ChasBB Posted May 9, 2020 Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) Buffalo has zero opponents coming off a bye week and zero opponents coming off of a Thursday game. I don't recall both of these happening in same season. No opponent will have a significant preparation-time edge or a significant rest edge over Buffalo in 2020. Edited May 10, 2020 by ChasBB 2
mjt328 Posted May 10, 2020 Posted May 10, 2020 7 hours ago, ScottLaw said: Not a chance it’s as easy as last years cake walk....it won’t even come close, IMO. The Bills have a good roster but it wouldn’t shock me if they only won 9-10 games due to the schedule this season..... Cardinals are going to be a good team, IMO. Raiders should also be improved and the game is on the west coast. Broncos should be another improved team. It’s not guna be easy. Good thing is the rest of the division is in the same situation, but the winner of the division won’t come anywhere close to getting the first round BYE in the playoffs, IMO. I think whoever wins the division is more likely the 4th seed. No NFL games are easy. But a difficult win counts just as much as a blowout. The Cardinals, Broncos, Raiders and Jets should have improved teams in 2020. No doubt about it. But I still look at the Bills, and believe they are significantly better than any of these teams. They should beat them. In fact, the only teams on the schedule I would argue have a better roster are the Chiefs and 49ers. 1
GunnerBill Posted May 10, 2020 Posted May 10, 2020 17 hours ago, bobobonators said: you can play this critical game every year with respect to the schedule and find a reason why team X is dangerous. It is the NFL after all. But right now, being objective, the Jets were not good, the Dolphins were not good, the Patriots no longer have Brady, the Chargers dont have Rivers, the Broncos were not good, the Raiders were not good, and the Cardinals were not good. Cardinals - 5-10-1 Jets - 7-9 Dolphins - 5-11 Raiders - 7-9 Chargers - 5-11 Broncos - 7-9 Thats 8 games vs teams with a losing record last year, 3 of which were brutally bad. The Steelers dont scare me like they used to. The Titans arent a perennial powerhouse. The Rams appear to be going backwards. The Patriots should not be an automatic 2 losses now. If we dont split against them then thats on us. The Seahawks, Chiefs, 49ers will be the toughest games where we probably wont be favored to win. Ah so the teams who were bad last year we must presume are still bad but the teams who were good last we are fine to presume are sliding backwards? Way to go on a consistent narrative. 8 hours ago, ChasBB said: Buffalo has zero opponents coming off a bye week and zero opponents coming off of a Thursday game. I don't recall both of these happening in same season. No opponent will have a significant preparation-time edge or a significant rest edge over Buffalo in 2020. This meanwhile is real and does matter. I think the opponents are tough, but the way the schedule has worked out could barely have been better for the Bills. 1
BuffaloFan68 Posted May 10, 2020 Posted May 10, 2020 On 5/7/2020 at 8:20 PM, atlbillsfan1975 said: It’s six days between San Fran and then Pitts. Denver is tough I will give you that, but I want to see how their QB is. The Pats, aren’t the Pats of old. Stop fearing them. Go look at that roster. It’s dog poop. I want to see the Pats get destroyed for the next several years. Re-Watched the Raiders playoff game with the BS tuck rule call the other day & then another one of NE RE-plays yesterday & the calls in their favor is ridiculous- makes the NFL look like professional wrestling.
atlbillsfan1975 Posted May 10, 2020 Posted May 10, 2020 6 minutes ago, BuffaloFan68 said: I want to see the Pats get destroyed for the next several years. Re-Watched the Raiders playoff game with the BS tuck rule call the other day & then another one of NE RE-plays yesterday & the calls in their favor is ridiculous- makes the NFL look like professional wrestling. I hear ya man. That’s why I think it’s important for the teams to beat the heck out of them this year. Take out 20 years of frustration and show that Bill isn’t some genius. That roster is bad, very bad. We are already seeing national media guys starting to drop them down some. The Pats are still getting the benefit by some, I see 10-6 or 9-7 for them. Any other team with that roster is seen as 6-10 maybe 7-9. Bill is going to have to be super aggressive to win this year. I just don’t think he has the players to execute his plans. He also doesn’t have a QB to bail him out.
