Five reasons why the Bills will make the 2018 NFL playoffs

[Green Lightning]

8 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

You’re probably right but what’s even more scary is that it’s quite possible that we may learn nothing about Josh Allen in 2018. If the season turns ugly early the coaching staff might be hesitant to throw him to the wolves. Which means they’ll enter 2019 with the big question left unanswered.

That would be the worst case scenario. I got to believe he'll see game time probably late October, early November.

 

[eball]

4 hours ago, Kemp said:

 

Clay has been below decent for quite a while, now.

 

Says nobody, ever.  Do some homework.

[Thurman#1]

13 hours ago, THE SLAMMER said:

Five reasons why the Bills will make the 2018 NFL playoffs

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• 
• By Marc Sessler
• Around the NFL Writer
• Published: July 17, 2018 at 09:47 a.m.
• Updated: July 17, 2018 at 10:05 a.m.

 

 

 

Wondering if and how your NFL team can make the playoffs in the coming season? Adam Rank and Marc Sessler have you covered in this ongoing series, as they provide five reasons why each of the league's 32 teams will make an appearance in the 2018 postseason. Today, Sessler examines the Buffalo Bills.

1) Sean McDermott

 

Some assignments are tougher than others. While it's simple to whistle Dixie about Green Bay's chances of a postseason berth, arguing for the Bills is a stretch. Let's be real about that out of the gate.

One aspect of the team I believe in: Sean McDermott.

The second-year head coach tugged Buffalo to the playoffs a year ago with a roster few believed in. Many of the pieces on defense remain, but McDermott will be challenged to pull off another postseason berth this season with one of the league's shakiest offensive lineups.

 

 

 

Making matters uglier, there's uncertainty about the status of veteran running back LeSean McCoy. The Bills must prepare for the possibility that he could be placed on the Reserve/Commissioner Exempt List until more information surrounding an alleged domestic violence incident comes to light. That would force Buffalo to start Chris Ivory, a hard-nosed runner who struggles to stay healthy. If McCoy is out of the picture, Buffalo looms as a potential landing spot for Adrian Peterson, but would he sign up?

There's also a sliding-doors reality where Josh Allen blows people away in camp and carries the team on his shoulders, but it's more likely the rookie passer doesn't see the field until much later in the year. Why throw him to the wolves with so little offensive talent around him?

What I do trust is McDermott's ability to maximize his players on defense. If the Bills plan to stun the world, they need everyone on this side of the ball to play lights out from wire to wire and hope the combination of AJ McCarron, Nathan Peterman and Allen can do enough to win low-scoring, white-knuckle slugfests.

The road ahead is rugged, but the Bills finally have a coaching staff and front office that can work together. There's a future here.

2) Power up front on defense

 

Jerry Hughes notched just four sacks last season, but played well against the run and managed to succeed against a rash of double teams. He's part of a 4-3 front that added former Redskins pass rusher Trent Murphy and behemoth Star Lotulelei in hopes of upping last year's low-level 27 sacks. Terrence Fede and Owa Odighizuwa add depth, while 35-year-old Kyle Williams can still play. The key here is third-year pass rusher Shaq Lawson breaking out after two down campaigns. He's seen as potential trade bait by beat writers, but the best-case scenario would see the former first-rounder -- who shed weight this offseason -- finally live up to his pedigree.

3) Talent in the secondary

 

McDermott's specialty in Carolina was milking the most out of his corners and safeties. Those Panthers teams habitually brought in low-cost veterans to play the role, and McDermott made it sing.

 

 

 

The Bills will need takeaways to make up for their potentially anemic offense, something this secondary pulled off last season. Led by phenomenal rookie corner Tre'Davious White, Buffalo reeled in 18 picks, more than all but five other teams. Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer return as a productive safety duo, while veteran cornerback Vontae Davis is slated to start across from White -- a young star who believes the Bills can regularly cause havoc in 2018.

"We want to have 20 picks between us," White told The Athletic. "If each of us can get five, they're not going to be able to hold us back. If we get 20 picks on the back end, we've got those dogs up front and those linebackers, we can easily get 30 takeaways. If you get 30 takeaways in this league, you have a chance of winning a lot of games."

4) Winnable games inside a lukewarm AFC East

 

The picture-perfect Patriots remain, but Buffalo can steal games from the Dolphins and Jets. Miami houses an underrated roster, but Buffalo swept the 'Fins a year ago. The Jets are a team-in-the-making, with a solid quarterback room and a roster dotted with talent. With a rookie quarterback of their own in Sam Darnold, the hope in Florham Park -- Buffalo and Miami, too -- is that New England's two-decade run of terror is nearing its end.

The schedule, though, is a brutal one, with Buffalo pitted against the Patriots twice along with tilts with the Vikings, Packers, Jaguars, Titans and Texans.

There's a reason why most have written them off, yet plenty of August predictions crumble due to ...

more

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000940532/article/five-reasons-why-the-bills-will-make-the-2018-nfl-playoffs

 

 

6. McDermott's an Aries. Done deal.

[billspro]

If we make the playoffs it will because Josh Allen is actually good.

