Similarities between the 2021 season and 2022

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

 

Everyone is aware of the similarities. They slump we are currently in really is nearly identical to the one from last season. Certainly, some circumstances are different. Last year's team was pretty much fully healthy. This year's team has been extremely banged up. Especially on the defensive side.

 

The euphoria:

 

2021: Bills are riding high coming off a huge October 10th win at Arrowhead and lead the league in point differential by a wide margin. On October 18th they lose a close game to the Titans but the offense looks as explosive as ever. Despite the loss, the Bills enter their bye week at 4-2 as super bowl favorites and Allen is the favorite for MVP.

 

2022: It's 2021 again but on steroids. The Bills entered the season as super bowl favorites and Allen entered the season as the MVP favorite. The Bills meet their lofty expectations and that only drives the Bills Super Bowl odds and Allen's MVP odds to historic lows for the month of October. After a tough fought victory at Arrowhead on October 16th the Bills enter their bye week with a 5-1 record. 

 

Stumbling out of the bye week:

 

2021: On Halloween the Bills found themselves in a 3-3 tie at the half against the Dolphins before ultimately pulling away late in the fourth quarter. It was perhaps Beasley's greatest game as Bill that I can recall. He hauled in 10 of 13 targets for 110 yards and converted 6 first downs out of them. Because the Bills had been so dominant not many worried about the upcoming schedule and certainly not the upcoming game in Jacksonville.

 

2022: On Halloween- Eve the Bills get out to a 17-point half time lead on the Packers. It's the Dolphins game but in reverse. After the half they are outscored 10-3. Allen makes two very careless decisions with the ball that end up as INT's. The feelings after this game were a bit different than 2021. The bar was set so high for Allen and he had been pretty much averaging 3+ TDs and nearly 400 yards of total offense per game up to this point that to have a 2 TD 2 INT game with under 300 total yards was very disappointing even if in reality it just shows that Superman does take a day off every now and then. For me, more specifically I knew the Jets game the coming week would be against the best defense the Bills had faced all year so I was curious how the offense would look.

 

WTH?:

 

2021: In perhaps the upset of the year the Jags (+14.5 point dog) beat the Bills in Jacksonville in a 9-6 final. The following week the Bills route a bad Jets team. And on November 21st the Bills playing at home get blown out by one of the hottest teams in the league in the Colts who entered the game against the Bills as winners of 5 of their last 7 games with the only two losses in that span being over-time defeats. With this loss the Bills relinquish the AFC East division lead to the Patriots on November 21st.

 

2022: The Bills as heavy favorites lose to the Jets (+11.5 point dog) on the road. Allen once again throws 2 INT's the first of which looked to me like one of the worst decisions, you'll see a QB make. The following week the Bills have one of the hottest teams in the league coming to Buffalo, the 7-1 Vikings, winners of six straight. Their only blemish a loss to an undefeated team. The Bills would relinquish their division lead on November 13th after losing to the Vikings on the back of 2 more Allen INTs. 

 

What's next?:

 

In 6 days, the Bills, once again looking up in the division standings, will play a road game on Thanksgiving Day just as they did last year on Thanksgiving in New Orleans during a slump where they entered the game losers of 3 of their last 6 games. But before the Bills play a road game in Detroit on Thanksgiving, we will find out if they enter that game once again losers of 3 of their last 6 games. Because before they play a road game in Detroit against the Lions, they'll play a home game in Detroit against the Browns.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Sammy Watkins' Rib

[CSBill]

Well done! Yuup. Let's hope this week we turn the corner and head towards a strong finish like in 2021--but just a bit sooner this time around.

[SirAndrew]

The blizzard makes us forget this team could be 8-3 four days from now. This is a huge turning point in the season. A huge portion of this season’s outcome will be decided in less than the course of a week. We’ll either be on the right track by Thursday evening, or looking at a disappointing regular season. They need both of these games, even though a poor performance would be understandable under these circumstances. 

Edited November 19, 2022 by SirAndrew

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

23 minutes ago, SirAndrew said:

The blizzard makes us forget this team could be 8-3 four days from now. This is a huge turning point in the season. A huge portion of this season’s outcome will be decided in less than the course of a week. We’ll either be on the right track by Thursday evening, or looking at a disappointing regular season. They need both of these games, even though a poor performance would be understandable under these circumstances. 

 

It is pretty huge. A loss tomorrow or Thursday really puts us behind in the division race. Probably quite a bit more so than last seasons loss to the Colts when we fell behind in the division race. One obvious difference would be that we have not one but two teams ahead of us and they've each already managed to take a game from us.

 

But yeah, on the flip side, win both and we catapult from 6-3 to 8-3 in a matter of days. Still very likely to be at best 2nd in the division though heading into week 13 and the month of December. That's why these next two games are so crucial. Best case scenario Bills are in 2nd place to a team they've already lost too going into the final stretch.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Sammy Watkins' Rib

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

If the Bills can keep winning there is a decent chance they can regain sole possesion of first place in the division as early as December 4th. This would require the Bills to roll off victories vs. Browns @ Lions and @ Patriots. The Dolphins are @ 49ers on December 4th. They are on a bye this week and it is very unlikely they lose coming out of their bye when they host the Texans. In 2021 the Bills did not regain sole possesion of the division until the day after Christmas with their win @ New England. 

 

I don't think the Dolphins will be overwhelming under dogs though when they play the 49ers. A more realistic date to regain the division lead might be December 18th when the Bills host the Dolphins. Or even more likely with the way this season is going perhaps the day before Christmas when they travel to Chicago. 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

as hard as it is to say, I don't see the fins losing to the texans. 49ers is another story, they could lose that one.

[Scott7975]

1 hour ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

as hard as it is to say, I don't see the fins losing to the texans. 49ers is another story, they could lose that one.

 

Most likely not but any given Sunday.  Bills pretty much need to beat the rest of the schedule to take first place in the division. Miami is offensively on fire right now. Jets are a well balanced team as long as Wilson doesnt make mistakes.

[Nextmanup]

2 hours ago, SirAndrew said:

The blizzard makes us forget this team could be 8-3 four days from now. This is a huge turning point in the season. A huge portion of this season’s outcome will be decided in less than the course of a week. We’ll either be on the right track by Thursday evening, or looking at a disappointing regular season. They need both of these games, even though a poor performance would be understandable under these circumstances. 

All the games are equally important.  But I agree, if we drop losses to Cleveland and Detroit, our season is likely done.

 

Even then, if they can manage to get into the playoffs, they can win the tournament.

 

We have the power to do it!