FilthyBeast

Outside of 2018 when we were truly 'rebuilding', one overlooked aspect of mcdermott's teams is getting of to a good start (5-2 in 2017, 2019, 2020). So if we do get out of the gates at 1-2 they'll definitely be some major concerns across the board especially since those 2 losses will be at home. Speaking of overlooked, the Steelers game is really starting to concern me because even most of the pundits and experts are writing them off this year. Big mistake IMO and I think this is going to be a very tough game even if we do win because of how motivated the Steelers are going to be + we have beat them 2 straight years.

I'll say no simply because I'm hoping the defense will be better this year which means we won't have to score as much this year.

Homer Prediction: Bills 15 -2, make SB and possibly win Realistic Prediction: Bills 11-6, lose in divisional round Given the parity in this league and fact it's so hard to sustain year over year success in this league my gut feeling tells me the Bills will be a good team again this year, but won't have similar success as last year if anything because of bad luck with injuries and some of the same issues from last year lingering (i.e. inability to run the football, not able to hang with Chiefs, defensive inconsistency, etc). In fact here's a Vegas insider pounding the UNDER on Bills season win total of 11 for similar reasons: https://twitter.com/RossTuckerPod/status/1428735238012870663

Not going to lie, assuming that Allen doesn't play a down in preseason I'm going to be paranoid as a Mofo week one against the steelers for the simple fact that it seems a lot of major injuries always happen in the first few weeks of the season. Also going against the Steelers defense and TJ Watt won't be easy especially if Dawkins isn't anywhere close to 100% or peak form. One thing is for sure Daboll better not get cute or call many designed QB runs right out of the gate.

If it's truly a serious injury won't be surprised to see the Bills release Sweeney with an injury settlement type of deal.

This is a point a lot of people are overlooking. Even though we didn't punt much last year and weren't necessarily terrible with Cory Bojo, this team still felt the need to move on from him and bring in a new punter. And they did this likely so they don't have to worry about keeping so many ST focused players on a deep roster. So this is why I think a lot of these guys who some fans are touting as locks because of ST ability might not necessarily be the case this year (i.e. Taiwan Jones, Daryl Johnson, etc).

Lawson was a guy connected to the Bills in the offseason but good thing we didn't pay that kind of money for him given the injury history.

This is true, could have happened as well. I guess my deeper thought on the matter is it's highly unlikely we are going to sweep the division again. Even if we beat the Jets twice can't see us sweeping both the Fish and Patriots again this year. Division games are always tough regardless of the teams individual win/loss records at the end of the season. In fact even when the Pats were going 13-3 and 14-2 just about every season with Brady they typically lost to the Jets or Dolphins those seasons (even the Bills once in a blue moon).

Jets aren't going to be as bad as some think and if Saleh is good coach they will definitely upset some teams this year. A few breaks go a different way and they would have beat us last year when we were in a little funk after the Titans and Chiefs losses. With that said they are still probably in that 6 or 7 win range at best this year.

No surprise here, there's zero chance that Allen and many others will be seeing the field these last 2 meaningless preseason games. Need to keep letting these bubble players and practice squad candidates battle it out especially so we can get film on some possible trade candidates to get more DB or OL help in the coming weeks.

Just speculation but I have to believe Sherman was this years 'Josh Norman' type of player that Beane and McD had in mind to sign before camp until his unfortunate incident. So wondering if there is a 'plan B' so to speak if not we really need to swing a trade sooner than later.

I didn't see where Sweeney got hurt either but apparently is in a walking boot which is usually indicative of a serious injury. Seemed like he was having a decent camp/preseason so far but injuries look like they may derail his career here.

If we get even half of that from these three players we are probably a top 3 defense and winning the SB this year.

Smith looks like another great find by this front office and poised to be much more than a ST contributor this season.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Raiders end up being a dark horse type of team this year, their big issues last year was defense which cost them down the stretch and after coming within a few minutes of sweeping the Chiefs they simply imploded after that game. So no surprise they focused heavily on that side of the ball in the draft and FA. Regarding Peterman it would be interesting to see what he can do if he ever got the chance to start again. He's certainly a preseason all-pro and Gruden has hung on to him despite the QB carousel behind Carr. In fact there's already speculation that they are trying to unload Mariota and his contract and will cut him soon if he can't be traded which puts Peterman the clear cut QB2 in Vegas.

I believe their reports pre -draft that Rosen turned off a lot of GM's with his attitude/personality. If true it's not shocking that he's on the verge of being out of the league after just 3 NFL seasons or hoping to land a spot on a practice squad. Beane has not been perfect but thank god he didn't draft Rosen or Darnold (if he would have been available).

Regarding Vernon Butler...deep down I also think he's going to make this roster despite being hurt and/or not doing much this preseason and camp so far. And if that's the case it likely pushes one of the DE's off the team unless we can swing a decent trade. However in a perfect world we trade Butler and can get some potential OL or DB depth in return.

If true than what does that say against the Bills pathetic defensive effort against him in the AFCG when he didn't practice all week because of a concussion and had the same foot injury in question? No team is on top forever but at this point it's not out of the realm of possibility that the Chiefs and Mahomes become the next Patriots in terms of dominating the conference and league the next 15+ years. The question is whether or not the Bills and Allen will be good enough to get to a few SB's and win a few rings just like the Colts/Manning and Steelers/Big Ben did in the seasons that Brady and the Pats weren't in the SB the greater part of the 2000s' and 2010's.

It's too bad they didn't work out here but i'm happy for Jones and Peterman and hopefully they can be bigger contributors for the Raiders this year.

The sad reality is that attending an NFL game in person is rarely a great experience (yes even in Buffalo) because of drunken idiots and knuckleheads like this. What's more sad is this was a meaningless preseason game with fans of the same team fighting eachother.

Pretty much, I guarantee there's not a Chiefs player, coach, fan, etc that are worried about the Bills until we do something to prove otherwise.

To be honest none of these are exactly 'bold' predictions based on where this team was last year and current expectations. If anything I think finishing with the #1 seed might not be possible because I still think KC has the inside track for that until proven otherwise. But the other two kind of go hand in hand because a better defense will go a long way for the Bills to win the AFC championship and SB instead of falling short like last year.

If anything Tebow was a great short term leader and helped a lot of these young guys out in Jacksonville during the offseason but there's a reason 31 other teams had zero interest in him despite the proposed position change.

I disagree with the premise of this thread for the simple obvious fact that we were 0-2 against them last year, and never really competed with them particularly in the AFC Championship that was essentially over at halftime despite getting off to a 9-0 lead early. With that said, it will be interesting to see what they look like this year especially Mahomes after finally having a truly terrible game. I think defensively they are still very average at best (unless they are facing us in which they looked like the #1 defense twice) and they aren't very deep on offense once you get past the likes of Kelce and Cheetah. Also will they start blowing out teams again or play down to the level of competition like most of last season? But until the Bills prove they can not only hang with the Chiefs for 4 quarters and actually beat them they are the odds on favorites in the AFC.

I don't care where this defense ranks overall in terms of YPG and total defense. The key metrics are PPG, pressure rate, sacks, turnovers, etc. It's also a make or break year for Edmunds and can't use the age excuse anymore entering his 4th season.