Looking at the Bills’ schedule there’s games with big ramifications.

[Kwai San]

18 hours ago, newcam2012 said:

No worries at all. The Bills have one of the best rosters and coaching staff in the league. 

Trust the process fans. 

 

The only thing that can stop us is injuries. 

 

 

Yup....like last season??? 

 

People conveniently forget how banged up the Bills were.  Not saying they were the most hard hit team but it def hit them where there was little as a way of dependable backups.  It was a tough row to hoe after Micah went down and even more so when Von went down.  That dinged the D big. 

 

On the O Gabe and his foot really screwed things up along with Dorsey and his growing pains........yeah injuries. 

 

Altho I will say the Bills are better set up with backups this season....hopefully they won't be needed as much as last season.....

[BigDingus]

I'm more looking at the early half of the schedule vs the latter half.

 

In the first 9 games, our toughest opponents (on paper) are:

 

*Jets - Week 1 (Away)

*Dolphins - Week 4 (Home)

*Jaguars - Week 5 (Home)

*Giants - Week 6 (Home)

*Bengals - Week 9 (Away)

 

Second half toughest games are:

 

*Jets - Week 11 (Home)

*Eagles - Week 12 (Away)

*Chiefs - Week 14 (Away)

*Chargers - Week 16 (Away)

*Dolphins - Week 18 (Away)

 

The Bills tend to start off well before slowing down midseason. Whether it's just a rut, or signs of bigger issues is debatable. But the second half of the schedule not only has tougher opponents, but more of those games are on the road as well. 

Thankfully, Allen plays nearly the same statistically away as he does at home (at least in 2022), so that's not much of an issue. I'm just concerned that hot starts vs mid-late season lulls will hurt us in the tougher half of our schedule.

 

 

 

[Kwai San]

10 hours ago, PBF81 said:

 

Lawrence isn't a fluke. 

 

Do with the data what you will.  🙂

 

 

 

Data don't win games.....never did, never will.

[MJS]

1 hour ago, Billl said:

Double digit wins?  They won 10 games last year.  Playoff wins?  Jacksonville just got one.  Getting to the conference championship?  Buffalo did that one time three years ago and got blown out.  

 

The Bills didn't win a playoff game until Josh's third season, and they average exactly one playoff win per season since then.  The Jags just won a playoff game in Lawrence's second season, and they looked respectable in their loss to the Chiefs.

 

The "laughable take" is that the Bills have achieved something that they can hold over Jacksonville's head.  Both teams have proven they can win the division.  Both teams have proven they can win a postseason game.  Neither team has shown the ability to be excellent on a consistent basis which is what it takes to earn the one seed or to string together postseason wins.

They won 9 games last year. They haven't had a double digit season since 2017. Before that? 2007.

 

You don't get to add playoff games to your regular season record. They were 1 game over .500. Good thing they had an extra game with the new 17 game schedule or they would have been 8-8 and missed the playoffs. With a pitifully easy schedule, no less.

[newcam2012]

2 hours ago, Kwai San said:

 

Yup....like last season??? 

 

People conveniently forget how banged up the Bills were.  Not saying they were the most hard hit team but it def hit them where there was little as a way of dependable backups.  It was a tough row to hoe after Micah went down and even more so when Von went down.  That dinged the D big. 

 

On the O Gabe and his foot really screwed things up along with Dorsey and his growing pains........yeah injuries. 

 

Altho I will say the Bills are better set up with backups this season....hopefully they won't be needed as much as last season.....

Injuries hurt far more on the defensive side of the ball. Definetly had a negative impact. 

 

However, the offensive side of the ball was quite the contrary. The Bills offense was very healthy going into the post season. Davis was long healed as best he could be considering its football. 

 

The offense really had NO excuses not to preform at an elite level in the playoffs. I'm not buying the out of gas do to the traumatic season's events. Plenty do because it fits their narrative. Not mine if you will...

 

Offensively, the Bills oline was a problem as well as their WRs.  The OC's game plan and schemes were obvious, less creative, and easier to defend. The coaching staff and these defiencies added up to a poultry 10 points vs Cinci. 

 

Defensively the Bills had little to no chance of stopping a good offense. Without Von the Bills pass rush blows. Let's just be honest. Tre looked like dog poop coming off ACL and Elam was a horrible fit for the Bills D. 

 

The Bills have addressed many of the offensive defiencies this off season. It remains to be seen if it pans out. Hopefully it does and on paper the Bills offense looks to be strong. 

 

On defense, all I'm really looking for is a defense that can make a few crucial stops when it counts. Von are you listening? 

 

The Bills are contenders and that's exciting. It great going into the season knowing your team has a legit chance of hoisting a Lombardi. I'm skeptical it will happen but it's quite possible. Many organizations can't say that. 

