It's Early of Course but the Schedule Now Looks a Lot Easier

[Doc Brown]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea agree. Miami will be tough I think the Jags here in London with them having already been here a week and acclimatised will be very tough too... but we should beat Washington, the Dolphins game is at least at home.... and then that run of 5 games post Jags until we hit the Eagles sets up nicely for us. Although tbh I wish we played the Bengals a little sooner.... because if Burrow is healthy they are a different proposition. 

If we win two of the next three we should be in good shape.  When I first looked at the schedule I thought getting the Bengals later would be good because Von would be back by then.  However, I didn't know Burrow would be hampered by an injury to start the year.  Burrow's health is the wild card for the Bengals.  They pry win the division if he can get healthy, but if he's not the Ravens should cruise (especially after watching the Browns/Steelers debacle last night).

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

2 hours ago, Since1981 said:

Wait? 2022? “Fear” is too strong word but concern is reasonable!

You forgot the third game in there

57 minutes ago, eball said:

 

It’s deep-seated.  Those of us who grew up watching the Bills in the 70s will never forget.

 

But this year it’s the media hype and their video game offense that has everyone all abuzz.  They’ve played the underachieving Chargers and pop-gun offense Pats*** and squeaked out two wins.  Their defense is anything but special, and I trust McD to scheme for that offense with the depth the Bills have in the secondary.

 

I agree with those who say the Fish are our biggest competition in the East…but I still think the Bills will clinch the division before the last game of the season in Miami.

 

I get HATRED of Miami. They're my most hated team. I just don't get fearing them 

[PatsFanNH]

14 hours ago, mannc said:

Maybe he was talking about other upcoming games, like NE, Denver, Cincinnati, the Jets, Chargers, etc…I tend to agree, and I also don’t think the Rivera-led Commanders pose a particularly difficult threat, but that’s hardly news.

The Jets bet you already, Cincy will right the ship sooner or later, NE had a top 5 D and what LOOKS like a stud CB1. Chargers still have a great O and are capable putting 1 game together.  My point is there is no such thing as an easy game, but especially no division game is easy. 

[stlbills13]

Our secondary has looked old and slow lately. Thats concerning against Miami. But at the end of the day I trust Josh Allen more over the course of an entire season. 

[mannc]

1 hour ago, PatsFanNH said:

The Jets bet you already, Cincy will right the ship sooner or later, NE had a top 5 D and what LOOKS like a stud CB1. Chargers still have a great O and are capable putting 1 game together.  My point is there is no such thing as an easy game, but especially no division game is easy. 

The Patriots’ offense is so pathetic, I really don’t see how the Bills could lose to them, absent some freak weather event.  I’m pretty sure the Bills aren’t afraid of their rookie CB…I’d put them in the easy category.  And if you think the Chargers have a “great O” then I don’t know what to say.  That is a dink and dunk attack if I’ve ever seen one. 

[zow2]

Speaking of future opponents,  Philadelphia is a ways off but Jalen Hurts revealed to Donovan McNabb that he's only playing at 65-70% due to a lingering shoulder injury from last season.  I can't imagine his shoulder is going to feel better as the season goes on.  

It's an injury minefield out there... so many concussions this week and big name injuries  (Burrow, Chubb, Ekeler, etc).

[BearNorth]

3 minutes ago, zow2 said:

It's an injury minefield out there... so many concussions this week and big name injuries  (Burrow, Chubb, Ekeler, etc).

Fitzpatrick spent last night in the hospital....

[PatsFanNH]

33 minutes ago, mannc said:

The Patriots’ offense is so pathetic, I really don’t see how the Bills could lose to them, absent some freak weather event.  I’m pretty sure the Bills aren’t afraid of their rookie CB…I’d put them in the easy category.  And if you think the Chargers have a “great O” then I don’t know what to say.  That is a dink and dunk attack if I’ve ever seen one. 

Lol the Pats O Line is a mess right now. The Pats passing O been decent, the problem is they can’t run a lick behind that line. The line isn’t great for pass blocking either as Jones is the most pressured QB in the NFL right now, has the 2nd lowest time to throw, and is tied for the most drops right now, but still top 10 for TD, Yards, 1st downs, and PFF Grades.  Now imagine the line is healthy and they could run the dang ball.. lol
 

Oh and that rookie corner kept Hill at 40 yards for the game, sadly our starting CB on the other side (Jonathan Jones) went down injured) as did the backup (Marcus Jones) but they still kept Miami at 24 points for the game. So for once I actually think they should be able to handle Diggs and force someone else to win the game for Buffalo. (The Bills have the talent to do it it but will they?)  Also I never said be afraid.. just that he has looked very good going against 2 top tier WR already. 
 

the point is no game is “East” heck the Jets game without Rogers should have been “easy” right? 

