The '21 Bills are sleepwalking to the playoffs

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Still much rather read a post like the OP, who while being a tad overly optimistic, is simply trying to add some balance to the force! We need some opposing views to the nonstop Debbie Downer tripe New England fans posing as ‘distressed’ Bills homers post here (you all know who they are). So for that effort, I salute the OP 

[LABILLBACKER]

We started sleepwalking week 1. Let's not kid ourselves besides Watt, the Steelers are bad. Then we win 4 and go 4-1. Pundits start anointing us SB worthy. It gets in our heads during Instagram practices. Then the Jags game changed the narrative of the whole season. We are a talented yet non physical team underachieving. Our greatest weakness is the OL and teams are exploiting that. Our 2nd biggest weakness is our front 7 stopping run heavy teams. Trenches, trenches,  trenches.....we've heard this a million times. Fix these 2 areas and hope the coaches stop making mistakes. We can't waste Josh like the Angels waste Trout.....

[nedboy7]

This is America, just make up a version of reality you can relate to and go with it.  You'll be fine.  I have us going into Tampa undefeated. 

[Nextmanup]

4 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

This is America, just make up a version of reality you can relate to and go with it.  You'll be fine.  I have us going into Tampa undefeated. 

The really scary part is you can probably convince a sizable percentage of fans here that we are undefeated! 

 

I just did some numbers and it looks to me like we will be the #1 seed for the playoffs!  Home field all the way through, and a first week bye!  

 

 

[K-9]

‘89 Bills redux. Been saying it since last season ended.

[KCNC]

I just keep remembering our crappy 2017 team.  Remember how we never thought until 00:00 on the clock on Baltimore that we had a rat's a$$ chance of making and playoffs and we did.   It's a crazy season and ANYTHING can happen.  We have a good team, maybe not a great team but Josh will keep us in games.  Guys on the team won't give up and neither am I.  Sure I will be disappointed if they don't make it to the dance.  Like Joe Marino always says "They will either do it or they won't"

[Nextmanup]

10 minutes ago, K-9 said:

‘89 Bills redux. Been saying it since last season ended.

I wish!  We won the AFC East in 1989.

 

That ain't happening this year, I don't think.

 

 

[Saxum]

The most important thing the Bills are missing is availability.  Due to number of players coming back they were thought to be early leads but they have had so many key players out for games other than QB they have become inconsistent.  Coach McD is a big advocate of team first and personal responsibility but there are so many players who are not team first now it is killing the Bills.  

[Jerome007]

19 hours ago, Hermes said:

I see where you're coming from but at what point in the Pats game did they have no chance to win?

 

What about the Titans? 

 

I don't remember the way the Jags or Steelers game ended but I'd imagine it's similar. 

 

The point is that even when the Bills are playing poorly by all accounts. They're still in position to win these games against quality opponents. 

Indeed. Only the Colts whooped them. 

[bigduke6]

using the word playoffs and the Bills in the same sentence may be generous this year,  sadly.

[Hermes]

2 minutes ago, bigduke6 said:

using the word playoffs and the Bills in the same sentence may be generous this year,  sadly.

Considering they'd make it in right now if the season ended today.

 

You're wrong. 

[bigduke6]

4 minutes ago, Hermes said:

Considering they'd make it in right now if the season ended today.

 

You're wrong. 

am i tho?  still games left....

[Greg S]

1 minute ago, bigduke6 said:

am i tho?  still games left....

 

We will find out in 5 weeks. I think they are a good bet for 3-2 and maybe (hopefully) 4-1.

[Hermes]

Just now, bigduke6 said:

am i tho?  still games left....

 

In the '21 NFL season the Bills held a playoff position in week 14, after week 14 (fill in the blank, could be negative or positive. Your choice)

[bigduke6]

15 minutes ago, Greg S said:

 

We will find out in 5 weeks. I think they are a good bet for 3-2 and maybe (hopefully) 4-1.

i hope along with u,  was just saying that its not cut and dry that we're going.  Go Bills!!

[uninja]

this thread like

 

[JaCrispy]

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

‘89 Bills redux. Been saying it since last season ended.

Except we still don’t have our Thurman Thomas yet...😉

[HamptonBillsfan]

If I don't see a good win against a playoff team before the final 3 cupcakes, I can't take this team seriously. They have regressed to this point and coaches, front office and players are guilty of  swallowing the hype offered up by NFL experts about being a SB lock. This underachieving team must show some pride and fight so fans  can believe. 

[Dopey]

Don't ever wake up a sleepwalker is what I heard.

[BADOLBILZ]

22 hours ago, Hermes said:

This iteration of the Bills cares not for the accolades of the regular season!

 

They know the only games that matter are played in January and February. After the loss to the Chiefs in AFCCG with a hobbled WR room and feeling the effects of going all out for an entire season, the Bills aren't going to let that happen again! It's a long season and they know it. They know what it takes to win playoff football games. They're not going in blind and flying high like last year.  They're grounded and focused on the ultimate goal.

 

Many fans and pundits are down on the bills because of the 'disappointing' record and the inconsistency of play, however, the Bills don't give a crap what you or anyone else thinks. It took everything the Patriots had to win that game Monday night, and if the Bills connect on a small handful of plays it's a rout in the Bills favor, it's really that simple. The Patriots had to play an almost perfect game and they still had to scrape by with last minute defensive heroics to come out on top.  Milano might've purposely 'gotten injured' at the end of the game because the Bills aren't going to embarrass themselves with some trash play to win on a punt return in week 13, in week 19 and beyond if they're in that position, they're going to have something special prepared for the occasion.

 

Yeah they lost to the Pats.

 

Who cares!?

 

They're still in prime position to make a run in the playoffs. It doesn't matter where they play, they know they can beat the pants off of any team in the league, in their own stadium, Bills fans travel well and they'd love to see Blue and Red confetti all over Arrowhead, or anywhere else.

 

It took the best efforts of the Steelers, the fully loaded Titans, the Jags, and now the 'white hot' AFC leading Patriots to get the better of the Bills on days where the bills were 'off'. These weren't a couple bad plays and the game was out of hand, these games were close the whole way through, with the opponents feeling great about themselves for a having a slim lead, even knowing the Bills could end it in a play.  These teams hold this win against the Bills as a highlight of their season (or decade, in the case of the Pats) and the Bills don't care about the loss for one second, they only care about the one that ended the season last year. The Colts game was over at halftime after the Mckittrick fumble and the Bills were ok with that. Something in common with these teams is that they all had this game circled as a big one. The Bills only have one game circled on the schedule. THE big one.

 

That's not to say that the Bills are a team who isn't trying to win.  Quite the contrary.

 

They're a team that is working out the kinks now instead of later.  A team who doesn't get too amped up about a week 13 game.  A team in the process of getting better. A team with quiet confidence even with their backs against the wall. A team who knows their best football is ahead of them.

 

A team with Superbowl aspirations.

 

 

 

 

I'm not one for the false bravado like the OP has produced here.

 

But the reality is that McDermott's consistently said that his primary message is that it's the teams that stick together thru the long season that play well at the end.

 

Additionally..........they are pretty healthy and lower mileage as a team for being 12 games in.

 

So it wouldn't surprise me at all if they play much better down the stretch and in the playoffs.