Broncos at Bills Sunday 1pm (confirmed)

[boyst]

2 hours ago, Beast said:

Interesting. The Bills have not fared well in this regard against playoff teams. Going to be a tough road ahead. I didn’t realize we only played 5 games against playoff teams.

The Ravens played a lot of low seed playoff teams.

Chiefs L 20-27

Bills W 35-10

Commanders W 30-23

Buccaneers W 41-31

Broncos W 41-10

Steelers L 16-18

Chargers W 30-23

Eagles L 19-24

Steelers W 34-17

Texans W 31-2

 

They obliterated teams they beat but kept it close in every loss. 

In those losses they didn't score more than 20 pts, and overall their highest score in a loss was 24.

 

They squeak out wins against poorer teams, too. 

[Gilberto]

19 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

I have zero nerves. If this team is a Super Bowl worthy team there is no way they are losing this game to that team.  More likely they win by 10+ points.

 

I certainly hope you're correct. But also this is the NFL, anything can happen, and even "super bowl worthy" teams lose every week. Its the Playoffs, and one mistake can end it all. I am also nervous just for the simple fact that a loss = elimination. 

[TheBeaneBandit]

1 hour ago, yall said:

I'm not looking past Denver, but Baltimore is hot, and if we have to face them, they're our biggest hurdle to the Superbowl.

 

KC just doesn't scare me.

KC got healthy at the right time as usual. Hopkins has gotten comfortable and getting Hollywood Brown back gives them two receivers with elite speed. Should the Bills make it there, Patrick will have to file sexual harassment charges against the Bills defensive line if the Bills wanna go to the Super Bowl.

[eball]

18 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

I have zero nerves. If this team is a Super Bowl worthy team there is no way they are losing this game to that team.  More likely they win by 10+ points.

 

I'll never say never, but if the Bills play the way they have played over the past 12 weeks and nothing crazy (injuries) happens, I don't see how this game is in dispute in the 4th quarter.

 

[Kelly to Allen]

Just now, TheBeaneBandit said:

KC got healthy at the right time as usual. Hopkins has gotten comfortable and getting Hollywood Brown back gives them two receivers with elite speed. Should the Bills make it there, Patrick will have to file sexual harassment charges against the Bills defensive line if the Bills wanna go to the Super Bowl.

 

Nope 

[Gregg]

1 hour ago, yall said:

I'm not looking past Denver, but Baltimore is hot, and if we have to face them, they're our biggest hurdle to the Superbowl.

 

KC just doesn't scare me.

 

The Bills need to take care of business this weekend first, but I am hoping the Steelers can somehow pull off the upset. I know they haven't played well this past month, but anything can happen in these rivalry games. The Steelers - Ravens is arguably the best rivalry in the NFL and has been one of top rivalries for a long time now. Plus, the Steelers have won the majority of the games between them in recent years. 

[MikePJ76]

27 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

I have zero nerves. If this team is a Super Bowl worthy team there is no way they are losing this game to that team.  More likely they win by 10+ points.

Must be nice.  I am not wired that way and have watched way too much football in my life to make a statement like no way they are losing this game.

 

Sean Payton is going to find whatever the weakness is in the defense and then attack it over and over and over.  

 

This is an extremely tough matchup that will require everyone to be on their p's and q's.  

 

Field Position, Playing with a lead and making no mistakes seem like the key to the game.  

[boyst]

19 minutes ago, eball said:

 

I'll never say never, but if the Bills play the way they have played over the past 12 weeks and nothing crazy (injuries) happens, I don't see how this game is in dispute in the 4th quarter.

 

it feels like the Patriots perfect game at best or at worst the Steelers game last year.. the Skylar Thompson game was different - it just was. before that the Colts game was the Bills riding high on a new feeling. 

 

The biggest difference between this game and the Steelers perfect game is that Payton is a different kind of coach than punt on 4th and 2 on their 39 yard line Tomlin. Payton would fake a field goal on second down or run a triple option reverse boot hook and ladder fumblerooski. he doens't care about the stops.

[Buffalo03]

26 minutes ago, boyst said:

The Ravens played a lot of low seed playoff teams.