[Paulus]

14 hours ago, iccrewman112 said:

The title of this article is 5 reasons and I'm only seeing 4?

I didn't get the fact it was clickbait for a couple of seconds and was wondering, too. 

 

Also, the answer to this is:

 

Josh Allen 

Josh Allen

Josh Allen

Josh Allen

Josh Allen 

Edited July 18, 2018 by Paulus

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Josh Allen/ thread

 

 

[ny33]

19 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

"If the offense is average ...." ???  In what alternative universe do you reside? 

 

The Bills don't have a starting QB, and one of their QB is a career backup, another one sucked monkey balls in his limited stints as a rookie, and the third is a rookie who is not considered particularly pro ready.  They have a top notch RB who's under a cloud and may miss part or all of the year.  They have a decent starting TE, 1 NFL caliber LT, and 1 NFL caliber WR.  The supposed "battle" for starting center is between a journeyman starter and a career backup.  They have a highly touted sophomore WR who had a horrendous rookie season.  The rest of the offense is manned by players who would only see the field as backups and/or STers on most teams in the NFL.

 

The Bills will be lucky to make it into the Red Zone more than once a game ... in other words, the Bills offense will be lucky if it's not the worst O in the league by a significant margin. 

 

 

Jeremy Kerley is a solid player. 

[billsredneck1]

i for one think we are going back to the playoffs. the notion that this offense can rank worse than last year (29th overall and 31st in passing yards) is ludicrous.

there's no way we can suck that bad again. i also think that the element of surprise will work tremendously for us early on.

 

if we can win at least 2 of the first 4 and hopefully the first 2, we are gonna be just fine. i also wouldn't be surprised if this defense shuts cousins and the vikings down.

everybody complains about the receivers, but we have to play some unknowns to develop talent.  three wrs that i think could produce and very well are...

reilly

dupri

robert foster

i hope they find a way to keep 7.  proel and rayray to the p.s.

 

benjamin         kerley        jones

holmes            reilly           dupri / foster     ( reilly was a steal and  both dupri and foster would have been high round picks if it hadn't have been for poor qb talent and being stuck due to depth on their teams.)

 

then of course  clay  and oleary  with shady and ivory out of the backfield.  i think we will be fine and we will be pleasantly surprised in the pre season.

not to mention we have a new oc from the patriot tree.

 

i also believe we can get double digit wins no matter who starts at qb.

lastly, i for one am not going to complain about how "they ignored one side of the ball".  i like that they are building this team in layers and rookie contracts will expire in a layered manner so that we will be fine cap wise.

Edited July 18, 2018 by billsredneck1

[aristocrat]

8 minutes ago, billsredneck1 said:

i for one think we are going back to the playoffs. the notion that this offense can rank worse than last year (29th overall and 31st in passing yards) is ludicrous.

there's no way we can suck that bad again. i also think that the element of surprise will work tremendously for us early on.

 

if we can win at least 2 of the first 4 and hopefully the first 2, we are gonna be just fine. i also wouldn't be surprised if this defense shuts cousins and the vikings down.

everybody complains about the receivers, but we have to play some unknowns to develop talent.  three wrs that i think could produce and very well are...

reilly

dupri

robert foster

i hope they find a way to keep 7.  proel and rayray to the p.s.

 

benjamin         kerley        jones

holmes            reilly           dupri / foster     ( reilly was a steal and  both dupri and foster would have been high round picks if it hadn't have been for poor qb talent and being stuck due to depth on their teams.)

 

then of course  clay  and oleary  with shady and ivory out of the backfield.  i think we will be fine and we will be pleasantly surprised in the pre season.

not to mention we have a new oc from the patriot tree.

 

i also believe we can get double digit wins no matter who starts at qb.

lastly, i for one am not going to complain about how "they ignored one side of the ball".  i like that they are building this team in layers and rookie contracts will expire in a layered manner so that we will be fine cap wise.

 

i'm going to the vikings game and a win would be nice but that defense is nasty.  I agree our offense really can't get worse than last year. The pass game has got to be better and the run game could be the same or even better with the better backup in ivory.  no more tolbert and his negative yards. daboll hopefully can get a plan together.  i'd love to see either allen take the reigns and be rookie of the year or mccarron show some stuff and fetch us a 2nd next year in the draft after a playoff run. 

[billsredneck1]

5 minutes ago, aristocrat said:

 

i'm going to the vikings game and a win would be nice but that defense is nasty.  I agree our offense really can't get worse than last year. The pass game has got to be better and the run game could be the same or even better with the better backup in ivory.  no more tolbert and his negative yards. daboll hopefully can get a plan together.  i'd love to see either allen take the reigns and be rookie of the year or mccarron show some stuff and fetch us a 2nd next year in the draft after a playoff run. 

the bolded is why i think a.j. gets the start.  i actually think nate has a quicker, sharper release but a.j. will get the start due to the money and the possibility of what you stated happening.....not to mention familiarity with bodine.

