Rank the AFC Teams as of Now

[Trogdor]

31 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Dolphins are way too low. Better than the Pats and certainly better than the Jets. They will challenge us for the division.

I'd take anyone vs the Jets, but i think most Bill's fans have been sleeping through the Miami off-season. They made some really good pickups. 

[GoBills808]

17 minutes ago, BuffaloBills1998 said:

I see 9-10 wins for them. 6-7 wins is Under rating them, they have a better QB situation than the cheats and a better roster than the Jets

I’ll take that bet 

[TFBillsfan]

My thoughts on the AFC for the upcoming season with * for playoff predictions

 

*KC (Talented roster, defending SB champs)

*Denver (much improved roster, strong D, talent at RB, WR and TE, depends on QB play)

Raiders (How does Carr play? Strong at RB and talent at WR)

Chargers (big questions on offense, TT holding the position until Herbert is ready)

 

*Indy (Improved QB, solid OL,  running game and solid HC)  Could make the case for Tenn in this spot

*Tenn  (Does Henry have the same success, does Tannehill play the same, improve or digress?)

Texans (Not sure what the locker room thinks of their HC)

Jags (dumpster fire, Marrone dead man walking)

 

*Baltimore (Tough division but tough d and upgraded O) 

*Browns (Have the talent now with a better HC, can they put it together) 

Steelers (Solid D but I do they have enough on offense)

Bengals  (expect them to be very competitive, solid D and improved offense, depends how quickly Burrows adjusts to the NFL)

 

*Bills (Brutal schedule but no excuses for not winning the division)

New England (So much depends on if they get a QB)

Miami (Like what they are doing in South Florida)

Jets (Biggest question mark is their HC)

[FireChans]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBills1998 said:

I see 9-10 wins for them. 6-7 wins is Under rating them, they have a better QB situation than the cheats and a better roster than the Jets

 

44 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

I’ll take that bet 

Looking at the Dolphins schedule, I just don’t see greater than 6-7 wins. Raiders, Bengals Jags, Jets twice, Bills twice, Pats twice, Rams, 49ers, Seahawks, Chargers, Chiefs, Broncos, Cards.

 

I think they go 1-3 or 0-4 vs the NFC West. Those teams are all pretty good. Maybe they beat Arizona. They lose to us twice hopefully. Chiefs beat them. Gotta beat the Pats and Jets twice, and then beat all but one or two of the Chargers, Raiders, Bengals, Jags, Broncos.

 

 

Just don’t see it. IMO, the go 0-6 vs the NFC West us and the Chiefs and then maybe split the rest. 7 wins max.

Edited April 27, 2020 by FireChans

[JetsFan20]

1 hour ago, Trogdor said:

I'd take anyone vs the Jets, but i think most Bill's fans have been sleeping through the Miami off-season. They made some really good pickups. 

The Jets made a lot of really smart moves in the offseason for a change. The Dolphins went big game hunting, but the Jets added a depth At key spots and built up the middle of their roster.

 

 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

18 hours ago, atlbillsfan1975 said:

The only team I won’t feel great about playing is the Chiefs. 
I’m not saying the Bills beat everyone else, but there is literally not a team from the AFC or NFC that the Bills can’t beat. The Bills roster is as well put together as any other in the NFL.  Baltimore is not better than the Bills.  I think Lamar is going to look like he did in his last game of the year a lot in 2020. 
 

Also the Pats today have the worst QB room in the league. 

Baltimore has the reigning MVP, multiple rugged backs, one of the best secondaries in the NFL and just upgraded numerous pieces in their Front 7 defensively.

 

They also have an experienced GM, steady ownership and a Super Bowl winning Veteran Coach.

 

The Bills are not in their league yet.

[Yav]

Sorry but, until we see the Patriots stink they are still good.

[Nelius]

1. Chiefs

2. Ravens 

3. Bills 

4. Titans

5. Broncos (Don't sleep)

6. Colts

7. Browns

8. Steelers

9. Raiders

10. Patriots

11. Jets

12. Dolphins (anticipating a more competitive AFC East)

13. Texans (BOB fallout continues, surprised by some of these higher rankings)

14. Bengals

15. Jaguars

16. Chargers (Herbert?!)

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

Bills really are the legitimate #3 team in the conference. That right there is amazing to think how far we have come in just three years under McDermott and Beane. Even if Brady was still in New England a good case could be made for Bills as the #3 team.

