7 games in, 3.5-game division lead…

[FireChans]

39 minutes ago, eball said:

…who expected that?  The Fish are technically only 2.5 games back but the Bills hold the tiebreaker.  They get Tua back next week but they are not a team to be feared  The Jests are a certifiable mess after losing yet again; whatever “boost” Woody Johnson was hoping to gain by firing Saleh has backfired.

 

It’s always interesting to look at how the season progresses when various teams are pumped up (Fish, Jests) in the offseason and others are “downgraded” (Bills).

 

After running through an early season gauntlet the path to a 5th consecutive division title looks remarkably clear.  5 home (Fish, Chiefs, 49ers, Pats, Jets) and 5 road (Seattle, Colts, Rams, Detroit, Pats) games left.  They’ll be favored in all but the game at Detroit.

 

Hell of a job by Beane retooling this roster on the fly, and then seeing what he needed to do to make it even better and taking advantage of a dumpster fire in Cleveland to grab Cooper.

 

It is a super fun time to be a Bills fan.

 

The Dolphins lost their starting QB, 

[NewEra]

5 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

I would agree they’ve matched up well in previous seasons. I don’t think that’s the case now , as the Bills defense is currently a liability. The Chiefs defense is stout and stingy. The Bills won’t be favored vs KC, and they shouldn’t be- barring a major KC injury. 

Mahomes has 6 TD passes and 8 Ints.  His starting WRs are worthy and Watson.  Juju is their best WR by a country mile. If they don’t add a WR, I think our defense matches up just fine if healthy. 

 

Our offense, we’ll see once Cooper gets acclimated.  We’ll see if Brady can avoid his terrible stretches of play calling.  Right now, the chiefs have the advantage due to Reid and Spags (just as they always have), but we can beat them (just as we always have in the regular season).  Given that it’s a regular season game, if we’re 8-2 playing at home, it should be a push at the least, maybe advantage Bills. 

7 minutes ago, FireChans said:

The Dolphins lost their starting QB, 

Do you think Miami is a threat to win the east?  Do you give them a 10% chance to win the division?  Maybe lower?

[FireChans]

1 minute ago, NewEra said:

Do you think Miami is a threat to win the east?  Do you give them a 10% chance to win the division?  Maybe lower?

I think the division races looks completely different if the Bills lose their QB for 4 games and the Dolphins don’t.

[mannc]

42 minutes ago, MPL said:

One game at a time, boys. One game at a time. 

Why?

[Rigotz]

54 minutes ago, Beast said:

The Chiefs will be favored when they come to Buffalo.

Why does every positive thread need to be knocked down with someone’s fears of the big bad wolf.

 

Jesus man, enjoy the ride, just a little.

 

And also, believe we can win when we play them. There’s no reason to cling to a loser’s mentality just to try to cope if/when we lose.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

21 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Were you thinking that after the first quarter?  The first 3 drives were embarrassing. Brady has lots to figure out still.  

 

to your point, I agree that we can contend right now (if we remain relatively healthy).

 

 

 

Some execution issues.. 3rd down drop on the first drive.  Penalty on the 2nd drive put htem in 3rd and long - I thought he had kincaid who can get the sideline and maybe the first.  Third drive was a hollins route that..... I think a better WR might catch it... and i just don't see hollins getting as many 3rd down snaps as the season goes on with the cooper addition.  

 

I thought they did a good job accounting for the fact that they were struggling to run the ball at times.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 12:53 PM by Bleeding Bills Blue

[Bills fan since 87]

14 minutes ago, FireChans said:

I think the division races looks completely different if the Bills lose their QB for 4 games and the Dolphins don’t.

 

But that's not what happened, and we got this division in the bag (and don't forget, we were handling the Dolphins in their place before Tua got hurt)

[NewEra]

5 minutes ago, FireChans said:

I think the division races looks completely different if the Bills lose their QB for 4 games and the Dolphins don’t.

Of course they do but does that make anything that Eball said less true?

 

we played Miami, with Tua, and destroyed them (and him).  if Tua had played the last 4, they would still be in the hunt, but wouldn’t change the fact that we continue to OWN them. 
 

We’ve been the class of the AFCE for 4 years running.  This year doesn’t look any different than years past…. Despite the fact that many in the media and some sports books had someone other than us as division champs when the season kicked off.

