General feeling of fanbase, more likely... winning AFC Championship? or missing playoffs altogether?

[John from Riverside]

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

First and foremost injuries or a lack thereof will determine the success of 23.  The OL absolutely must step up, as does Dorsey.  If Von, Groot and Floyd all stay healthy,  the defense should hold up.  I have us at 12-5 and playing in the afccg.

I think that people tend to gloss over the fact of how just I’ll beat up. This team was well still going 13 and three.
 

The main addition to our defense that was supposed to be a game changer was Von Miller and we didn’t even have him for the whole season. We lost both Poyer and Hyde. We lost important players here and they’re over the course of the season constantly.

 

That’s why, whenever people say that we made no additions to our team this year to get better I laugh the addition is we’re getting back our prime players

[LeGOATski]

All things being equal, the Bills are contenders. Big splash signings around the conference will mostly amount to squat.

[purple haze]

If relatively healthy, The Bills will be in the playoffs and making a run for the Lombardi.   Their roster is no less talented than it’s been the past few seasons.    They might not win the same number of regular season games but they will be good and it will be obvious.

[SoMAn]

The X factor: which teams will remain relatively intact with good health? 
It’s impossible to know who and when a key player for the Bills or their competition may miss time. 
Assuming Allen and Diggs don’t miss significant playing time, the Bills will get deep in the playoffs and have as good a chance (or better) as anyone else to make it to the superbowl. If Allen goes down, I think they’re toast. 
 The Bills have some tough competition on this year’s schedule, but so does the rest of the division and the other first place finishers from ‘22. They’ll all be handing losses to each other. 
 I believe the defense will be top 4 and won’t miss Edmunds. 
I think Gabe will bounce back and be a legitimate threat. 
Hoping the O line will mesh with new additions. Not worried about big Spencer Brown. I think he’ll surprise a lot if you with improved play at RT. 
The line has room for improvement, but they weren’t as bad as some believe.

Receivers finding openings and Josh getting rid of the ball quicker will magically make that line look great. 
 I’m bullish on the Bills chances for winning it all. Bring it on. 
 

 

[HOUSE]

The media has the Bills in decline for 4 main reasons

#1 A still unexplained and mysterious loss to Cincinnati. 

#2  No real WR threat behind Diggs

#3 Questions about Mental and physical toughness

#4 Lack of respect for the coaching staff , see the 13 second loss to KC and #1

Edited July 22, 2023 by HOUSE

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 hour ago, HOUSE said:

The media has the Bills in decline for 4 main reasons

#1 A still unexplained and mysterious loss to Cincinnati. 

#2  No real WR threat behind Diggs

#3 Questions about Mental and physical toughness

#4 Lack of respect for the coaching staff , see the 13 second loss to KC and #1

5.  A high level executive can't find their wallet. 🤨

[Nextmanup]

1 hour ago, HOUSE said:

The media has the Bills in decline for 4 main reasons

#1 A still unexplained and mysterious loss to Cincinnati. 

#2  No real WR threat behind Diggs

#3 Questions about Mental and physical toughness

#4 Lack of respect for the coaching staff , see the 13 second loss to KC and #1

Nothing mysterious about the loss to the Bengals....they are a straight up better team on both sides of the ball and they got better since last year.  

 

No one is questioning #3.

 

The coaching staff has been praised by the national media for a period of years.  Not sure it's fair to say they have all turned on them now, though there are a few names out there that have been outspoken.

 

I agree with #2.

 

 

[Dopey]

On 7/20/2023 at 9:21 AM, Lost said:

I'm more curious how the Stefon Diggs saga plays out if we do in fact miss the playoffs this year.  I personally give us an equal 15% chance of missing playoffs and 15% chance of making the SB.   

As long a Josh doesn’t have anymore drama come playoff time, we’ll be fine. Diggs wasn’t the issue in the Cincy game. Josh had a bad game, contrary to some post to the opposite. Not hitting receivers in stride, throwing to Diggs’ feet, etc. Josh had something else on his mind and no one here seems to want to acknowledge it. Diggs was ready, Josh wasn’t. I saw it when Josh missed a wide open Diggs for a td early in the game. First drive, maybe?
Josh, we need you buddy. Keep away from female bartenders. They slip you a Mickey and bam, you’re now a baby daddy. Keep it in your pants. We need you. 

[Dr. K]

I think if they stay healthy they win the Super Bowl. They may not win as many regular season games as last season, but I think the tough losses they've taken in the last two years will make them ready for whatever the post-season brings. 

 

Of course this is just a hunch. Nobody knows how things will really go, and a key injury or two, or a bad bounce of the ball or a terrible call, can derail a game or a season. 

[HOUSE]

39 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Nothing mysterious about the loss to the Bengals....they are a straight up better team on both sides of the ball and they got better since last year.  

 

No one is questioning #3.

 

The coaching staff has been praised by the national media for a period of years.  Not sure it's fair to say they have all turned on them now, though there are a few names out there that have been outspoken.

 

I agree with #2.

 

 

The coaching staff as a whole is solid but the team under performed against Cincinnati and I have yet to hear an explanation. 

 

[hondo in seattle]

Last year was hellish.  It began with a neighborhood shooting.  While we didn't have a ton of injuries overall, we suffered a number of damaging injuries to our key players.  Josh played the second half of the season hurt.  And, of course, there was Damar...

 

If we just have a normal share of bad luck this year, we'll be better.

 

But I also believe Beane has done a nice job of incrementally improving the roster.  Edmunds's loss will hurt but we've gotten better in other position groups.  

