The Red King

With SEA's win over IND, we will now lock in a playoff spot if we win next week, and IND loses to the 49ers...

Even with Brady at the nadir of his power, Miami frequently found ways to shock the Pats.

Yeah, regardless of the Ravens game, if NE beats the Jets and 'Phins they win the East. Our best bet is NE losing to both the Ravens and 'phins. Jets would be a welcome bonus.

Yes, this is a tongue in cheek post. Ever since the league added a third wild-card, and took the first round bye away from the second seed...well...the Bills have been the second seed. We almost get first, or almost get eliminated one season...and we keep rubber-banding to that seed. Are we on our way there again, I wonder? 😆

A few years back we went from dead in the water into the 2nd Seed. I refuse to bury KC until they are well and truly dead.

Oh, I haven't given up. All the AFC East teams share 14/17 games. It's why the Bills and Pats have soft schedules. The Bills are good enough and experienced enough that if they can just make it in they can beat anyone. Key is, *can*. I don't think they're favorites anymore, but I haven't given up. This thread, however, is for next season, which is an interesting discussion regardless of how this one ends. Barring a miracle or complete collapse, it looks like we're nabbing second place, leaving us to play some second place teams, while NE will be stuck with more first place teams.

If we're going to lose one, it would be best to lose to the Eagles, as they are an out of conference team, and conference record becomes the tie-breaker if they haven't played a team head-to-head.

Things got a *lot* rougher after last week. We have a chance to take out Pitt., giving us a two-game and tiebreaker on them. We've got a one-game lead and tie-breaker on KC. Houston is a real problem. We're only one-up on them, and they have the tiebreaker. The Chargers and Jags are tied with us, but currently hold tiebreakers. We're still in decent (not good, just decent) shape overall, given the schedules, but the margin for error just got a *lot* smaller.

As to why KC is a yearly thing... First, we rotate AFC divisions we play. We get the West next season, just as we did two seasons ago, and so on. However... For the two AFC divisions we don't play in a given season, we play the teams that finished in the same spot we did. We finished first in the East year after year, and KC finished first in the West, assuring that even if we didn't have the entire AFC West that season, we still had Kansas City. It's why we had them last season and this season. This also explains the TBDs on the OP. Those will depend on the final standngs.

Execute Order 66. Fire Beane, McD and Brady. Bring in a new GM and Head Coach with their own coordinators. We will always be indebted to McD for changing the culture and ending the drought. We'll be indebted to Beane for Josh and Cook. We'll be indebted to Brady for turning a season that was in a tailspin into one where we got the #2 seed. But...they're holding the team back and running it into the ground right now.

My biggest issue with Brady is that he can make good gameplans (stick with me here...), but they're designed in a vacuum. Nothing is geared *around* the personal we actually have, nor are any adjustments made. He tries hammering pegs into holes they don't fit, and if it doesn't work he just hammers harder. I would love to see a plan designed around who we actually have, and fluid enough to be changed mid-game.

I just hope people remember this before passing judgment on Bosa. He tore it up before an injury we're not resting him for.

At this point I'd be satisfied just making the playoffs so long as we keep the Chiefs from getting in via tiebreaker.

"Medic!"

I dub the O-Line "The Red Carpet".