being the elite QB everyone his hoping for.  if he hits 60, no matter what the record is...I'd consider that wildly successful and I'd be pumped for 2020 in that case.  

 

None of that is relevant to the point I made. Allen needs to improve and the Bills won't make the playoffs without him improving. I agree with that. I said it is possible (though in my mind not that likely) that the Bills go 8-8 without Allen improving and that isn't a good season necessarily.

 

What I said was it is, in my mind, that if Allen gets into that range similar to QBs A and B even with a lesser completion % the Bills will be at a minimum at 8 wins. The Bills finished 2nd in total defense in 2018. I don't necessarily think they match that number again but the Bills defense is good and just added an elite interior pass rush prospect at #9. Comparing us to the Lions, Giants and Steelers is total irrelevance because our D will be significantly better than theirs. It is more talented and better coached. If our QB throws the Jacksonville QB type numbers it is very possible we end up with 5 wins. I never suggested any different.