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Revisiting the Schedule


GunnerBill

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So I am the first to say that when I looked at the schedule back in May I struggled to see 10 wins. Last year we went 8-8 facing two divisions that were both won by not very good 9-7 teams. This year we had the seemingly daunting AFC North that twice in recent years has sent 3 teams to the playoffs and the NFC West featuring two of the consensus "top 4" teams in that conference.

 

Now all of a sudden I look at what is left to come and split the games into games that at the start I'd have said we "should" win and games where at the start I'd have said we are likely outsiders.

 

"Should win"

 

@ Miami

Jacksonville

Cleveland

Miami

 

"Outsiders"

 

Patriots

@ Seahawks

@ Cinncinati

Steelers

@ Raiders

@ Jets

 

So if you had said to me 4-2 with those 10 to come I'd have said 8-8 looks likely. But look at those "outsider" games now...

 

If the Patriots here in 2 weeks is with the Bills at 5-2 and playing for the division lead the stadium will be rocking... upset alert?

 

Seattle still looks pretty dominant at home, but then Cincy? They look on the slide and are struggling to muster much offense beyond AJ Green. Can the Bills keep him quiet enough to have a shot to win that?

 

Then the Steelers home and the Raiders on the road.... Pittsburgh have lost their last two road games in depressing fashion they suddenly look a bit thin at receiver and Big Ben needs surgery... and Oakland are 1-2 at home and struggling majorly to stop the run (Buffalo's strength). Is there a chance Buffalo could take both?

 

Finally the Jets. Their season is heading south fast but they will undoubtedly want revenge for week 17 last year if the Bills are on the brink of the playoffs. Would we all take a "win and you're in" scenario now if offered it?

 

We don't know yet how good this team is, but if they go 2-2 through the next 4 to be 6-4 heading down the stretch I don't see any game there that looks beyond them anymore.

 

Just gotta keep on rolling.

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Bills have the 29th ranked schedule according to metrics, meaning theirs is the 4th easiest.

 

Why I kept saying before the season that you can't look at a schedule and say it's going to be hard or easy before the season starts.

 

No guarantee any team is going to be good or bad. Sometimes for seemingly little or no reason. Did Josh Norman leaving the Panthers really turn them from a 15-1 super bowl team into one of the worst teams in the league?

 

Any talk of easy or hard schedules before the season starts is meaningless. As we can see it doesn't look so daunting now.

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As much as a 4-2 record, or a possible 5-2 record is nice... I can't shake the feeling that the teams we beat are not very good. If we can give the Pats w/ Brady a run for their money, I'll be more optimistic, if not, I'm still thinking .500 or below in the end.

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So I am the first to say that when I looked at the schedule back in May I struggled to see 10 wins. Last year we went 8-8 facing two divisions that were both won by not very good 9-7 teams. This year we had the seemingly daunting AFC North that twice in recent years has sent 3 teams to the playoffs and the NFC West featuring two of the consensus "top 4" teams in that conference.

 

Now all of a sudden I look at what is left to come and split the games into games that at the start I'd have said we "should" win and games where at the start I'd have said we are likely outsiders.

 

"Should win"

 

@ Miami

Jacksonville

Cleveland

Miami

 

"Outsiders"

 

Patriots

@ Seahawks

@ Cinncinati

Steelers

@ Raiders

@ Jets

 

So if you had said to me 4-2 with those 10 to come I'd have said 8-8 looks likely. But look at those "outsider" games now...

 

If the Patriots here in 2 weeks is with the Bills at 5-2 and playing for the division lead the stadium will be rocking... upset alert?

 

Seattle still looks pretty dominant at home, but then Cincy? They look on the slide and are struggling to muster much offense beyond AJ Green. Can the Bills keep him quiet enough to have a shot to win that?

 

Then the Steelers home and the Raiders on the road.... Pittsburgh have lost their last two road games in depressing fashion they suddenly look a bit thin at receiver and Big Ben needs surgery... and Oakland are 1-2 at home and struggling majorly to stop the run (Buffalo's strength). Is there a chance Buffalo could take both?

 

Finally the Jets. Their season is heading south fast but they will undoubtedly want revenge for week 17 last year if the Bills are on the brink of the playoffs. Would we all take a "win and you're in" scenario now if offered it?

 

We don't know yet how good this team is, but if they go 2-2 through the next 4 to be 6-4 heading down the stretch I don't see any game there that looks beyond them anymore.

 

Just gotta keep on rolling.

I love how every year we always say "upset alert" when we have a patriots game coming up... They have kicked the snot out of us for 10 years man... They win unless proven otherwise in real time...

 

We pull off a JETS win - Cincy win - and Steelers at home. That takes us to 11 wins.. Super bowl!

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This is a very tough schedule and 8-8 is entirely possible. Home vs Away games are the real killer. Oakland and Seattle on the road is brutal.

 

We have 5 very loseable games to play

 

Oakland's defense couldn't stop a team of TSW posters from putting up 30 points. OTOH, the Seahawks are very tough at home.

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The Seahawks looked anything but dominant at home yesterday; they had to come back in the 4th and needed a blatant disregard of PI on Julio Jones or Atlanta would have had a very makeable FG attempt for the W.

 

I'm still not willing to count any chickens until the Bills take care of business in S. Florida next week.

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@Miami -Win 5-2

New England -Win 6-2

@Seattle -Loss 6-3

@Cincinnati -Win 7-3

Jacksonville -Win 8-3

@Oakland -Loss 8-4

Pittsburgh -Win 9-4

Cleveland -Win 10-4

Miami -Win 11-4

NY Jets -Win 12-4

 

AFC EAST Champs

Agree but would love to get a win @ Oakland also

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Miami -Win 5-2

New England -Win 6-2

@Seattle - Win 7-2

BYE - Win 8-2

@Cincinnati -Win 9-2

Jacksonville -Win 10-2

@Oakland -Win 11-2

Pittsburgh -Win 12-2

Cleveland -Win 13-2

Miami -Win 14-2

NY Jets -Win 15-2

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Miami - Win

New England - Loss (we never Brady, sorry)

@Seattle - Loss (West Coast Trip and Prime Time = Doom)

BYE -

@Cincinnati - Win (Coming off a bye, should be ready)

Jacksonville - Win (It's the Jags)

@Oakland - Loss (West Coast, Raiders win the West)

Pittsburgh - Loss (Big Ben is back)

Cleveland - Win (It's the Browns)

Miami - Win (Finally a cold phins game)

NY Jets - Win (We have something to prove)

 

10-6. The Cincy game is the wildcard game for me. If we beat Oakland and Cincy, win and lose the rest to who I predict and who we should, we would own the wild card slots.

 

It's a real possibility.

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