Broncos, Ravens, Chiefs - Can the Bills run through this gauntlet.

[eball]

3 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

I think they will beat the Broncos. Anything after that is gonna be a coin flip. They will need a bit of luck to go their way.

 

 

Was going to say something similar.  The AFC is a 3-horse race in my opinion…it’s a roll of the dice for KC, Baltimore, and Buffalo.

 

The Bills’ chances rely almost completely on the defense stepping up and not making any stupid ST mistakes.

 

[ProcessTruster]

Josh will need to have the cape on full-time for this to happen.   And that could happen.   No sense holding back now.  

[HappyDays]

8 hours ago, RunTheBall said:

The only improvement I’ve seen this year on D has been the adjustments, they’ve been at an elite level. If we can keep it close for the first 2 quarters McD/Babitch have been pretty quick at taking away what’s been working for opposing offenses.

 

There haven't been successful adjustments over the past three games. 2nd half of the Rams was as bad as the 1st half. 2nd half of the Lions was worse. In the Pats game adjustments aren't why Stevenson fumbled, Maye made a rookie mistake in the red zone, and the RB dropped a backwards pass - they were still able to move the ball despite having an utter lack of talent.

 

We have probably the worst defense in the league over the past three games. The concern is that we've gotten to a point where teams have film on Babich's defense and they are clearly exploiting whatever tendencies they've found. We might have to accept that Babich is just flat out a bad DC. It's his first time on the job, it shouldn't come as a shock. The Rams game in particular was eye opening... That team hasn't come close to that level of production at any other point this year. To me it had the appearance of an elite OC taking a bad DC's lunch, and that sizeable coaching mismatch is going to be there every step of the way through the playoffs.

[mjt328]

Any Given Sunday.  Yeah, I guess it's possible.  But I definitely wouldn't put money on it.

 

The Chiefs and Ravens are hitting their stride (both sides of the ball) at the exact right time.  The Bills defense is going the wrong direction.  Possibly the worst three-game stretch since Sean McDermott took over as our head coach.  And based on that stinker in New England, it's also possible the offense peaked too early.  Still way to much relying on Josh Allen to carry this team by himself.

 

What's scary... the Bills defense is always worse in the playoffs than in the regular season.  

Outside of Baltimore in 2020 and New England in 2021, that unit has massively underachieved in the postseason.  Not just against Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow.  Also against Philip Rivers, Skylar Thompson and Mason Rudolph.

 

Expect the Wild Card game to be much closer than reasonable, followed by the Ravens destroying us in our own stadium.

 

10 minutes ago, DeltaDigital said:

Yep... these people will clutch their "5 TIME AFCE Champs" hats and t-shirts while wondering, "how did derek henry run for 321 yards in 1 game against us?" Then claim "McDopey is thah bezt Coach" madness. 

 

When the Bills get booted in the Divisional Round again, we will hear a lot about how they "overachieved" by just winning the AFC East.

 

[bmur66]

I see no reason to expect a different outcome vs. the Ravens and if that happens it should be the end of this defense which has repeatedly failed when it matters most.

Edited Thursday at 02:25 PM by bmur66

[JMM]

Of course they can. The odds though are VERY slim. In order for this to happen, Josh has to be Alien, we will need 30 at a minimum.  Then we will need to have a turnover differential of 2 in the last games. Then it's quite feasible.  And the same formula would be required to then win the SB. Again odds, less than 20%.

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, JohnNord said:

Overall though, this is the biggest area where you can criticize Beane and McDermott.  They have a nice assortment of “good” players but not enough “great” and hardly any “elite.”   Defensive line especially.  

 

Funny you say that because it was players that saved the scheme on Sunday. Rousseau and Bernard stripped the ball from Stevenson. Rousseau read and blew up a backwards pass to force a fumble. Cam Lewis read the QB's eyes and made a great INT in the endzone. All year in fact the players have been forcing turnovers at opportune times when it looked like we otherwise had no answers. I think the players are good enough to have at least an above average defense. Having a putrid bottom of the league defense like we've had in recent weeks is inexcusable.

[HereComesTheReignAgain]

Wow, I didn’t read all of the responses, but how is there so much negativity surrounding a 12-3 team. You would think they were backing into the playoffs in the 7 seed. How did the Ravens lose 5 games?! They apparently are the greatest team to ever set foot on turf. 

[Process]

We should definitely be rooting for chargers to be the 5 seed. They would at least give KC a fight. 

 

If Pittsburgh is 5 then KC basically gets two bye weeks and straight to the AFC championship game. 

[JerseyBills]

Only team that scares me is Bal.. Hopefully they play Pit somehow in RD 1 but yea this Bills team is capable of beating anyone..