Chiefs L 20-27

Bills W 35-10

Commanders W 30-23

Buccaneers W 41-31

Broncos W 41-10

Steelers L 16-18

Chargers W 30-23

Eagles L 19-24

Steelers W 34-17

Texans W 31-2

 

They obliterated teams they beat but kept it close in every loss. 

In those losses they didn't score more than 20 pts, and overall their highest score in a loss was 24.

 

They squeak out wins against poorer teams, too. 

They also lost to the Raiders and Browns 

[Bob Chandler's Hands]

I went over to www.milehighreport.com to see how this game looks from a Denver perspective. I found this gem under their staff's keys to the wildcard game:

 

Score more points than the Bills

The Broncos are now 10-0 when they outscore their opponents. That will be key once again this Sunday as they face Josh Allen and the explosive Bills offense. Denver needs to score more points than the Bills with the assistance of its defense to slow down the Bills offense. If the Broncos do that, they’ll advance to the next round and face the Chiefs. — Scotty Payne

 

Makes a lot of sense.  I mean, the Broncos are undefeated when they outscore the other team - that's amazing! 

 

https://www.milehighreport.com/2025/1/8/24338703/broncos-vs-bills-nfl-wild-card-preview-bo-nix-sean-payton-josh-allen-sean-mcdermott

[Gregg]

2 minutes ago, Bob Chandler's Hands said:

I went over to www.milehighreport.com to see how this game looks from a Denver perspective. I found this gem under their staff's keys to the wildcard game:

 

Score more points than the Bills

The Broncos are now 10-0 when they outscore their opponents. That will be key once again this Sunday as they face Josh Allen and the explosive Bills offense. Denver needs to score more points than the Bills with the assistance of its defense to slow down the Bills offense. If the Broncos do that, they’ll advance to the next round and face the Chiefs. — Scotty Payne

 

Makes a lot of sense.  I mean, the Broncos are undefeated when they outscore the other team - that's amazing! 

 

https://www.milehighreport.com/2025/1/8/24338703/broncos-vs-bills-nfl-wild-card-preview-bo-nix-sean-payton-josh-allen-sean-mcdermott

 

Scotty Payne is smart.

[folz]

On 1/6/2025 at 10:37 AM, MikePJ76 said:

they dared the bills to keep running the ball.  They were running all over them and for some reason they kept throwing the ball.  Its why dorsey was fired.  the bills should have run like 40 times that night but payton knew they would keep throwing the ball.

 

wilson threw that lollipop TD in the endzone that should have been batted down but oh well.  Then of course the penalty at the end.

 

Nix makes this an entirely different game and so does the season nick benitto is having.  

 

also for fun the Broncos have 3 pro bowlers this year as opposed to the bills two.  So they have more pro bowlers and a better head coach.  

 

I hope the media hammers this Broncos are going to win narrative all week.  It is the perfect setup for Buffalo.

 

I think many Bills fans and probably most of the football world would agree that the Broncos have the better coach. Mostly because Payton has a Super Bowl win (and is a very good offensive mind)...and that is more than fair. But is it really true?

 

Sean Payton had a top-10 All-Time Quarterback, who is second All-Time in passing yards in the league (only behind Brady), for 14 seasons and he only had one Super Bowl appearance (a win). He had two heart-breaking, last second playoff losses (similar to 13 seconds) in back-to-back years. If he were the Bills coach, he would have been on the hot seat here too (1 SB appearance in 14 seasons with a first-ballot HOF QB?).

 

Coach   Years   Record   Win%  Playoff record   Playoff Win%   10-Win Seasons         Division Championships    Furtherest Advancement

Payton     17      170-105  .618%         9-8                 52.9%        10 of 17 years (58.8%)         7 in 17 years             1 Super Bowl appearance and win

                                                                                                                                                                                       2 NFC Champ game appearances (win+loss)                                                                                           

McD         8        86-45   .656%         5-6                  45.5%         6 of 8 years (75%)              5 in 8 years              1 AFC Championship appearance (loss)

 

Yes, Josh is one of at least three great QBs in his era, just as Drew was 1 of 3 in his era. BUT...Josh (and McD) play in the same Conference as the other great QBs in their era, while Brees (Payton) did not play in the same Conference as the other two great QBs of their era (Brady and Manning). 

