BillsVet Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 (edited) A good measuring stick for any team is how they fare against those clubs who reach the playoffs. The knock on earlier Bills teams this century is they were good against bad to average teams while getting smoked by the league's better clubs. This past year, Buffalo played 7 games against playoff teams (NE 2x, SD, BAL, HOU, IND, and CHI) losing all 7 by a cumulative score of 225-68. Six of those games were blowouts or not really contested, save the away Houston game. In Buffalo's remaining 9 games against non-playoff teams (MIN, GB, TEN, NYJ 2x, JAC, MIA 2x, and DET) they were 6-3 and scored 201- (EDIT) 149. McBeane have pushed their chips in on winning in 2019 and I'd like to think Buffalo will finally be competitive with playoff caliber teams next year. Edited January 1, 2019 by BillsVet 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob in STL Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Very good information. Thanks. Shows we have quite a bit of work to do. Most of it is addition of talent but some of it is learning how to win. That’s why tanking is no good. I was so glad to see us stomp Miami it end the season. Time to change the culture. Hopefully 17 and 49 start hating to lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talley56 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Not making excuses but of those 7 losses to playoff teams Allen only started in two of them and one of those was his first start ever against the Chargers in week 2. Hopefully his experience combined with a potentially easier schedule will help us win more and be playoff competitive next year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroutDog Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 This is interesting but, I believe, it’s also important to remember that next years team will be far different from this team in terms of personnel. What’s important is the culture that’s being cultivated. This team played to the end and that should carry over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talley56 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 22 minutes ago, ScottLaw said: I'll agree Peterman starting contributed to a few of those games being blow outs, but they didn't do much better when Allen started. I thought a good measuring stick for how far they've(and Allen) progressed on the season would be the Patriots game in week 16. They got dominated despite the Patriots sleep walking throughout the game and Brady looking like a shell of himself. Need an influx of talent. OL, WR, and DL is where they should focus, IMO. I thought they did noticeably better with Allen than with Peterman but the needs you pointed out are mostly correct. I think our online is better than most give it credit for but it is time to replace Mills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 1 hour ago, Talley56 said: Not making excuses but of those 7 losses to playoff teams Allen only started in two of them and one of those was his first start ever against the Chargers in week 2. Hopefully his experience combined with a potentially easier schedule will help us win more and be playoff competitive next year. After the bye, Buffalo played 6 games and went 3-3, although only 1 was against a playoff team. NE easily handled them and allowed 1 TD late in the game. Those final 6 games (all of which Allen started) saw Buffalo play teams that went a combined 40-56 (.294). The defense was better given the lack of quality opponents, and allowed about 19 points per. As Scott said above, their game at NE showed that they're still not on the same field with playoff opponents. It's going to take a huge leap for them to get in the conversation for the 2019 playoffs. Becoming a 10 win team one season removed from 6 wins is a huge leap in NFL terms. Only IND, HOU, and CHI increased their win total by 4 or more games from 2017 to 2018. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie Joe Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 The team will have about 6-8 new starters next year across O and D and the younger guys returning will have more experience., Thats no guarantee of anything but comparing what they did this year is not all that relevant to what will happen next year.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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