 

I would probably have Chiefs #1 over the Ravens at #2. Mahomes is just ridiculously good. Down 24-0 early in the second quarter of a playoff game and you come back and win by 20??? Down double digits to the Titans. Come back and Win. Down double digits in the Super Bowl. Come back and win. Chiefs defense also seemed to get better as the season went on. I think the defense gets better next year as well. 

 

I'm not sure what we will see out of New England. Their defense was historically great with turnovers and defensive TD's scored. That's actually a problem for 2020 as takeaways and  defensive TD's almost always fall back to the mean. New England still might have a top five defense next year but they might suffer some more L's if they are not getting the same number of takeaways. 

[78thealltimegreat]

13 hours ago, Chemical said:

1) there’s no guarantee he will improve. I personally think he will, but plenty of QBs have regressed or plateaued at age 24 for various reasons. His stats should at least improve with Diggs. 
 

2) the game day stuff is THE gripe. It was all last season. Even dating back to the Colts overtime win in the snow. McDermott just wants the game to be over the second we get a lead even if it’s the first half.
 

Some posters called it out all last season even in wins, saying that kind of thinking will cost is games in the future. Those people were told to shut up and enjoy the wins, but what happened in the playoffs? You can blame the refs or take a critical look at your team. 
 

3) I’d be legitimately interested to compare the Bills’ record against playoff teams with other top teams to see if there’s a statistically significant difference. 

edit: having said all that I put the bills behind KC, BAL, IND, HOU, TEN

 

Hate to tell you but McDermott is regarded as one the best coaches in the league now taking a team that missed the playoffs for 20 years to the playoffs two of the last three years and he could have like 5 jobs tomorrow if he got fired Uh you would majorly wrong Buffalo beats Ten, Houston, and Indy 

20 minutes ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Baltimore has the reigning MVP, multiple rugged backs, one of the best secondaries in the NFL and just upgraded numerous pieces in their Front 7 defensively.

 

They also have an experienced GM, steady ownership and a Super Bowl winning Veteran Coach.

 

The Bills are not in their league yet.

Didn’t the Bills almost beat them this year even with them going 14-2 and the roster upgrades in Buffalo are just as good as anything Baltimore did 

[GreggTX]

Miami has had a solid offseason and they are on the rise. I think their coaching is very good and they could be overachievers.

 

People are underestimating Bellichik, but they need a QB. I think the Pats will just wait a year rather than sign an average QB.

 

 I think Beckton will be great for the Jets, but Darnold had better step it up this year.

 

I also don't know that we are better than the Steelers or Titans right now. Josh Allen is our ceiling. We sink or swim depending on whether or not he plays well. He played a little better in 2019, but needs to show at least twice the improvement this year to finish 10-6 again with our schedule.

[Nelius]

21 minutes ago, GreggTX said:

I also don't know that we are better than the Steelers or Titans right now. Josh Allen is our ceiling. We sink or swim depending on whether or not he plays well. He played a little better in 2019, but needs to show at least twice the improvement this year to finish 10-6 again with our schedule.

 

I could agree with the Titans. Henry is the scariest dude in the league, we all saw what he did in the second half of last season. Most valuable player in the league leading up to the playoffs. I think the Bills and Titans are a coin toss, although I think losing Jurell Casey is going to be a big hit to Tennessee. He was their defensive anchor for 8 seasons, it's a huge loss.

