How do you feel about the Bills upcoming team/schedule?

[Warcodered]

 

Schedule is actually pretty great, can't do anything about who you play, you play well you play good teams, that's just how it works.

 

But the bye week is pretty well placed not too early not too late, also a pretty nice effect of having a TNF game followed by a MNF game so a mini bye +1. Only thing that could make that better is if the Dolphins TNF game was swapped with that Texans game(How the hell is that not a Primetime game) to put the break at better point in the season.

 

Travel wise the toughest part is a 3 game stretch of Seatle, Indianapolis and Home other than that it's really not bad.

[SCBills]

I don't hate how the schedule is laid out.  It was going to be a tough schedule regardless.. could've been better, but could've been a lot worse.  Overall I think it's a pretty decent lay out.

 

Jeremy White tweeted out the difference in schedule between us and the Jets.  Man.. it's drastic.

 

KC, BAL, DET vs PIT, DEN, MIN

 

MY biggest observation from our schedule is that Josh Allen and the Offense better find chemistry, quick..  We better get that opening week dub against Arizona and iron out any chemistry issues before Miami 4 days later and a tough 5 game stretch out the gate.  

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

Absolutely brutal schedule.

 

Theres no gimmes here.  Even the Jets could be tough if Rodgers stays healthy.

 

Only easy game I see is the Pats.

 

9-8 is a real possibility.

[Fleezoid]

I like the early short week in week 2, followed by a mini-bye. Then the real bye-week later in the season. At least that portion plays out nicely. 

[LABILLBACKER]

20 hours ago, ddaryl said:

its a mini rebuild year IMO.... We are making hard adjustments to be able to re-ante for Allens back 9

With Allen anything is possible, but it will require some significant steps up from the players around him. I need to see them play a bunch before I can tell you which way that will trend

Next year we will have cash to spend and will make a splash or 3, this year making the playoffs would be an acheivement given the roster youth turnover and the need for those new faces to get acclimated in the system

I agree.....with the youth movement and roster transition,  I'd be thrilled with a 10 win season and playoff berth.  Advantages include plenty of rest for Jacksonville.  No international games and especially that week 12 bye to manage late season dings.  You absolutely must beat Arizona right out of the gate and hope for a cooler than normal evening in South Beach. Our final 3 games are winnable if we are a bubble playoff team late.  

[dma0034]

I think the Bills win 9/10 games. Their schedule is tough. Only the Titans and Pats do I feel they're q lock to win. You just never know about injuries too. 

[BigDingus]

Teams we're competing with for playoff spots all improved more than we did this off-season, so the real X factor is Joe Brady imo.

 

Will he be a significant upgrade & be able to compensate for other losses? I'm optimistic.

 

But we can't bank on Burrow, Rodgers, Lawrence, etc getting injured again either. 

[bigK14094]

19 hours ago, White Linen said:

I think we're going to be very good and once again in contention.  I think anyone expecting some downward turn is foolish.  

As  a Bills fan for 50+ years,  this is the right outlook.  I lived through the 2-14 years, and it was grim.  The Bills were so bad the other team didn't have to play their regulars and coasted out of Buffalo.  I saw one game when the opposition threw 6 passes, otherwise ran the ball down the Bills throat.  (Griese the father)  Anyhow, my conclusion after those years that if the Bills fielded a team that made the opposition hustle and Bills were competitive, I would be happy.  That is more than the  case now, as the Bills will contend imho.  But, it was not always that way.

16 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

Teams we're competing with for playoff spots all improved more than we did this off-season, so the real X factor is Joe Brady imo.

 

Will he be a significant upgrade & be able to compensate for other losses? I'm optimistic.

 

But we can't bank on Burrow, Rodgers, Lawrence, etc getting injured again either. 

Still not a believer in Lawrence.

[BuffaloMatt]

20-0

[BigDingus]

36 minutes ago, bigK14094 said:

Still not a believer in Lawrence.

 

I'm not either, but he's an above average QB that had the Jags in 1st or 2nd place before getting injured. 

[boyst]

the fins defense will be new. new key pieces. new coach and scheme.

 

matching against Josh. i think that'l be interesting

[Fan in San Diego]

On 5/15/2024 at 11:31 AM, Gman10 said:

Are we going to have a good year? Do you thinking losing Poyer/Diggs will hurt us badly? Thoughts on our SOS ? 

The short answer on having a good year is Yes! I'm glad our first game is against the Cardinals. It will give us a good tune up game before meeting AFC opponents. We couldn't try to continue with the same players, it wasn't working for whatever the reason. It's time to start fresh with new WR's

[Chicken Boo]

10 hours ago, warrior9 said:

What do their injuries have to do with anything? 