RalphWilson'sNewWar Posted May 10, 2020 Posted May 10, 2020 (edited) it’s always about ‘can a team take the next step’? In 2019 Buffalo OWNED the middle tier to bottom tier teams in regards to QB talent. 8-0 with wins against Ryan Fitzpatrick (twice), Dwayne Haskins, Brandon Allen, Delvan Hodges, Andy Dalton, Eli Manning, Marcus Mariota. But against the Top Tier, the entrenched Starters, or “The Stars”, 2-6, with wins against Sam Darnold and Dak Prescott. BUT ALL LOSES against Carson Wentz, Tom Brady (twice), Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, DeShaun Watson. 2019 was a great moment of a wonderful defense playing against some of the worst offenses/QBs. I mean at one point during 2019, DVOA projected the Buffalo Bills to finish with the easiest schedule faced by any defense EVER. With a Current record is 1992 Chargers (-10.9%). The narrative for 2019 was They play the Stars and they lose (mostly). They play the average or worse guys and they win. Buffalo got a lot of credit for beating DALLAS as a sign they could beat “Good Teams” but then after that lost to the Ravens, Patriots and Texans while only averaging 17 Points Per Game. What does it mean for 2020? Well it boils down to what has been a consistent pattern? Under Coach McDermott, on Offense, it’s been lack of POINTS. POINTS, POINTS, POINTS Coach McDermotts offenses have never broke the 20 points per game average in 50 Games. When your Opponent is say Brandon Allen, nobody worries that your offense goes into Halftime with a score of 6-0. Because you don’t worry your defense will give up a touchdown. So it’s okay for your offense to do nothing. It HAS to get better because the OPPONENT QUARTERBACK TALENT is going to improve in 2020. Right now, before seeing if Allen has gotten any better or the impact of Diggs, based solely on who this team is... 8-8 to 9-7 record. BUT it’s MAY! Lol. Edited May 10, 2020 by RalphWilson'sNewWar 1 1
bobobonators Posted May 10, 2020 Posted May 10, 2020 7 hours ago, GunnerBill said: Ah so the teams who were bad last year we must presume are still bad but the teams who were good last we are fine to presume are sliding backwards? Way to go on a consistent narrative. This meanwhile is real and does matter. I think the opponents are tough, but the way the schedule has worked out could barely have been better for the Bills. What narrative do I have? We are in May simply tossing ideas around. No one can project forward, the only thing we can do right now is look at performances from last year and take educated guesses. I gave you my reasons beyond those opponents last year doing poorly with their W/L records and it had to do with us still having a great defense and our QB being as good or better than most of our opponents I listed. QB’s we’re going to play: Fitzpatrick or a rookie - 2x Darnold - 2x Stidham - 2x Carr Tannehill tyrod taylor drew lock That’s 10 games vs QB’s that shouldnt strike fear in anyone and none of those QB’s are clearly better than ours. Then you have the likes of second yr QB Murray, Goff and Big Ben. It goes without saying that there will always be tough games every year in every schedule. I dont have a narrative, im trying to be objective. What’s your narrative? “It’s hard to win” ? 1
GunnerBill Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 8 hours ago, bobobonators said: What narrative do I have? We are in May simply tossing ideas around. No one can project forward, the only thing we can do right now is look at performances from last year and take educated guesses. I gave you my reasons beyond those opponents last year doing poorly with their W/L records and it had to do with us still having a great defense and our QB being as good or better than most of our opponents I listed. QB’s we’re going to play: Fitzpatrick or a rookie - 2x Darnold - 2x Stidham - 2x Carr Tannehill tyrod taylor drew lock That’s 10 games vs QB’s that shouldnt strike fear in anyone and none of those QB’s are clearly better than ours. Then you have the likes of second yr QB Murray, Goff and Big Ben. It goes without saying that there will always be tough games every year in every schedule. I dont have a narrative, im trying to be objective. What’s your narrative? “It’s hard to win” ? So your trying to be objective is the teams who were under .500 will all be under .500 again and the teams who weren't will all slide back? Sounds mighty objective. Denver and Arizona are improving teams who have had excellent offseasons. They will both be better in 2020. Neither is unbeatable for the Bills but neither of those are easy games.
GunnerBill Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 2 minutes ago, ScottLaw said: Either are the division games.... people expecting easy sweeps of Miami and NY or NY and NE are kidding themselves. Other than the Miami road game being in the heat I see little reason why the Bills shouldn't sweep Miami. They are gonna have about 12 or 13 new starters and very little offseason prep and we get them on the road week 2. Switch those games round and give us them at home early and on the road late and I think the road game would be a lot more loseable. They were one of the teams I wanted early for exactly that reason.
Gugny Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 1 hour ago, GunnerBill said: Other than the Miami road game being in the heat I see little reason why the Bills shouldn't sweep Miami. They are gonna have about 12 or 13 new starters and very little offseason prep and we get them on the road week 2. Switch those games round and give us them at home early and on the road late and I think the road game would be a lot more loseable. They were one of the teams I wanted early for exactly that reason. You're awake and you couldn't help keep me from breaking the shoutbox?!?!?!?!!? 1
No_Matter_What Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 Anybody has an idea why are we actually playing Titans on road again? To be clear I know how it is scheduled, but I don't get the reasoning. Judging by Bills only current format for playing those two conference games with two teams from other divisions which ended up on the same spot is H-H-D-A-A-D-H etc. and not more logical one H-A-D-H-A-D-H etc. (where D means year when you play whole division so you don't play only one team which finished on the same place). Result of this is that we played Titans at home in 2018 (while playing whole AFC South), and then three times in a row on the road 2019 (same place finish 2018), 2020 (same place finish 2019) and 2021 (again playing AFC South based on 3year rotation). When we play complete divisions road/away games change on regular basis, but when it comes to playing same place finishers we always play AFC South opponent 2x home in a row and then 2x away in a row. I tried to google reasoning for this but didn't find explanation. Anybody knows?