 

I think the Steelers are so overrated. Roethlisberger is pushing 40, looks like he's pushing 30% body fat, will have been out for nearly a year by the time he sees the field. 9 months at least. They're really missing a second wide receiver. Juju sort of replaced AB but nobody replaced Juju. They've got a bunch of 3s and 4s with an old, possibly out-of-shape QB. Vance McDonald is just a guy, he's not Kittle or any sort of receiving TE. I feel like he's Luke Willson, he's not a game changer and his stature was just elevated last year by fantasy draft touts since there's truly a lack of quality TEs right now. Conner's a good RB but they've really got no depth as we saw last year. Their pass rush is fantastic, but I feel like they're a 9-7 team at best with some serious holes on offense.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Nelius

[GoBills808]

2 hours ago, FireChans said:

 

Looking at the Dolphins schedule, I just don’t see greater than 6-7 wins. Raiders, Bengals Jags, Jets twice, Bills twice, Pats twice, Rams, 49ers, Seahawks, Chargers, Chiefs, Broncos, Cards.

 

I think they go 1-3 or 0-4 vs the NFC West. Those teams are all pretty good. Maybe they beat Arizona. They lose to us twice hopefully. Chiefs beat them. Gotta beat the Pats and Jets twice, and then beat all but one or two of the Chargers, Raiders, Bengals, Jags, Broncos.

 

 

Just don’t see it. IMO, the go 0-6 vs the NFC West us and the Chiefs and then maybe split the rest. 7 wins max.

Same and Vegas agrees

1 hour ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Baltimore has the reigning MVP, multiple rugged backs, one of the best secondaries in the NFL and just upgraded numerous pieces in their Front 7 defensively.

 

They also have an experienced GM, steady ownership and a Super Bowl winning Veteran Coach.

 

The Bills are not in their league yet.

We lost to Balt on the last play of the game, how are Bills not in the same league?

[NoHuddleKelly12]

16 hours ago, RobbRiddick said:

 

The general consensus with fans around the league is that he's the only thing holding us back. I really am shocked by the hate he gets on a national level. I guess people just don't have time to watch all the games and rely on headline cliches to form their opinions. To hear people talk you'd think Allen was terrible. I heard someone say the other day that "if they had a decent QB they would have beat the Texans", like that game was all his fault. It's true the pressure got to him in that game, but it's like people remember the crazy lateral to Knox and forget the fact that he had them in FG range in OT before the penalty. 

Talent wise we're miles above them but the fact is they were leading us LATE in the first game last season. Would you be outright shocked if we played week 1 and the Jets won? I wouldn't. I'd be pissed and disappointed but not shocked.

This guy might be shocked 

[Big Blitz]

I'm sure it's been discussed elsewhere....but if we have a season with no fans in the seats*, lots of teams that enjoyed that advantage IMO make the NFL almost completely up for grabs minus probably 5-7 teams who have little to very little shot.  

 

Coaching, motivation, and being prepared is going to be so huge this year like never before.  I think our staff has gotten the most out of its roster as top notch motivators and getting prepared for game day.  And we really haven't been great at home.  What, 5-3 last year?  Loss to the Eagles, Patriots, and Ravens.  Horrible game vs Miami.  So so vs the Bengals.  

 

Teams most impacted by loss of home crowd in order:

 

1. Saints (and if all games our outdoors...lol)

2. Patriots (already down Brady)

3. Seahawks 

4. Chiefs 

5. Steelers 

 

Our schedule may be difficult, but empty stadium games I think actually may help us.  

 

 

 

*If you think they'll be fans you haven't been reading the tea leaves but that's for the politics section. 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Big Blitz

[Buffalo Junction]

12 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I think they need that runner to maintain their rush game. I don't expect Ingram to be capable of another 220 odd touch season with the same efficiency. I think the point on receivers and Jackson is well taken but their overall roster is just so stacked and their passing game is going - by design - to be inside to out with tight ends and shifty slot guys. If Jackson is just the same again and the soft centre of their defense stiffens with Wolfe, Campbell, Madubuike, Queen and Harrison they are going to be an even tougher out. I think people expect a step back from Jackson as teams deploy more of the Bills - Titans plan to stop them. Part of which was slow the traditional run game and I think that is more difficult when they have another, younger, downhill runner to help spell Ingram. But I think they can afford Jackson to slide back a touch and still be a 12 win team. 

The big issue here is that most teams don’t have the defensive personal and coaching talent to pull off those plans. That said, I’m still skeptical about Roman’s ability to adapt long term. His offenses seem to drop off year 3-4, so it’s going to be on L Jackson to improve enough to account for that. Although it’s possible the rest of their coaching staff infused some thought into his route combinations and passing game coordination. 