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, Beast said:

The Chiefs will be favored when they come to Buffalo.

 

1 hour ago, Gregg said:

 

Maybe. Maybe not. I could see it opening up as a pick em or one team is favored by a point.

 

56 minutes ago, eball said:

 

Not if the Bills are 8-2 going in, which is certainly possible since the next three games are Seattle, Miami, and Indy.

 

 

I absolutely want the Chiefs favored. By a lot. 10+ points would be awesome. I want the Bills to play that game feeling disrespected. 

 

[chongli]

I am a homer, but I did expect this...Jets wills always Jet, and Miami likes to lay eggs (plus Tua's unfortunate injury history). The same with New England's dominant run in the AFC East. People expected them to finally fall, but they never really did, until TB left.

 

We are also third in the AFC playoff standings (should have been second, plus a 4.5 game lead in the division...if we hadn't blown the game to Houston...again).

 

Edited yesterday at 01:04 PM by chongli

[RiotAct]

not bad for a retooling year

 

[Bills!Win!]

Imagine if we didn’t have injuries. We would either be 7-0 or 6-1 

Edited yesterday at 01:01 PM by Bills!Win!

[TrentEdwardsCheckDownOn4th]

These three teams are BAD.. like REAL BAD. If the patriots beat the Jets next week, we could very well have a 5 game division lead heading Into the chiefs game *assuming we take care of business. The earliest an NFL division has ever been clinched was in week 11. I don't think that will happen, but all three teams will be underdogs in every game they play. And yes I understand it's unlikely they will all lose, but it's just wild to me how much of a runaway this divison is. Does anyone remember another time in Bills history where the divison was wrapped up so soon? At this point we are just vying for playoff positioning.  

 

New England:

Vs. NY Jets

@ Tennessee

@Chicago

 

Miami

Vs. Arizona

@Buffalo

@Los Angeles

 

New York

@New England

Vs. Houston

@Arizona

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 01:03 PM by TrentEdwardsCheckDownOn4th

[Gregg]

Just now, Bills!Win! said:

Imagine if we didn’t have injuries. We would either be 7-0 or 6-1 

 

The Ravens game was a loss. The Bills got their butts kicked. But if not for the stupid playing call at the end of the Texans game, then they would have had a good chance to win OT. The Bills had the momentum in the 2nd half until the very end with that play calling.

[Don Otreply]

21 minutes ago, FireChans said:

I think the division races looks completely different if the Bills lose their QB for 4 games and the Dolphins don’t.

The Hypothetical “ if we lost our QB “ is merely an exercise in futility, reality is that we thus far we own the Dolphins, Tua or no Tua , the little fragile guy is a limited skill set QB, that’s why we beat them regularly, 

[MikePJ76]

on October 21, 1991 (Greatest Year ever by the way, thank you Seattle) the Bills were 7-1 after beating the bengals 35-16.

 

The Jets were 4-4

Miami was 3-5

New England was 3-4

Indianapolis colts were 0-8.

 

Seems kind of similar.  

 

side note, Pearl Jam released another great album this year just like 91 and Jerry Cantrell is about to release what appears to be a great new album.  

Edited yesterday at 01:11 PM by MikePJ76

[scuba guy]

Cool your jets op let's just go 1 day at a time.  

 

The planet wasn't made in 1 day you know

[Gregg]

I doubt the Jets lose at the Pats. They are already having a meltdown on the Jets boards as they have turned on Rodgers and now regret getting him.

[14774]

4 minutes ago, MikePJ76 said:

on October 21, 1991 (Greatest Year ever by the way, thank you Seattle) the Bills were 7-1 after beating the bengals 35-16.

 

The Jets were 4-4

Miami was 3-5

New England was 3-4

Indianapolis colts were 0-8.

 

Seems kind of similar.  

And....they didn't get it done.

[MikePJ76]

Just now, 14774 said:

And....they didn't get it done.

you gave me an eye roll for just pointing out the last time I think we were up this far at this point?

 

and to your statement we didn't get it done, They lost IMO to the greatest single season team I have ever seen.  I wasn't alive for the 72 dolphins but I saw the rest of the teams on the greatest of all time list and I hold the 1991 Washington Redskins as the best single season team I have ever seen.