Buffalo_Stampede Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 Has anyone found an article that shows the favorites for every Bills game in 2020?
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 On 5/10/2020 at 9:46 AM, RalphWilson'sNewWar said: 8-8 to 9-7 record. Nah. 11 is the floor.
Gugny Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 2 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said: Has anyone found an article that shows the favorites for every Bills game in 2020? https://www.sportsbetting.ag/sportsbook/football/nfl---goty#sel https://13wham.com/buffalo-plus/bills-latest-news/way-too-early-vegas-lines-bills-favored-in-11-games
eball Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 16 hours ago, ScottLaw said: Either are the division games.... people expecting easy sweeps of Miami and NY or NY and NE are kidding themselves. The Bills will be rightfully favored in at least 5 of the 6 games...and perhaps all 6 by the time the late MNF game at the Pats*** rolls around. Nothing is "easy" but even for someone who likes to play the role of pessimist do you really disagree with that?
ColoradoBills Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 This year I'm looking at the schedule this way. It is a tough overall season having both West Coast Divisions to play. Every team in the AFCE has 14 common games with the difference being the following: NE - Plays the Ravens and Texans BUF - Plays Steelers and Titans NYJ - Plays Browns and Colts MIA - Plays Bengals and Jaguars Winning the Division is the goal for all 4 teams and the Pats* have the toughest road ahead of them by far. Teams will smell blood in the water and want payback for the past 20 years. All the pressure is on NE to show they can still contend. As of now I see the "combined" Division record for the AFCE is probably 2-4 games below .500. The AFCE Champions winning record is hard for me to predict and a lot has to do with how good the West Coast Teams are this year. It's even possible that the AFCE Division Champ gets there by splitting the WC games (4-4) splitting the off schedule games (1-1) and having a 4-2 division record. That's total season record of 9-7. The Bills record COULD get to 11-5 with an improved Josh Allen year and as crazy as it sounds to some I don't see another team in the division capable of winning 11 games. It comes down (at this point of the year) that the Bills have the inside track and I'm good with that for now.
eball Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 44 minutes ago, ScottLaw said: 5 of 6 sounds right.... I mean as of right now that sounds right. All of that could change throughout the season. I just wouldn’t be surprised to see them lose a game to NYJ or Miami. Would you? Surprised is the wrong word. Favorites lose games all the time. But it would be unexpected.
Dont Stop Billeiving Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 On 5/10/2020 at 9:35 AM, GunnerBill said: Ah so the teams who were bad last year we must presume are still bad but the teams who were good last we are fine to presume are sliding backwards? Way to go on a consistent narrative. This meanwhile is real and does matter. I think the opponents are tough, but the way the schedule has worked out could barely have been better for the Bills. This. We always knew it was going to be a tough schedule based on our opponents, but given that, we really couldn't have expected a better schedule timing and rest-wise. The fact that we have the third-most net rest days in the NFL with +8 is a huge deal and feels like the type of thing we didn't benefit from in the past (only KC and Tennessee have more while Miami has -7 and Denver has -13). Love that we get the Jets and Miami in the first two weeks before all of their personnel changes (especially on the O-line) can gel. Love that we play KC at home on Thursday night; I still doubt we beat them, but I think the shortened week evens the playing field a bit. Love that we get the extra rest and a longer week to prepare for and hopefully sweep the Jets after KC. Love that the Rams, Seahawks, and Chargers have to play 10 AM PST games at our place. And love that Miami will have to weather the Buffalo snow in January. The NFL did us a solid this year. Now it's up to the Bills to prove that they are a contender on gamedays. I'm optimistic... 2 1
GunnerBill Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 20 minutes ago, Dont Stop Billeiving said: This. We always knew it was going to be a tough schedule based on our opponents, but given that, we really couldn't have expected a better schedule timing and rest-wise. The fact that we have the third-most net rest days in the NFL with +8 is a huge deal and feels like the type of thing we didn't benefit from in the past (only KC and Tennessee have more while Miami has -7 and Denver has -13). Love that we get the Jets and Miami in the first two weeks before all of their personnel changes (especially on the O-line) can gel. Love that we play KC at home on Thursday night; I still doubt we beat them, but I think the shortened week evens the playing field a bit. Love that we get the extra rest and a longer week to prepare for and hopefully sweep the Jets after KC. Love that the Rams, Seahawks, and Chargers have to play 10 AM PST games at our place. And love that Miami will have to weather the Buffalo snow in January. The NFL did us a solid this year. Now it's up to the Bills to prove that they are a contender on gamedays. I'm optimistic... Winner of best post in the thread award. 1 1
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