 

Yep, the AFCE looks tougher.  The Bills won't dominate the regular season like we've done in recent years.  But we'll end up in the playoffs with a better squad than the one that reached the playoffs last year.  

[hondo in seattle]

On 7/20/2023 at 5:32 AM, LabattBlue said:

The odds of any team winning the SB are less than 20%.  On the other hand, one or two key injuries could make this a team around middle of the pack and in turn, easily miss the playoffs. 

 

Yep.

 

While an average team has a 3% chance of winning the SB, I think the best teams have something like a 10 to 15% chance of winning it all.  I think the Bills are one of those teams.  

 

But just one injury - if it's to Josh - could drop our chances to near zero.  

[90sBills]

1 hour ago, Dopey said:

As long a Josh doesn’t have anymore drama come playoff time, we’ll be fine. Diggs wasn’t the issue in the Cincy game. Josh had a bad game, contrary to some post to the opposite. Not hitting receivers in stride, throwing to Diggs’ feet, etc. Josh had something else on his mind and no one here seems to want to acknowledge it. Diggs was ready, Josh wasn’t. I saw it when Josh missed a wide open Diggs for a td early in the game. First drive, maybe?
Josh, we need you buddy. Keep away from female bartenders. They slip you a Mickey and bam, you’re now a baby daddy. Keep it in your pants. We need you. 

I’ve said before if Allen hits Diggs on that play it’s a different ballgame. Allen may be the best Bills qb ever but he makes mistakes. Too many people are unwilling to criticize him when it’s warranted. I don’t know about the distraction stuffs but if it’s true then there’s some maturity issues. Hopefully, there won’t be any romance drama this coming season. 

[DCofNC]

I tend to be a little pessimistic, I don’t think this was a good off-season and generally think the team needs a fairly significant over haul and philosophy change.  That said, this team will contend this year as long as Allen stays on the field.    If they get hot at the right time, they could win it all.   If Allen misses more than 5 games, I’d guess it’s a playoff miss.

 

[Success]

This team was 3 plays from being undefeated last year.  In a year characterized by injury & crisis.

 

I think Buffalo is being comically underestimated by many pundits and fans.  We had an incredible offseason, and we'll have key players like Hyde & Miller back (as well as Tre hopefully rounding back into form).  We're better able to run the ball and protect Allen this season.

 

I think we win the East, AND get the 1 seed in the AFC.  I get that it's a "tough" schedule, but the only 2 teams out there that we shouldn't be favored against are the Chiefs and Bengals. 

 

[Goin Breakdown]

Tough to say. I'm only worried about NY. Miami is real, but injuries derail them. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't win the division but I think we get in the playoffs. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

Making the Super Bowl is a high bar. I would probably have to lean missing the playoffs is more likely. 

On 7/21/2023 at 9:17 AM, The Firebaugh Kid said:

Teams with generational talents at qb don't miss the playoffs too often. 

Even in super competitive divisions. 

 

 

This is true. The Saints come to mind as one of the only examples of a team that missed the playoffs a lot with a generational talent at QB. Three straight years I think and still having a top 5 offense in those seasons that they missed the playoffs as well. And their division was usually always up for grabs. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

4 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

No one is questioning #3.

 

Mental toughness aside, I think plenty have been questioning the Bills physical toughness in the trenches on both sides of the ball for several years now.

[Chandler#81]

Ever the optimistic, indeed Eternally so, hopes are always peak this time of year. 7 times we’ve made it to League Championship games in 62 years. Twice we earned top spot, carrying our heroes off the field on our shoulders. But that was in the middle of our decade-long AFL years. Our start up League -unlike any since- was loaded with talent and was a direct contrast to the staid, conservative game approach of the established NFL and it really caught on nationally. Since the merger of the leagues a decade later, we ain’t seen sh!+! Yes, a better hit long field goal attempt would have changed the narrative and somewhat lessened the urgency of the day, but it simply hasn’t happened and the decades are flowing by. 
 In short, this current Pegula era team has been knocking hard on the door for another chance to finally claim an NFL Title and have -yet again- assembled a team worthy of contending for it. Last seasons’ 14 win campaign wilted late under the most challenging obstacles imaginable. The near deaths of a player and owner, critical injuries to key players, forced to move games to other locales due to inclement weather and not being with their families on Christmas morning were more than any team could overcome.

So THIS is the year! Pundits are off our back as the preseason favorite. Many outsiders are of the opinion the ‘window’ has closed and numerous other teams have done much to improve their lot.
But they had to. They sucked. We have also improved but nobody’s paying attention. We are.

 

WE’RE WINNING IT ALL THIS YEAR! The Lombardi Trophy finds a brand new home in February and solidifies Allen, Diggs, Miller, Milano & McDermott as yellow jacket wearers in the years to come.

 

A parade on the streets of Buffalo in mid February? Mark your calendars!

Edited July 23, 2023 by Chandler#81

[Billsflyer12]

The schedule is brutal, hardest this version of team has had.  The following scenario isnt a “totally moronic” one.

 

Division Games - Pats, Dolphins, Jets X2.  3-3 is not a crazy time “moronic” thought

Likely Losses - @ Eagles, @ Chiefs, @ Bengals. 0-3

Tossups - Jags, Cowboys, @ Chargers. 2-1

Should be wins, but never know - @ WTF, Giants, Broncos. 2-1

Easy W - Raiders, Bucs. 2-0

 

9-8 in this scenario.
 

I wouldn’t bet this scenario, but one is not a moron if getting to this conclusion and missing playoffs.  BTW, give them a win in likely losses, does 10-7 guarantee playoffs this season in the AFC? IDK.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Billsflyer12