Getting the #1 Seed in AFC playoffs is critical now

[Inigo Montoya]

 

With the continued stockpiling of elite talent in the AFC, it will make running the gauntlet to the Super Bowl even more difficult.  Getting the #1 seed in years past was always looked at in the context of your team getting an extra week to heal up before the start of the playoff push.  Now with Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, Jackson, Watson, Wilson, and Burrow all in the AFC, there isn't a single easy out to be had.  That's a real Murderer's Row.  Derek Carr with Adams, Waller, and Renfrow won't be an easy out either.  

 

Getting an automatic ticket to the Divisional Round means one less game against one of these QBs and that has to be the focus of the Bills this season.  We can't have another Pittsburgh or Jacksonville game this year.  The Bills will have the big advantage of playing in the weakest division in the AFC and they need to run the table or go no worse than 5-1 in division play.   

 

Josh and company need to come out of the gate strong and start stacking wins.  Getting that #1 seed and first round bye in the playoffs is going to be critical for the next decade in this crazy deep AFC if the Bills are going to win a championship.  

 

[Aussie Joe]

Better - yes

 

 Critical - no

[Manther]

The #1 seed is a larger advantage than ever before.  I want the #1 seed and glad we are in the AFC East AND the other divisions will beat up on each other.

 

Go Bills!  15-2 should do it.  14-3 may.  13-4 could.

[Malazan]

J

F
C

Make it stop. 

[Brennan Huff]

 

[buffblue]

1 hour ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

With the continued stockpiling of elite talent in the AFC, it will make running the gauntlet to the Super Bowl even more difficult.  Getting the #1 seed in years past was always looked at in the context of your team getting an extra week to heal up before the start of the playoff push.  Now with Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, Jackson, Watson, Wilson, and Burrow all in the AFC, there isn't a single easy out to be had.  That's a real Murderer's Row.  Derek Carr with Adams, Waller, and Renfrow won't be an easy out either.  

 

Getting an automatic ticket to the Divisional Round means one less game against one of these QBs and that has to be the focus of the Bills this season.  We can't have another Pittsburgh or Jacksonville game this year.  The Bills will have the big advantage of playing in the weakest division in the AFC and they need to run the table or go no worse than 5-1 in division play.   

 

Josh and company need to come out of the gate strong and start stacking wins.  Getting that #1 seed and first round bye in the playoffs is going to be critical for the next decade in this crazy deep AFC if the Bills are going to win a championship.  

 

Spot on, and the arms race in the North and West should allow us to do just that. No excuses to not get the 1 this year:

 

Mia/Ny/Ne   5-1

Home vs Ten/Gb/Min/Pit/Cle.  3-2

Away vs Bal/Cin/Chi/Det/KC/La.  3-3

 

This is the worst case scenario, matching our record from last year at 11-6. One more win and 12-5 should absolutely be enough to secure the top seed

[Boatdrinks]

It’s was critical last year .. until it wasn’t. It was critical in 2020, but we weren’t as good as KC thatvyearhad injuries and wouldn’t have beaten them in OP either. Look, it’d be great to be the 1 seed, but it’s going to be tough in the AFC. The bye can help , but home field is not as huge as it used to be. Neither #1 seed made the Super Bowl last season, and the Bills didn’t lose because they played in KC. 

[Inigo Montoya]

37 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

It’s was critical last year .. until it wasn’t. It was critical in 2020, but we weren’t as good as KC thatvyearhad injuries and wouldn’t have beaten them in OP either. Look, it’d be great to be the 1 seed, but it’s going to be tough in the AFC. The bye can help , but home field is not as huge as it used to be. Neither #1 seed made the Super Bowl last season, and the Bills didn’t lose because they played in KC. 

Home field is nice but the point is getting a free pass into the Divisional round.  Sitting in the #2 seed in the AFC means playing the 7th seed and who on that list of QBs do you want to play?  Which one of those QBs is an easy out?  A team like Pittsburgh isn’t getting into the playoffs next year in the AFC, not any more.  The 7th seed in the AFC is going to have a Burrow, Jackson, Watson, or Herbert.  There aren’t going to be any easy Wild Card matchups in the AFC anymore. 

[transplantbillsfan]

It's also a lot easier now. Now BOTH the AFC West and North will be wars of attrition where teams will be lucky to go 4-2 in their division, whereas 4-2 for Buffalo in the AFC East next season would be incredibly disappointing.

 

This combined with the fact that Buffalo plays arguably the worst division in the NFC next year in the North and the path to the #1 seed for Buffalo is right there.

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

 

 Important maybe, critical not really. It can be a good or bad thing, depending on the team. For some teams it helps propel them to a championship, for others it seems to disrupt their mojo and they come out playing rusty. Case in point the #1 seeds this year were 0-2 in the playoffs, both losing in the divisional round. Didn't seem to effect the defenses, but the offenses only averaged 13 points.

 

 Another reason I don't believe it's critical is we have Josh Allen. Plain and simple he played his best game of his career,  in the loudest stadium to play in and still put up 36 points.

 

 

[ganesh]

4 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

100% agree.  I also love how we are stacking on the DL...We are going to be playing a ton of good RBs or teams that will run the ball (to keep Josh on the sidelines)....This DL needs to dominate and get off the field.   The speed of our LBs should help close down on the ball carrier

[GETTOTHE50]

we will get it. dont worry

[Thurman#1]

7 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

Home field is nice but the point is getting a free pass into the Divisional round.  Sitting in the #2 seed in the AFC means playing the 7th seed and who on that list of QBs do you want to play?  Which one of those QBs is an easy out?  A team like Pittsburgh isn’t getting into the playoffs next year in the AFC, not any more.  The 7th seed in the AFC is going to have a Burrow, Jackson, Watson, or Herbert.  There aren’t going to be any easy Wild Card matchups in the AFC anymore. 

