Getting 1st place in 2025 will be huge…and we have the schedule to do it

[Billsfed1]

Negating the divisional opponents, our road games in 2025 are Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Carolina, Atlanta and Houston.  I can’t remember the last time we had such a favorable road schedule.

 

I get there’s a few teams at home this year, but they’re all teams we’ve already beat at home minus Philly…and IMO if the Bills can beat the Lions on the road, they can take Philly at home.

 

This should be the Bills best shot at an undefeated season despite the extra game.

 

The Chiefs are primed to lose a couple guys and the Bills will make 1 or 2 splash signings this year which I ultimately think makes the difference in landing first.

[90sBills]

Undefeated season huh…

[RochesterLifer]

I can see it now, December 2025, the Bills are 15-0 and have already clinched home field advantage. The TBD naysayers are in an uproar. "We haven't beaten anybody! The Bills are awful! Fire Beane! Fire McDermott!"

 

Same as it ever was....

[CincyBillsFan]

The point here is sound though - this is, on paper, a very favorable schedule with respect to where the Bills are playing their hardest games.  In addition having 9 home games is no small thing.

 

 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

The home schedule looks brutal though as we get all the other top organizations in town.
 

[uticaclub]

As the season progresses, easy schedules often become challenging, while tough schedules can turn manageable; this pattern occurs every year. Since free agency and the draft haven't taken place yet, a lot is likely to change. Hopefully, we can acquire enough top talent to become a stronger team throughout all 17 weeks. We can't afford to have games like the ones against LA or Houston this year if we expect to secure the top seed.

Edited Saturday at 05:24 PM by uticaclub

[Shortchaz]

30 minutes ago, 90sBills said:

Undefeated season huh…

Might as well 

[finn]

Yeah, but the league hasn't announced yet that three of our "home" games will be in Buenos Aires, Kuala Lampur, and Ulaanbaatar, in outer Mongolia. 

[BADOLBILZ]

25 minutes ago, uticaclub said:

As the season progresses, easy schedules often become challenging, while tough schedules can turn manageable; this pattern occurs every year. 

 

 

It often happens because of the parity in the league.....but it's not a pattern per se.  And sometimes those teams that surprise are doing it largely due to a last place schedule of their own.   So maybe they go into Carolina next season when the Panthers are 9-7 or something........that record might not reflect their ability to matchup with the Bills.  And, of course, sometimes teams projected to be bad just stay bad.  

 

The tangible point that the OP hasn't mentioned is that the Bills get 9 home games this season.   They had 9 road games last season.

 

One of those 9 in 2025 could be at a neutral site.......but those will happen for every team every 2-3 years........and despite their experience in England a couple of years ago, I'd rather play at a neutral site than have the 9th game be against the most dominant team in the NFC like it was this past year.

 

It looks like a favorable setup for the Bills to finally get the #1 seed this season.

 

 

Edited Saturday at 05:49 PM by BADOLBILZ

[LabattBlue]

We have FA, the draft, OTA’s and training camp to get through. Just a “wee bit” early to try and figure out who will get the #1 seed in the AFC…don’t you think?

[BADOLBILZ]

Just now, LabattBlue said:

We have FA, the draft, OTA’s and training camp to get through. Just a “wee bit” early to try and figure out who will get the #1 seed in the AFC…don’t you think?

 

 

I mean, they didn't get much impact from last offseason's free agent or draft moves, don't have a lot of key players primed to age-out like they had in other seasons and don't have much to lose in free agency..........so why would we anticipate LESS than the team that went 13-3 before letting NE win the finale?   14 wins will probably get you home field or within a game of it.  

 

An 8-0 start might be too early to anticipate getting home field advantage throughout........ but it's a message board and we talk about stuff like that.  The schedule certainly lines up favorably between the amount of home versus road games and the quality of home opponents versus those on the road(where the Bills lost all 5 of the games that they dropped this season). 

[LabattBlue]

2 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

I mean, they didn't get much impact from last offseason's free agent or draft moves, don't have a lot of key players primed to age-out like they had in other seasons and don't have much to lose in free agency..........so why would we anticipate LESS than the team that went 13-3 before letting NE win the finale?   14 wins will probably get you home field or within a game of it.  

 

An 8-0 start might be too early to anticipate getting home field advantage throughout........ but it's a message board and we talk about stuff like that.  The schedule certainly lines up favorably between the amount of home versus road games and the quality of home opponents versus those on the road(where the Bills lost all 5 of the games that they dropped this season). 