 

Go Bills! 

Edited June 27, 2023 by newcam2012

[newcam2012]

15 hours ago, MJS said:

I am not going to project the Jags, of all teams, to become a great team. They have to prove it to me, just like the Bills had to prove it when they were a laughing stock organization coming out of the drought.

 

Like I said, I'll believe it when I see it. I'm not saying they will fail, but I just need to see it from them. Last year could have easily been a fluke. Teams go on good runs and then regress to the mean all the time.

Following that train of thought do the Bills have to prove it to you? Prove they can win a game to go to the SB? Prove they can win a SB? 

 

They Bills still have a lot to prove under Beane and McD. Thus far, they have proven they can be an excellent regular season team and a meicore playoff team. A team that can't get to the SB. 

[Gregg]

At least the Bills won't have to deal with the distraction of hard knocks this year. My guess is it will be the Jets because we haven't had enough hype of how great the Jets and Rodgers will be.

 

Dov Kleiman on Twitter: "The 4 NFL teams eligible for Hard Knocks in 2023 are: * New York #Jets * Chicago #Bears * New Orleans #Saints * Washington #Commanders Who do you want to see the most? https://t.co/k6Sbn4X6iJ" / Twitter

 

[Fleezoid]

On 6/27/2023 at 8:13 AM, Gregg said:

At least the Bills won't have to deal with the distraction of hard knocks this year. My guess is it will be the Jets because we haven't had enough hype of how great the Jets and Rodgers will be.

 

Dov Kleiman on Twitter: "The 4 NFL teams eligible for Hard Knocks in 2023 are: * New York #Jets * Chicago #Bears * New Orleans #Saints * Washington #Commanders Who do you want to see the most? https://t.co/k6Sbn4X6iJ" / Twitter

 

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jets-are-irate-about-being-on-hard-knocks-team-will-try-to-cut-one-key-segment-from-show-per-report/

 

Looks like the Jets are a bit peeved over the Hard Knocks segment. Frankly, I don't blame them. Why should one team get forced to do something they don't want to do when they're trying to get ready for the season?

 

I don't get HBO so won't be able to see it, but it would be interesting to see how the players act in front of the cameras. Body language and facial expressions might expose some contentious feelings. 

[teef]

i had never heard this before, but the team chosen for hard knocks can not have made the playoffs in the last 2 years.  

[corta765]

To me these five will determine so so much on the Bills season:

 

at KC

at CIN

MIA home

NYJ home

Jags London

 

For the division to be ours you gotta go at minimum 3-2 in those games, anything less and wildcard itself is an issue. You really shouldn't lose to NYJ or MIA at home but if your 3-2 in those five your ok AFC win wise. The Bills have I consider wins or else VEG, NYG, TB, DEN, & WSH. You cannot lose any of those given the rest of the schedule. If they are 3-2 in the top 5 and win the 5 they should they are 8-2 and if you split the remaining 8 your 11-6 which probably gets the divsion.

[Charles Romes]

On 6/26/2023 at 9:59 AM, MJS said:

I'll believe it when I see it. The Jags are an average team until proven otherwise. They went 9-8 last year and that's great for them, but it is a huge leap to get to 13+ wins and get the 1 seed.

they also broke the bank to become respectable via expensive free agency contracts 

[Mr Info]

On 6/26/2023 at 1:57 AM, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Buffalo to London is no longer than Buffalo to LA. 

Now it's a 5 hour time difference as compared to 3 hours for the west coast. And it is harder to go West to East. 

I fly coast to coast fairly often. Would you let me know which airline you use to accomplish this within 3 hrs?

Would you clarify your following statement:

“And it is harder to go West to East.” Harder because it takes more time (it does not as jet stream makes travel time shorter)…harder because not as many flights (not true as there are as many E-W routes as W-E flights in the US)?

[Don Otreply]

There are a minimum of six games with big ramifications every season for every team. As an overall contender, there are additional games of notable importance on top of those other six games, just how it is. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

On 6/26/2023 at 9:58 AM, Jauronimo said:

And Jacksonville has yet to prove that they are anything special.

And they have to play a #1 schedule unlike years past

4 hours ago, Mr Info said:

I fly coast to coast fairly often. Would you let me know which airline you use to accomplish this within 3 hrs?

Would you clarify your following statement:

“And it is harder to go West to East.” Harder because it takes more time (it does not as jet stream makes travel time shorter)…harder because not as many flights (not true as there are as many E-W routes as W-E flights in the US)?

I was talking time zones not air travel time.

West coast teams that have to travel east and play 1pm games (10am for them) have it worse than an East coast team that has to travel west and play a 1pm(4pm for them) game. Haven't checked the stats in a few years but my recollection it was a decent sized disadvantage.