 

I'd play Bal like Det, focus everything on the run game, Gibbs/Montgomery had under 50 yards,Goff 490 but scoure was 35 14 in the 2nd half, make Lamar throw 40+ times and win the turnover battle, get a big dub

 

With the game being in Buffalo is a huge advantage vs them

 

 

[Joe Mama]

If you are worthy of the Super Bowl, you should be able to handle anyone. Already shown that with KC and Detroit. Bring it on, no hand wringing about this opponent or that opponent.

[Brand J]

14 minutes ago, HereComesTheReignAgain said:

How did the Ravens lose 5 games?!

Hopefully the Bills have quality control coaches already studying this and coming up with answers as it relates to our schemes.

[JerseyBills]

13 minutes ago, HereComesTheReignAgain said:

Wow, I didn’t read all of the responses, but how is there so much negativity surrounding a 12-3 team. You would think they were backing into the playoffs in the 7 seed. How did the Ravens lose 5 games?! They apparently are the greatest team to ever set foot on turf. 

recency bias I guess, idk lol. Lot of people on here just love negativity and misery.

We dominated what was considered the best team in the league , in their building, had 1 bad loss out of 15 games, will have home field rds 1 and 2. People are crazy smh

[zow2]

Lamar and Mahomes are playing w supreme confidence right now.  For whatever reason the Bills went through the motions last week on offense. They wanted to keep it vanilla but they also didn’t execute the vanilla well.

Id like to see Allen and the O get their mojo back this week. Impose their will. A win and it’s the final dress rehearsal for playoffs. 

[Buffalo Boy]

They “ Can”.

   But in my estimation, the chances are is the single digits , percentage-wise.

   Because McD and his “ Defensive Scheme”. 
  So , I guess , someone needs to start the “McD loses again in the playoffs/Excuses only thread.”

😒

 

[Gregg]

Maybe we get lucky and the Chargers, Broncos or even Steelers if they fall to 6 go into Baltimore and win. Despite losing big to Baltimore last week the Steelers can do it as those games are usually very close. 

[oldmanfan]

1 minute ago, DeltaDigital said:

lol, most of the posters here, cling to "hes a culture guy", "5 afce" blah blah... the MAJORITY aren't ready to discuss giving him walking papers. when in reality, without josh allen, seans record, isn't seans record. Not even close. 

Imagine that.  Having a really good QB affects records.  Like Mahomes does for Reid.  Like Brady did for Belichick.  Like any really good QB has done for coaches since the dawn of football.

 

The Bills are 12-3.  They beat both KC and the Lions.  They are a top 5 team in the league.  They of course have a shot at winning this.

[Mikie2times]

26 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Funny you say that because it was players that saved the scheme on Sunday. Rousseau and Bernard stripped the ball from Stevenson. Rousseau read and blew up a backwards pass to force a fumble. Cam Lewis read the QB's eyes and made a great INT in the endzone. All year in fact the players have been forcing turnovers at opportune times when it looked like we otherwise had no answers. I think the players are good enough to have at least an above average defense. Having a putrid bottom of the league defense like we've had in recent weeks is inexcusable.

You would think continuity would matter to some extent? Eagles change coordinators and now are an elite defense. Ravens change coordinators and they're evolving into an elite defense. Bills have the same system for nearly a decade with a defensive guru HC and they can't stop a nose bleed. 

 

2 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

recency bias I guess, idk lol. Lot of people on here just love negativity and misery.

We dominated what was considered the best team in the league , in their building, had 1 bad loss out of 15 games, will have home field rds 1 and 2. People are crazy smh

I think the Lions had the top 2 DL, top 2 LB's, and 3 of 4 secondary starters out when we played.  We had our injuries as well, but I don't think we will be seeing them even in the NFC championship game with how unhealthy they're.  So sure, they have been a great team all year, but we caught them in a very vulnerable spot and with Josh Allen going pure cyborg mode.  Then the Chiefs who we have beat in the regular season how many straight times now?

 

These are very good wins, but if you want to use those and our 12-3 record to create this massive separation between this year and years past, a lot of people just don't see it. If anything, this year is the worst iteration of the McD defenses. Our offense is the best, it is the most diverse, but the defense is unquestionably the worst by anyway you can measure them. Which is just an unacceptable downward decline. Sure Josh could go off, he could also have the ball for 15 minutes as McD gets Parcelled out of the stadium because his defense can't get a team off the field. But how Bills fans feel at this point really isn't that crazy. It's just looking behind the curtain of our record and our biggest wins and actually trying to evaluate if this team is better than it has been prior. 

[BuffBillsForLife]

Can they?  Of course.  Will they? Ehhhhhhhh

[oldmanfan]

If we play the Ravens again I expect Babich and McD to focus on Henry and make Jackson win from inside the pocket.  History suggests he might struggle at that.  And in the other side of the ball their pass D is suspect so Josh should be able to take advantage. We’ll also have home field.