TigerJ Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 (edited) Just thought I'd go through the list of opponents one by one and give a reaction. Feel free to react, ignore, or make your own. Home games: Chicago - Trubiski may have developed some by next season, but this team is rebuilding from a pretty low point. I would categorize this as a "should win" game for Buffalo. Detroit - Like, Chicago, will have a new head coach, but they have an established QB and will be rebuilding from a higher point than Chicago. Is beatable, I would guess. Jacksonville - Well, we know all about them, don't we. Buffalo played them tough. If Buffalo can settle their QB issues and upgrade a few positions, they should be beatable. LA Chargers - Buffalo got handled on the road this year. If Rivers stays healthy, this game won't be easy. Buffalo will need to protect their QB much better, regardless of who it is. Miami - May be tougher with Tannehill back, but if both teams improve Buffalo should still be able to win. New England - Brady will be another year older. He will hit the wall at some point - don't know if it will be next year. In some ways, McDermott emulates Belichick, and it is showing in improved team discipline, reduced penalties and more attention being paid to fundamentals, but while Buffalo might play NE tougher next year, I'm not sure they're there yet. Jets - Still in rebuild mode with no clear answer at QB. They have a good coach, but this should still be winnable. Tennessee - Mularkey believes in old fashioned smash mouth football. Mariota had some struggles this season, but Tennessee has solid RBs and Henery in particular is a load to bring down while having a bit of quickness as well. They were a bit of a Jekyl and Hyde team this year. If that continues next year, how beatable they are may depend on what week we play them. Away Games: Baltimore - John Harbaugh is another tough coach. Joe Flacco is only an average QB. Baltimore will never be an easy game, but neither are they usually unbeatable. Green Bay - Aaron Rodgers will be back. That alone makes this a tough game. Houston - Watson will be back and probably better. Houston has some monster players on the D-line when they're healthy. Buffalo had better have their O-line whipped into shape when they play. Indianapolis - Will have a new coach, but will presumably have Luck back. That will make them more dangerous than this year, but they should be in rebuilding mode. I think this is winnable. Miami - see above Minnesota - Zimmer has built a tough, physical team. We don't know who the QB will be, but it is liable to be one of the three that are still on their roster at this point and all three are very competent. This will compete with New England as Buffalo's toughest road game next season. New England - see above Jets - see above Edited January 8, 2018 by TigerJ add content Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CommonCents Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 This season is evidence that each year changes so much that the schedule is impossible to rank. From a distance it looks like it could be tough sledding. Baltimore and Detroit are the only two teams on that list that I expect to play worse next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boco357 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Away schedule looks brutal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPS Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 From what we know right now, it will be tough to win more than 3 away games next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerJ Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 5 minutes ago, boco357 said: Away schedule looks brutal. I agree. It's a very tough away schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Brown Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Road schedule looks tough but who would of thought we'd beat the Falcons and Chiefs before the season this year? A lot will change between now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerJ Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 4 minutes ago, TPS said: From what we know right now, it will be tough to win more than 3 away games next year. Granted, it's a tough away schedule, but I think Buffalo's success or failure will have more to do with their own development and play on the field, including getting the QB position settled. Buffalo has a chance to be a tough opponent for everybody going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPS Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 1 minute ago, TigerJ said: Granted, it's a tough away schedule, but I think Buffalo's success or failure will have more to do with their own development and play on the field, including getting the QB position settled. Buffalo has a chance to be a tough opponent for everybody going forward. Yes, the Bills have shown they are tough team, and they accomplished a miracle feat after getting rid of some of their (perceived) top talent. I'm all on board, but they still need an infusion of talent at some key positions. I think we can "win the off-season!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will-GM-for-food Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Aside from NE on the road, I think all of our division games are winnable. Barring a TNF nightmare game against the Jets we should sweep them, along with the Fins. Then whether or not we can take NE at home, we're at 5-1 or 4-2. I'll take a pessimistic approach and assume 4-2. Next at home: Chicago and Detroit are wins. We handled Jax fairly well, and with offensive improvements we could be on the right side of another defensive battle. I'm not sure about the LA game, as OP mentioned their pass rush might eat us alive again and we will need a lot more offense to put up points. For now I'll call it a loss. We're now 7-3. OP you missed the home game against Tennessee. I underestimate them all the time but it is a winnable game at home, especially if we shore up against the run. To get to the playoffs again, we will probably need another 2 wins on the road. Indy won't be very good even with Luck back, so we should win there. Baltimore might be a tough game, depending on how Flacco plays. With Watson back, Houston won't be easy either. Then there's GB and MIN. We'll only need one of these games we to get to 10-6 and at least in another wild card. If we improve our pitiful offense and tighten up a few spots on D, then 10-6 is my early early early early prediction for next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Deek Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Do you all remember your algebra training? This is an equation with way too many variables! Not the least of which is the Bills starting