[aristocrat]

3 minutes ago, billsredneck1 said:

the bolded is why i think a.j. gets the start.  i actually think nate has a quicker, sharper release but a.j. will get the start due to the money and the possibility of what you stated happening.....not to mention familiarity with bodine.

 

althought it might even be nice to see allen and mccarron light it up in camp and pre season and we trade mccarron at cut time for a 2nd kind of like what the eagles did with bradford a couple years ago.  unlikely but would be nice. that would be if peterman looks good as well obviously. 

[billsredneck1]

you never know. some team's starter could go down and that would instantly make a.j. worth a ton.

[Rocky Landing]

20 hours ago, aristocrat said:

 

Our offense was bad last year. Near bottom of the league bad. 

A lot of hay is being made in this thread that because our offense was so bad last year, that we can't be worse this year. In my opinion, if our O-line is worse this year, then our offense will be worse. And, I think there is a pretty good chance that our O-line will be worse.

[Luxy312]

11 hours ago, Green Lightning said:

That would be the worst case scenario. I got to believe he'll see game time probably late October, early November.

 

 

Here's the stat that you want to know regarding whether he'll see a start this year.  31/33.  In the last 20 years, there have been 33 QB's drafted in the top ten.  Of those 33, 31 saw starts at some point in their very first season.  The exceptions were Jack Locker (sitting behind Matt Hasselbeck) and Phillip Rivers (sitting behind Drew Brees).  To say that it's not often that a QB drafted early in the first round doesn't play very soon out of the gate is an understatement to say the least.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Luxy312

[aristocrat]

4 minutes ago, Rocky Landing said:

A lot of hay is being made in this thread that because our offense was so bad last year, that we can't be worse this year. In my opinion, if our O-line is worse this year, then our offense will be worse. And, I think there is a pretty good chance that our O-line will be worse.

 

very true. i think it's possible our line gets worse but if there is better play calling and qb play they can look better. i think the only spot we got worse at was left guard and i hope groy can step in and be good. hopefully the right tackle spot can be an upgrade and newhouse or someone can play well there. 

[Rocky Landing]

4 hours ago, aristocrat said:

 

very true. i think it's possible our line gets worse but if there is better play calling and qb play they can look better. i think the only spot we got worse at was left guard and i hope groy can step in and be good. hopefully the right tackle spot can be an upgrade and newhouse or someone can play well there. 

I think the real issue with the O-line is how they end up playing as a unit. I have to believe that Dawkins had a much easier time playing next to Cog than he will playing next to Ducasse. A strong lineman makes the job easier for the guys on either side of him. He was the biggest loss, IMO, especially considering his apparent replacement. And, if RT ends up being an upgrade, it's because we moved the player who was replaced to LT. Center is a pretty big question mark, also.

 

Regarding QB play, while I don't think it by any means a given that QB play will be improved overall, I do suspect that it will be easier for the O-line to maintain the pocket with McCarron than it was for Taylor. TT would routinely stretch the pocket to the limit, and I always thought that his mobility, while an asset in general, made it harder for the O-line to hold the pocket. Even when he was under center, he would drop back so far, and almost never stepped forward in the pocket. 

[stuvian]

I think McDermott is going to be a very special coach. I'm thinking Sean Payton without Bounty gate. If we get any production out of this retread OL his genius will be confirmed. I like that fact there is essentially no tape on any of our QBs. Whoever ends up starting will have the luxury of not having been game planned until say week 6. This is a huge advantage. 

[folz]

For an article titled "5 Reasons the Bills will make the playoffs," I thought that was a pretty pessimistic take...

 

...then I read FadingPain and SoTier's posts. Geesh!

 

I can understand being skeptical because of all of the question marks on the offense, but taking say 10 or 15 things and assuming they will all go wrong is just as crazy as assuming they will all go right. 

[Luka]

The defense carried this team to the playoffs last year, and they've added a bunch of talent. Games like the Carolina game where we lose 9-3 or the Jags game where we lose 10-3... one good offensive series can make all the difference. I think that's why Beane and Sean like Allen, just one of those 70 yard rainbows to Foster or Prohel and the game is completely different. They've built the defense to keep games close, we just need someone on offense to come through.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

On 7/17/2018 at 11:04 AM, Fadingpain said:

So they've provided 5 reasons why every team in the league will make the playoffs.

 

I suppose this is the long way of saying "No one knows what will happen but anything is possible at this time of year."

 

1) Sean McDermott: consistently made critical/tactical mistakes in calling games last year; don't look to him to make a winning difference in a close game. 

 

2) Power up front on ? D Line personnel a lot different and not what it used to be; Kyle Williams now too old

 

3) Talent in the secondary: agreed; it's the strong point of the team

 

4) Winnable games inside AFC East: not likely; we may be the 4th strongest team in the division; also suffer from 2 automatic losses to NE.

 

5) Mysterious Golden Nugget:  Didn't click the article to find out what that is. 

 

Oh look, everyone's favorite punchbowl pisser still has to go.