 

And as far as years without Drew Brees, Payton has only had 3 other seasons with 1. Winston/Siemien/Hill, 2. Russell Wilson, and 3. Bo Nix as his QBs. Not bad quarterbacking except for the first example. And let's not forget that McD has a year with Tyrod. So, you can't really say Payton's stats were hurt by the years without Drew.

 

And as far as if there is a difference between Josh and Drew...

Josh would need 13 more seasons at his current pace to match Drew Brees' career numbers (he would have to play 20 seasons total, the same as Drew did---and that is including Josh's rushing numbers). So, pretty similar stats (though Josh may not make 20 seasons with his style of play). Drew generally tends to be ranked between the 6-11 range of All-Time QBs (leaning closer to the 6-8 range). I don't see Josh currently being ranked (at the end of his career) higher than Brady or Mahomes. What about Manning and Montana? Probably not (depending on if Josh gets any Super Bowls and how many). What about Marino, Graham, Unitas, Rodgers, Elway, Young, Favre? So, most likely, Josh (depending on Super Bowls) ends up being ranked in a similar range as Brees (provided he keeps going the way he is and dependent on Super Bowls, of course). Josh is a very different QB than Brees was, but I don't see a huge gap in their overall numbers or play/rank in any significant way to say that McD has an advantage at QB (over their careers).

 

Now, I'm not saying that McDermott IS the better coach (a Super Bowl win is a Super Bowl win---and McD doesn't have one yet), I'm just saying that I don't think it's as obvious as most people think that Payton is clearly the superior coach.

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by folz

[julian]

2 hours ago, mjt328 said:

 

Completely take away those two Super Bowl seasons, and he's still got a ring.  Not to mention two additional AFC titles and four additional appearances in the Championship game.  If the Bills had that resume at the end of Allen's career, I would be thrilled.

 

The Chiefs barely blink and they are sitting in the Final Four.  McDermott has one trip past the Divisional Round, and it was an absolute grind to get there.  With Allen at QB and his supposed genius as a defensive coach, he shouldn't NEED a superstar to make the next step.  If his defense could just play average for 4 straight playoff games, we would probably win it all.

 

I’m not gonna be thrilled with 1 SB and 2 SB losses for Allen’s career, this organization will have failed unless he gets 2 rings in my opinion… just like the Packers failed Rodgers and Favre and the Colts failed Manning.

 

Allen is a multi SB champion talent and anything less is a failure imho.

[Autumn]

It’s easy to overlook KC But they have a great defense and Mahomes makes up for a lot of he’s the definition of clutch when it’s all on the line. 

[MikePJ76]

25 minutes ago, folz said:

 

I think many Bills fans and probably most of the football world would agree that the Broncos have the better coach. Mostly because Payton has a Super Bowl win (and is a very good offensive mind)...and that is more than fair. But is it really true?

 

Sean Payton had a top-10 All-Time Quarterback, who is second All-Time in passing yards in the league (only behind Brady), for 14 seasons and he only had one Super Bowl appearance (a win). He had two heart-breaking, last second playoff losses (similar to 13 seconds) in back-to-back years. If he were the Bills coach, he would have been on the hot seat here too (1 SB appearance in 14 seasons with a first-ballot HOF QB?).

 

Coach   Years   Record   Win%  Playoff record   Playoff Win%   10-Win Seasons         Division Championships    Furtherest Advancement

Payton     17      170-105  .618%         9-8                 52.9%        10 of 17 years (58.8%)         7 in 17 years             1 Super Bowl appearance and win

                                                                                                                                                                                       2 NFC Champ game appearances (win+loss)                                                                                           

McD         8        86-45   .656%         5-6                  45.5%         6 of 8 years (75%)              5 in 8 years              1 AFC Championship appearance (loss)

 

Yes, Josh is one of at least three great QBs in his era, just as Drew was 1 of 3 in his era. BUT...Josh (and McD) play in the same Conference as the other great QBs in their era, while Brees (Payton) did not play in the same Conference as the other two great QBs of their era (Brady and Manning). 