[mannc]

24 minutes ago, PatsFanNH said:

Lol the Pats O Line is a mess right now. The Pats passing O been decent, the problem is they can’t run a lick behind that line. The line isn’t great for pass blocking either as Jones is the most pressured QB in the NFL right now, has the 2nd lowest time to throw, and is tied for the most drops right now, but still top 10 for TD, Yards, 1st downs, and PFF Grades.  Now imagine the line is healthy and they could run the dang ball.. lol
 

Oh and that rookie corner kept Hill at 40 yards for the game, sadly our starting CB on the other side (Jonathan Jones) went down injured) as did the backup (Marcus Jones) but they still kept Miami at 24 points for the game. So for once I actually think they should be able to handle Diggs and force someone else to win the game for Buffalo. (The Bills have the talent to do it it but will they?)  Also I never said be afraid.. just that he has looked very good going against 2 top tier WR already. 
 

the point is no game is “East” heck the Jets game without Rogers should have been “easy” right? 

You can make all the excuses you want but the Pats offense blows. Jones has a noodle arm and they have no one who scares defenses. Gonzalez looks like he’s going to be a good player, but they probably would have been better off taking local boy Zay Flowers, who is already a star. That team is not beating Buffalo this year.  

[Shaw66]

17 hours ago, jethro_tull said:

After taking a peak at upcoming games none of them look that difficult any longer.  Anything can happen but it looks easier from this view at the moment.  

This happens every season.   Not all of the teams that look good on paper in August (and often they look because they happened to have a lot of wins last season) are good in October.  Thing is, in August you can't tell which teams those are.  That's why they play the games. 

[PatsFanNH]

5 minutes ago, mannc said:

You can make all the excuses you want but the Pats offense blows. Jones has a noodle arm and they have no one who scares defenses. Gonzalez looks like he’s going to be a good player, but they probably would have been better off taking local boy Zay Flowers, who is already a star. That team is not beating Buffalo this year.  

Lol I wanted Flowers, I knew he was going be amazing I watched him at BC he was the only weapon they had. That said Gonzalez was the right pick, he is going be a top CB I think. 
 

As for the Pats O, Mac Jones right now is ranked HIGHER than Allen. The point? It’s 2 games and we don’t really know what any team is yet. I mean it be different if they Pats were destroyed 40-3 by 2 top teams but they were not.. 

7 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

This happens every season.   Not all of the teams that look good on paper in August (and often they look because they happened to have a lot of wins last season) are good in October.  Thing is, in August you can't tell which teams those are.  That's why they play the games. 

Exactly, any given Sunday! 

[Joe Ferguson forever]

5 hours ago, BillsShredder83 said:

iron sharpens iron. this year i dont give 2 chits about the #1 seed. was hoping for as tough of a schedule as possible, and i hope upcoming teams are playing their best ball against us. we need to learn how to win in adversity versus tough teams. tough teams will help push us and sharpen us for the playoffs. obv if we take 1 seed cool, but mentally i wont be cheering for teams to have bad games against us or have key starters out. 

 

if this schedule is an absolute gauntlet, and every team we face plays their best game of the year, and we take even a wild card, ill like our chances. obv if all that happens and we smash the 1 seed, thatd be great too..... but i want the rookies/young guys to keep seeing the field, drawing tough matchups, and elevate their game. Bernard, Kink, S Brown, Torrence, Benford, etc etc

I agree.  you need to beat the best teams to be the best.  And it's entirely possible they will...

[ALLinALLEN]

Eagles, Chiefs, Cowboys, Jags, and all the divisional games....you sure bout that?

[mannc]

24 minutes ago, PatsFanNH said:

Lol I wanted Flowers, I knew he was going be amazing I watched him at BC he was the only weapon they had. That said Gonzalez was the right pick, he is going be a top CB I think. 
 

As for the Pats O, Mac Jones right now is ranked HIGHER than Allen. The point? It’s 2 games and we don’t really know what any team is yet. I mean it be different if they Pats were destroyed 40-3 by 2 top teams but they were not.. 