[Turk71]

22 hours ago, eball said:

The only thing keeping the Bills from being ranked in the top tier with the Ravens and Chiefs is any remaining skepticism about Josh Allen's development.  That's it.  Otherwise, from top to bottom the roster matches up with anyone in the league.  If you're a Josh Allen believer you put the Bills right there with them; if you think he'll stay what he was last season then they are still a top 6 team in the conference.

  The Bills oline isn't close to the Ravens'. The line is average to subpar in basically every metric and the Ravens is near the top in most metrics. Rolling with the same line the Bills are counting on continuity and experience to make them better than the subpar group they were last year. A lot of people seem to overestimate

their performance or underestimate their importance in the offense.

 If you think they were adequate consider that Allen was tied for last among qbs in pocket time.https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2019/passing_advanced.htm (click on pressure at top of table)   In the run game they were average to near the bottom in most every metric. No push in the power game, stuffed at the line or backfield more than 3/4 of the teams. https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/nfl/offensive-line/2019 

   I wouldn't put it all on Allen. The line also must improve, a good line makes everyone better. Let's hope they improve.

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Turk71

[atlbillsfan1975]

8 hours ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Baltimore has the reigning MVP, multiple rugged backs, one of the best secondaries in the NFL and just upgraded numerous pieces in their Front 7 defensively.

 

They also have an experienced GM, steady ownership and a Super Bowl winning Veteran Coach.

 

The Bills are not in their league yet.

And they also got beat at home in the playoffs, pretty soundly too. That reigning MVP looked pretty bad. Let’s see how Lamar does this year. 
To say the Bills aren’t in Baltimore’s league is laughable. 

[Watkins101]

23 hours ago, MJS said:

 

I'd drop the Browns one slot and potentially the Dolphins one slot.

 

What do people see in the Broncos? I would put them at 10. They went 7-9 last year and why should we expect them to be better? Do people have a lot of confidence in Drew Lock?

Most of the year, poor quarterback play plagued a mostly decent roster. Drew Lock came in and IIRC went 5-1 to close out the year. They also gave him a lot of weapons, having an improved running backs corps, took a receiver in rounds 1 and 2 (both among the best route runners in the class), and had a first round rookie tight end last year that preformed well, and likely will get better. There is a reasonable chance that they are significantly improved this year, and that would be largely due to their offense improving.

[eball]

2 hours ago, Turk71 said:

  The Bills oline isn't close to the Ravens'. The line is average to subpar in basically every metric and the Ravens is near the top in most metrics. Rolling with the same line the Bills are counting on continuity and experience to make them better than the subpar group they were last year. A lot of people seem to overestimate

their performance or underestimate their importance in the offense.

 If you think they were adequate consider that Allen was tied for last among qbs in pocket time.https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2019/passing_advanced.htm (click on pressure at top of table)   In the run game they were average to near the bottom in most every metric. No push in the power game, stuffed at the line or backfield more than 3/4 of the teams. https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/nfl/offensive-line/2019 

   I wouldn't put it all on Allen. The line also must improve, a good line makes everyone better. Let's hope they improve.

 

 

I do believe the Bills' OL will be better even with mostly the same pieces, for reasons of continuity and experience as you note.  I also believe the added weapons of Diggs and Moss take pressure off the line.  It's fine if you disagree with me that the Bills' roster from top to bottom matches up with anyone -- it's an opinion.

 

Do you expect Lamar Jackson to equate or exceed what he did last year, now that two teams in December (and January) were pretty effective slowing him down and the rest of the NFL now has a blueprint?  Jackson's inability (thus far) to make "big time" throws from the pocket is a weakness that Josh Allen doesn't have.

 

Baltimore is a force to be reckoned with as long as Harbaugh is there -- he's a top 5 HC in the league -- but despite the incredible season Jackson had last year I don't believe he is some sort of transcendent QB who is changing the game.  The Ravens went "all in" on that run-oriented offense and I believe the rest of the league will catch up.  Is it wishful thinking?  We'll see.  I've spoken to Ravens fans who refer to their offense as a "house of cards."