 

And as far as years without Drew Brees, Payton has only had 3 other seasons with 1. Winston/Siemien/Hill, 2. Russell Wilson, and 3. Bo Nix as his QBs. Not bad quarterbacking except for the first example. And let's not forget that McD has a year with Tyrod. So, you can't really say Payton's stats were hurt by the years without Drew.

 

And as far as if there is a difference between Josh and Drew...

Josh would need 13 more seasons at his current pace to match Drew Brees' career numbers (he would have to play 20 seasons total, the same as Drew did---and that is including Josh's rushing numbers). So, pretty similar stats (though Josh may not make 20 seasons with his style of play). Drew generally tends to be ranked between the 6-11 range of All-Time QBs (leaning closer to the 6-8 range). I don't see Josh currently being ranked (at the end of his career) higher than Brady or Mahomes. What about Manning and Montana? Probably not (depending on if Josh gets any Super Bowls and how many). What about Marino, Graham, Unitas, Rodgers, Elway, Young, Favre? So, most likely, Josh (depending on Super Bowls) ends up being ranked in a similar range as Brees (provided he keeps going the way he is and dependent on Super Bowls, of course). Josh is a very different QB than Brees was, but I don't see a huge gap in their overall numbers or play/rank in any significant way to say that McD has an advantage at QB (over their careers).

 

Now, I'm not saying that McDermott IS the better coach (a Super Bowl win is a Super Bowl win---and McD doesn't have one yet), I'm just saying that I don't think it's as obvious as most people think that Payton is clearly the superior coach.

 

 

 I haven't really viewed it like that.  Payton has more experience and has won in the toughest of environments and lost in games he should have won.  He has been a part of it all.  He is an excellent play caller and when he finds a weakness he is going to hammer it over and over.

 

He has been in a situation exactly like this before.  in 2009 the Minnesota Vikings hadn't lost a home game in like 15 games or something and were 9-0 on the season at home.  They were like this years ravens.  Peterson and Favre seemed unstoppable.  The saints went there and won in a ridiculous environment in the old metrodome.  it was insanely loud.  Favre threw the game away at the end with a terrible INT.  

 

Point being.  He knows these games and will not flubb a simple decision (more than likely) and knows exactly how to prepare for games like this.   This is why he was hired.  He knows the pressure is all on Buffalo and if they can get a lead and make it close late the bills might tighten up and the crowd will quiet down and the nervousness turns to anger at the coaches and players.  

 

The Bills need to play with a lead and make Payton and the Broncos chase the game.   I really hope the Bills come out on defense first and make a statement like the lions game then they will get some nervous energy out and have the ball after the half, hopefully with a lead.

[zow2]

Do you know, NFL power rankings after week 3 had Denver ranked 30th.  That’s a helluva job by Payton, Nix and their D to turn things around.

[Scott7975]

People all scared of a middling team. The only way the Bills lose this game is if they do something they don't really do... give up turnovers.

 

 

[Dan]

33 minutes ago, julian said:

I’m not gonna be thrilled with 1 SB and 2 SB losses for Allen’s career, this organization will have failed unless he gets 2 rings in my opinion… just like the Packers failed Rodgers and Favre and the Colts failed Manning.

 

Allen is a multi SB champion talent and anything less is a failure imho.

So we're already moving the goalposts?   If the Bills win the Superbowl..it still wont be enough to be happy about this team.  Honestly, I expect nothing less from many posters here.   

[Ethan in Cleveland]

I think I'd rather have Kyle Williams suit up and play some DT this week instead of being legend of the game. 

[Dan]

20 minutes ago, Autumn said:

It’s easy to overlook KC But they have a great defense and Mahomes makes up for a lot of he’s the definition of clutch when it’s all on the line. 

I can’t see how anyone would be overlooking the Chiefs.  

 

 

7 minutes ago, zow2 said:

Do you know, NFL power rankings after week 3 had Denver ranked 30th.  That’s a helluva job by Payton, Nix and their D to turn things around.

No doubt, Denver has had a great year.  I have several good friends that are lifelong Broncos fans.  They've really had a fun year, and I'm happy for them.  I just really, really hope it ends this Sunday!  I expect it to.  It should, really.  The Bills by most every metric are the better and more experienced team.  Anything can happen and you certainly can’t take the Broncos lightly, but this is the last game of the year that Buffalo should win, if they just do what they've been doing.