Exactly, any given Sunday! 

The sample size for Mac Jones is more than sufficient.  He ain’t it. He won’t get a second contract in NE. You can book it.

Edited September 19, 2023 by mannc

[corta765]

This is my annual reminder that the schedule is never what it seems before the season, once the season begins, mid way through the year, and even at the end of the year. Football is weird, bad matchups are real, players get hurt, and a team that looks down at this time can be roaring a month later.

 

Yes Rodgers being out probably removes the Jets as a major threat, the Chargers just wasted two winnable games and now need to go at least 10-5 to be in the dance while having an 0-2 AFC record, and the Bengals probably are a little more mortal this year with Burrow having a calf injury that will linger for a while. But for example TB who everyone has as a win looks at least formidable across the board now so the game COULD be a real test.

 

Football is weird and just hope you play at a consistently solid level.

[Buffalo03]

16 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Second week in a row that the Bills draw the Broncos' opponent from the week before. And since the Broncos dominate my local market I watched the Raiders pretty closely last week and the Commanders pretty closely this week.

The Commanders are your classic mediocre team. Actually, with a good QB (I'm not talking Josh; maybe a Kirk Cousins or something) they'd actually be pretty good.

- Hard to say how much real improvement there was in Sam Howell at QB as opposed to a failing Broncos' D. What I can say is he did appear confident, didn't get rattled, and hung in there to make some nice throws. I very much doubt he's their QB of the future, but suffice to say he's no Zach Wilson or Skylar Thompson. He's a perfectly decent backup quality QB right now who can surprise you, and he may very well get significantly better.

- I'm not very impressed with their skill position players. McLaurin is still good. Logan Thomas (remember him?) made a nice TD catch and then got clocked in a dirty helmet-to-helmet play that brought a concussion, so he may be out. Brian Robinson is playing well at RB, and is a receiving threat out of the backfield. He's probably the only one who I could see having a big game against the Bills. There's just not a bunch of scary offensive threats on that team right now, which makes it kind of amazing that they put up 30+ points. Again, I attribute that at least equally to an underperforming Broncos D

- The Broncos pass rush did bother Howell in the first half. Randy Gregory emerged from his disappearing act to chase Howell around a few times. This tells me that our pass rush may do very well against the Commanders. I expect Rousseau, Floyd, even Epenesa to disrupt things a lot from the edge.

- Defensively, they were pretty awful in the first half, and Russell Wilson (yes, Russell Wilson) picked them apart pretty easily. The second half? Seems like the Broncos offense just fell apart, their line broke down, and Wilson wilted under pressure. The D line is supposed to be really good, but again, the successes seemed more a result of Broncos' ineptitude than any great work on their part.

Any Given Sunday and all that, but we are a much better team, and even on the road I'm not too concerned about this one.

EDIT: I should add that Eric Bieniemy is finally calling plays, and it looked like he really knew what he was doing. Some nice adjustments to what the Broncos did in the first half. Hey, he got 35 points out of Sam Howell against a defense that is (on paper) pretty decent. I think this move is gonna work out for him.

Next week will be the 3rd in a row since they are playing the Dolphins this week and we got them next week. That's kinda strange actually 

[The Frankish Reich]

2 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

Next week will be the 3rd in a row since they are playing the Dolphins this week and we got them next week. That's kinda strange actually 

I hadn't noticed that. I'll spare you guys the advance scouting report on that one since I think everyone knows the Dolphins pretty well ...

[ganesh]

18 hours ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

 

I don't understand the fear of miami.

 

 

 

Our DBs are old and can't win a foot race with the Miami Receivers or Running Backs.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

2 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Our DBs are old and can't win a foot race with the Miami Receivers or Running Backs.

nobody can win a foot race with them. that's not the goal.

 

the goal is to keep them in front of you, which can be done, those same guys did it last year.

 

[The Frankish Reich]

16 hours ago, Success said:

The only team I'd call "elite" right now is probably Dallas

Well, they've gotta actually win something (like a playoff game against something other than the carcass of Tom Brady) before I'd put that label on them.

7 minutes ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

nobody can win a foot race with them. that's not the goal.

 

the goal is to keep them in front of you, which can be done, those same guys did it last year.

 

In other words: The goal is to play the Leslie Frazier defense! (everyone calls it the Vic Fangio defense now, which is interesting because he's hardly the inventor of something that's been around for 25 years or so). Everything old is new again.