quarterback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Direhard Fan Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Why discuss it? Any team could loose their QB like LY and the whole game changes. Happens every year. I wouldn't mind seeing TT back and a number one draft pick for QB and O line help and D line help with other draft picks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerJ Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 26 minutes ago, TPS said: Yes, the Bills have shown they are tough team, and they accomplished a miracle feat after getting rid of some of their (perceived) top talent. I'm all on board, but they still need an infusion of talent at some key positions. I think we can "win the off-season!" Absolutely. They have important ingredients in place - cap room and ample draft picks. Now let's see what they do with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ittakestime Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Cant get tougher than this season and we made it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corta765 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 I hate doing this when we don't know who our QB is, who other teams QBs are, roster changes, draft, FA etc... That said for the purpose of fun and with my belief the Bills are going to grab Alex Smith at QB and use the draft/FA to solidfy the roster holes I rate the schedule like this: Home: TEN- Win. 60/40 should win but tough team that runs well so that is a close game JAX- Win. repeat again 60/40 should win but tough team that runs well so that is a close game LAC: Loss. Talented defense, talented offense, and LAC plays well in BUF also for some weird reason. Only reason I go against LAC is if Rivers looks like he is regressing with age NE: Loss. I think we play NE tougher next year but I won't ever call it a Bills win until it happens while Brady is QB. NYJ: Win. They will be even tougher next year as they solidify their lineup and Bowles is a solid coach IMO MIA: Win. Same as Jets better team next year and Tannehill is back DET: Win. Honestly Detroit is maddening because they feel like a team that should every year break over the hump, but somehow don't and lose games with a top 10-12ish QB like Stafford that they shouldn't. BUF wins because DET for some reason losses these types of games. CHI: Win. They will be better and it will be closer then people like but overall CHI has a lot of work to do on offense. Their defense has some real talent though. Away: IND: Win. They need another season of adding talent to the roster and frankly need a year of Luck just getting back in rhythm. HOU: Loss. Watson looked like the real deal and they should be healthy across the board. Possibly the most talented roster in the AFC without injuries. BAL: Win. 60/40 game This is a roster that seems to be on the downhill age and talent wise. Frankly they blew it the last three seasons because their offense wasn't good enough and it ain't improving any time soon. NE: See above NYJ: Win. Buffalo avenges their loss in 2017 MIA: Loss. MIA gets their revenge on BUF and emerges as potentially BUF biggest challenger for WC. MIN: Loss. Incredibly solid roster and possibly this years SB Champs. BUF pushes them hard but can't overcome. GB: Loss. Buffalo probably makes a game of it but we are not beating Rodgers and crew in GB. Overall 9-7 to me feels safe, and I can easily see them at 7-9 also or 11-5. Few bounces make all the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Jacksonville with a real QB could be a very scary team. That defence, with Fournette at RB is already good. Throw in a competent QB and they could be scary good. Detroit could be a team that could get a new coach and go into a full rebuild, I could see them even dealing Stafford for a big haul and going complete overhaul. If not, it's tough to call with them, new coach and schemes could take a while to implement and learn. Indy even with Luck right now is not a scary team. They still need a bunch of other players to get back to being a good team. The Dolphins are going to probably lose Landry and go back to a QB who just had a full season away recovering from injury. He wasn't that great before, might come back worse. They will be one of those middle of the pack teams next year I think, barring some big off-season moves. The Jets could be the same as the Dolphins next year too. They played well for a team lacking a lot of talent, another off-season of rebuilding and they could be back to middle of the pack. The Bills hopefully build off of what's in place this year and improve rather then regress cause I think the AFC East is going to be back to one of the tougher divisions in the league next year with all the teams competing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerJ Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 I started this tread with full appreciation for all the variables that exist. It's quite possible that I or somebody else will start a similar thread later in the off season when teams are more set with their personnel. It would be interesting to look back at that time and see how opinions have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
row_33 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 8 minutes ago, TigerJ said: I started this tread with full appreciation for all the variables that exist. It's quite possible that I or somebody else will start a similar thread later in the off season when teams are more set with their personnel. It would be interesting to look back at that time and see how opinions have changed. Thanks for the thread and decent analysis. You aren't responsible for people ruining with their own agendas... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasons1992 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 1 hour ago, TPS said: From what we know right now, it will be tough to win more than 3 away games next year. That's all we won this year, so..... Let's get the QB situation figured out. That may take a season however. Rookies very, very rarely produce playoff results if we go down that path. This was a fun season for sure! Onward and upward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LABILLBACKER Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, boco357 said: Away schedule looks brutal. That's what I see. Maybe 6-2 at home but 3-5 away. Another 9 win season and that's assuming some small upgrade @ qb. Edited January 8, 2018 by LABILLBACKER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasovon Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 As ever we can probably win about 9 games, until the Patriots* fall from grace it's always going to be tough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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