What about the moves other AFC teams make.  Not possible for them to improve in the offseason?

[BarleyNY]

20 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

I'd rather play at a neutral site than have the 9th game be against the most dominant team in the NFC like it was this past year.

So much depends on when you get some opponents. The Lions are a great example. Essentially their entire defense was out injured when we played them. It’s a vastly different game if we’d have played them week 2.

Do we play in Miami in sweltering heat or in December? Or at night? Do they have to come up here in the snow? Do we have to play the same divisional opponent twice within a couple weeks? So much left to shake out. Not the least of which is what teams add and lose what players - Bills included. 

[BADOLBILZ]

13 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

So much depends on when you get some opponents. The Lions are a great example. Essentially their entire defense was out injured when we played them. It’s a vastly different game if we’d have played them week 2.

Do we play in Miami in sweltering heat or in December? Or at night? Do they have to come up here in the snow? Do we have to play the same divisional opponent twice within a couple weeks? So much left to shake out. Not the least of which is what teams add and lose what players - Bills included. 

 

 

Yeah but you could say the same about the Bills 4 regular season losses.   Baltimore and Houston lost 12 games when it mattered in the regular season.  The Bills lost only 3.......but lost to both of them in great part due to timing.    The Rams needed perfect timing to align to win against Buffalo.  Bills caught them at the absolute worst time.   The timing of the draw against the Lions balanced that out.   The Patriots only won because it was a meaningless game for Buffalo.   Hence, 4 losses.

 

I wasn't one of the people who thought Buffalo was going to struggle last season so the schedule played out in a manner that was fairly predictable.   INCLUDING most of the specific games.......like the losses to Baltimore and Houston, who both figured to be better than they actually were in the regular season.

[BillsfaninChicago]

We have won the pre-off season!

[Beast]

Predicting strength of schedule 7 months before kickoff is a foolish task.

[BADOLBILZ]

34 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

What about the moves other AFC teams make.  Not possible for them to improve in the offseason?

 

 

Well then, be more specific.  

 

Do you mean a team like the Chiefs who has more key free agents hitting the market than Buffalo and already glaring holes at both tackle spots?   Or the Ravens with their franchise LT scheduled to hit free agency,  Derrick Henry at age 31 and Lamar Jackson having had 2 recent seasons end prematurely due to ankle injuries in his career?   Cincinnati with Higgins a free agent and Hendrickson perhaps having to be traded to create room to retain Chase?  

 

Of course, things can change.   But they can change at any moment of the season as well.   We can deal in the known.

 

The Bills don't have much hitting free agency.   They should return their entire OL intact.   The players in danger of aging out on the Bills roster already largely figure to hold smaller roles next year should they even be retained.  Their QB is not only coming off his best year but is the most durable in the NFL.  I mean, there is a very realistic scenario where the Bills do nothing in free agency,  just draft where they currently stand and still win the AFC next year due to attrition with teams like KC and Baltimore.  

 

Knowing that, if they can make some very positive additions, like we hope, they could easily enter the season as the favorite in the AFC.

[LabattBlue]

1 minute ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Well then, be more specific.  

Be more specific?  Let me get out my crystal ball and see how the draft, FA and training camp goes for all AFC teams.  😂

 

 

[BADOLBILZ]

16 minutes ago, Beast said:

Predicting strength of schedule 7 months before kickoff is a foolish task.

 

 

Thinking anything you discuss on a message board has anything other than entertainment value is foolish.

 

And here you are thinking that. 

[BarleyNY]

27 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Yeah but you could say the same about the Bills 4 regular season losses.   Baltimore and Houston lost 12 games when it mattered in the regular season.  The Bills lost only 3.......but lost to both of them in great part due to timing.    The Rams needed perfect timing to align to win against Buffalo.  Bills caught them at the absolute worst time.   The timing of the draw against the Lions balanced that out.   The Patriots only won because it was a meaningless game for Buffalo.   Hence, 4 losses.

 

I wasn't one of the people who thought Buffalo was going to struggle last season so the schedule played out in a manner that was fairly predictable.   INCLUDING most of the specific games.......like the losses to Baltimore and Houston, who both figured to be better than they actually were in the regular season.

Yeah. That’s all in line with my point. You can’t know how it’ll all shake out for your team or anyone else. No harm in some fans making some optimistic projections, but we will see dozens of things to change those projections leading up to the season and then again during the season.