 

 

 

The 7th will have a Burrow, Jackson, Watson or Herbert. Or not.

 

It's better every year to get it. If we don't get it, we shrug shoulders and move on. Same if we do get it, really.

 

They'll be very aware of it, certainly.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

10 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

  Now with Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, Jackson, Watson, Wilson, and Burrow all in the AFC, there isn't a single easy out to be had.  That's a real Murderer's Row.  Derek Carr with Adams, Waller, and Renfrow won't be an easy out either.  

 

Getting an automatic ticket to the Divisional Round means one less game against one of these QBs and that has to be the focus of the Bills this season.  

 

Getting that #1 seed and first round bye in the playoffs is going to be critical for the next decade in this crazy deep AFC if the Bills are going to win a championship.  

 

Critical?

 

it’s important but as the last few years has shown, it hasn’t helped those teams in the end.  

This is the same old argument.  

IIRC 3 Road teams won before the Bills lost.  The odds were against them.  
 

Edited March 19, 2022 by SlimShady'sSpaceForce

[H2o]

I don't believe it is critical, but I think it is a big time advantage and absolutely doable at this point. The AFCW is going to be a straight up dog fight. I expect each of those teams will have at least 3 losses from their own division. I also am not worried about the #1 seed coming from the AFCN because they will beat each other up as well. It will be between us and whoever the winner of the AFCS is imo. The AFCS as a whole plays the NFCE and the gauntlet that is the AFCW. Our opponents for 2022 have us positioned to get it done. We should absolutely roll the division. There is no reason we shouldn't be 6-0 in the AFCE. Our divisions we face as a whole are the NFCN and the AFCN. We should roll the NFCN and that would be 4 more wins. No one in the NFCN scares me and makes me think L. That puts us at 10. To gain the #1 seed in the AFC we will need 13-14 wins. That leaves us having to beat 3 or 4 out of KC, Cincy, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Baltimore, Cleveland, and the LA Rams. You don't think we'll be able to do that? I ABSOLUTELY believe we will get it done. I think the Bills will win at least 14 in 2022 when it's all said and done, get the #1 seed, and then it's finally our time. 

[BreezeMafia]

I agree.  However, I feel our path got easier due to how the AFC West divisional games will become a war of attrition, The Titans play each AFC West team, our home game vs the Packers without Devante and our team truly loaded up in weak spots.......and we havent even drafted yet!

[HOUSE]

The Toilets in section 124 are plugged, I would rather play on the road

 

 

.

Edited March 19, 2022 by HOUSE

[The Red King]

Remind me again, which of last year's conference champions were the #1 seed?

 

Important, yes.  Anytime you have to play one less game (where anything could happen from injury to fluke loss) and a week to rest banged up players is an amazing advantage, as is home field the whole way to the big game.  But it is not critical.  Teams have won the Super Bowl as Wild Cards.  Let's not overstate it.

[Charles Romes]

12 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

With the continued stockpiling of elite talent in the AFC, it will make running the gauntlet to the Super Bowl even more difficult.  Getting the #1 seed in years past was always looked at in the context of your team getting an extra week to heal up before the start of the playoff push.  Now with Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, Jackson, Watson, Wilson, and Burrow all in the AFC, there isn't a single easy out to be had.  That's a real Murderer's Row.  Derek Carr with Adams, Waller, and Renfrow won't be an easy out either.  

 

Getting an automatic ticket to the Divisional Round means one less game against one of these QBs and that has to be the focus of the Bills this season.  We can't have another Pittsburgh or Jacksonville game this year.  The Bills will have the big advantage of playing in the weakest division in the AFC and they need to run the table or go no worse than 5-1 in division play.   

 

Josh and company need to come out of the gate strong and start stacking wins.  Getting that #1 seed and first round bye in the playoffs is going to be critical for the next decade in this crazy deep AFC if the Bills are going to win a championship.  

 

Forgetting we also have to contend with the genius greatest coach of all time in New England! 🙂

[thurst44]

12 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

With the continued stockpiling of elite talent in the AFC, it will make running the gauntlet to the Super Bowl even more difficult.  Getting the #1 seed in years past was always looked at in the context of your team getting an extra week to heal up before the start of the playoff push.  Now with Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, Jackson, Watson, Wilson, and Burrow all in the AFC, there isn't a single easy out to be had.  That's a real Murderer's Row.  Derek Carr with Adams, Waller, and Renfrow won't be an easy out either.  

 

Getting an automatic ticket to the Divisional Round means one less game against one of these QBs and that has to be the focus of the Bills this season.  We can't have another Pittsburgh or Jacksonville game this year.  The Bills will have the big advantage of playing in the weakest division in the AFC and they need to run the table or go no worse than 5-1 in division play.   

 

Josh and company need to come out of the gate strong and start stacking wins.  Getting that #1 seed and first round bye in the playoffs is going to be critical for the next decade in this crazy deep AFC if the Bills are going to win a championship.  

 

In some ways it got easier to get the #1 seed as much of the action was in the West who will have to play 6 games against each other, while arguably the Bills improved in comparison to the rest of the East. The Jets had a good offseason, but they are way off and Z. Wilson is a shrug.