 

We went 1-1 vs the Jets, lost to the Jags, and lost to the Bengals... We won the division. Those injuries affected us and play off appearance chances .. 0%

 

Bengals finished 9-8 - missed the playoffs 

Jaguars finished 9-8 - missed the playoffs 

Jets finished 7-10 - missed the playoffs

 

All 3 teams would have faired better had their QBs been healthy, potentially impacting the Bills playoff chances.  Particularly the Jets who are in the same division.

Edited May 17 by Chicken Boo

[JohnNord]

On 5/15/2024 at 8:01 PM, Logic said:

I think predicting the schedule at this point in the year is incredibly difficult, almost to the point of being a meaningless exercise.

As it is, strength of schedule is based off of last year's records, but most teams have between 30 and 40% roster turnover from season to season.

Beyond that, there is so much variability in the health of opposing rosters that it really comes down not to WHO you are playing, but WHEN you are playing them.

Just as an example, let's suppose Tua Tagovailoa and CJ Stroud get hurt and miss several weeks, spanning the period of time when the Bills play the Dolphins and Texans. That takes those games from "coin flip" status to "probable Bills win" status. That's a very simple example, but it's indicative of what I'm talking about.

I've seen years where we have a really "hard" schedule that turns out to be easy, and years where we have a really "easy" schedule that turns out to be hard.

Putting aside the difficulty in finding any meaning in the Bills' schedule at this point in the year, I WILL say that the Bills -- by Beane's own admission -- are in a transition year. A retooling, a mini-reset, whatever you want to call it. The youth and inexperience on this roster likely can't help but cause the Bills to take a step back or two, at least temporarily.

All in all, despite the roster turnover, youth, and POTENTIALLY difficult schedule (that's all I'll concede on that front), I think the presence of Josh Allen at QB and Sean McDermott at coach put the Bills' floor at about 9-10 wins. At the end of the day, I'll predict 11-6 and a Wild Card.

It’s a good point.  When you finish in first place the schedule is never easy.  But assuming all of the teams who were good in ‘23 will be good in ‘24 is not accurate.  So much can change during the season with injuries and unexpected roster moves etc.  

 

We should have a better idea of the difficult of the schedule by midseason

[warrior9]

15 hours ago, Chicken Boo said:

 

Bengals finished 9-8 - missed the playoffs 

Jaguars finished 9-8 - missed the playoffs 

Jets finished 7-10 - missed the playoffs

 

All 3 teams would have faired better had their QBs been healthy, potentially impacting the Bills playoff chances.  Particularly the Jets who are in the same division.

We won our division........ we still would have made the play offs. This would not have affected us in any capacity.

[Chicken Boo]

21 minutes ago, warrior9 said:

We won our division........ we still would have made the play offs. This would not have affected us in any capacity.

 

You don't think the divison would have been more difficult to win with Rodgers on the Jets or the playoffs more difficult to reach with those 3 teams also in the mix?

 

If not, that's cool.  I just disagree.

[JohnNord]

On 5/17/2024 at 1:20 PM, Chicken Boo said:

 

You don't think the divison would have been more difficult to win with Rodgers on the Jets or the playoffs more difficult to reach with those 3 teams also in the mix?

 

If not, that's cool.  I just disagree.

Injuries are a part of the game and always have a major impact on the end result of the NFL season. It’s not logical to assume that team is going to be at full strength.  
 

Thats like saying Kansas City shouldn’t be SB Champs because they beat the Bills without Milano, Bernard or Tre White

[DeepPass]

On 5/15/2024 at 5:58 PM, White Linen said:

I think we're going to be very good and once again in contention.  I think anyone expecting some downward turn is foolish.  

I agree!  It looks like 10-7 even with 2 or 3 close losses

[Alphadawg7]

On 5/15/2024 at 11:31 AM, Gman10 said:

Are we going to have a good year? Do you thinking losing Poyer/Diggs will hurt us badly? Thoughts on our SOS ? 

We are going to win between 11 and 13 games IMHO, assuming we don’t have catastrophic injuries.
 

How much we miss Poyer (and Hyde) I think will come down to how fast Bishop gets on the field and develops.  I think Beane did a pretty good job shoring up the safety room.  
 

Diggs (and Davis) are addition by subtraction.  I think this offense will be better, more consistent, and more fun this year than last year.  I’m really excited to see this group of weapons on the field with Josh.  

Edited May 18 by Alphadawg7

[frostbitmic]

At least we won't have to face Zach Wilson this season.