Playoff picture

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

4 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

I think one team comes out of the AFC North, two from the East, West, and South.  I'd put my money on Cincy from the North.  Chargers and Chiefs from the West.  Indy and Titans from the South.  Bills and Cheatriots from the East.

I got three teams from the east a few times I fiddled with the playoff machine lol that would be something 

[Greg S]

Who are we rooting for this Thursday the Chiefs or Chargers or does it even matter as it relates to the Bills?

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

18 hours ago, RoscoeParrish said:

It’s hard to say what to expect, as the team and specifically the offense has been so inconsistent.  
 

Most think the offense magically clicked yesterday in the second half (let's hope they did) but if you rewatch the second half, the Bucs defense did lay off the gas and were not blitzing nearly as much.  Are we being bamboozled a bit by the offense just getting some garbage time type production to let us back into it and Arians mismanaging the game?

 

I hope I am wrong, but we were down 3 possessions with very little time left in the 3rd quarter.  It’s not outside of the realm to think our offense took advantage of softer looks.  Yes the Bucs picked the heat back up late, but if I am a Bucs fan I am furious with how early they decided to lay off the gas on defense and effectively let us back in it. 
 

 

Haha we meet again in another thread 🤣 I just don’t understand how the offense gets zero credit for scoring quickly on a defense that is specifically designed to prevent quick scores.  They blitzed a good amount in the first half but they were also winning easily with 4 rushers too  which we completely flipped the switch on in the second half. Also defensive adjustments held the Tampa bay buccaneers of all people to 3 points in the second half.  If I was a betting man I’d say you’re wrong…we have been extremely competitive with all the best teams in the league (outside of the colts game of course which is looking more like an outlier) and just have not been able to make the one clutch play to win the game so far (outside of the bucs game which I will go to my grave saying we did more than enough to win and got screwed but I respect it if you don’t see it that way) we have also almost always come out of halftime looking like the hotter team this season as opposed to coming out flat last season so us performing much better in the second half against the bucs really wasn’t anything new.  so I’m thinking our luck evens out…if Josh’s feet were a size smaller and his arms a cm longer we have two more wins against great teams right now lol we are losing by literal inches this season so far. 

5 minutes ago, Greg S said:

Who are we rooting for this Thursday the Chiefs or Chargers or does it even matter as it relates to the Bills?

I don’t think it matters a whole lot as the chargers are one of the teams I’d expect to be ahead of us no matter what barring an absolute meltdown.  Probably chiefs though to encourage said meltdown lol 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

I’m surprised the pats fans have proclaimed themselves division champs already…not sure they understand how division tiebreakers work lol a loss in Indy and it could get super hairy for them…as far as winning the division goes that bucs loss while it stung pretty badly did not hurt our chances terribly…it was really always gonna come down to that second head to head matchup 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[SCBills]

25 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I’m surprised the pats fans have proclaimed themselves division champs already…not sure they understand how division tiebreakers work lol a loss in Indy and it could get super hairy for them…as far as winning the division goes that bucs loss while it stung pretty badly did not hurt our chances terribly…it was really always gonna come down to that second head to head matchup 

 

If NE loses to Indy and Buffalo, they might not be making the playoffs...  they need to cool it.   

 

My rational side wants NE to beat Indy because I just care about getting Josh into the Playoffs, where he can become super saiyan.  

 

My emotional side keeps hearing all this chirping from NE fans and might want to risk a decrease in playoff odds at a hypothetical 10-7 to take back the AFCE next weekend.  
 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by SCBills

[gonzo1105]

24 minutes ago, Greg S said:

Who are we rooting for this Thursday the Chiefs or Chargers or does it even matter as it relates to the Bills?

If you believe the Bills are going to make the playoffs , I’d root for the Chargers. They would sweep the Chiefs, could win the division and force the Chiefs into a Wildcard. That’s my opinion I’m sure others think completely opposite tho

[Greg S]

2 minutes ago, gonzo1105 said:

If you believe the Bills are going to make the playoffs , I’d root for the Chargers. They would sweep the Chiefs, could win the division and force the Chiefs into a Wildcard. That’s my opinion I’m sure others think completely opposite tho

 

I do think the Bills will make the playoffs and hopefully as a division winner. If they have to play the Chiefs in the playoffs then it would be nice if it was in OP this time.

[RiotAct]

33 minutes ago, Greg S said:

Who are we rooting for this Thursday the Chiefs or Chargers or does it even matter as it relates to the Bills?

Chiefs.

[Nextmanup]

20 minutes ago, Greg S said:

 

I do think the Bills will make the playoffs and hopefully as a division winner. If they have to play the Chiefs in the playoffs then it would be nice if it was in OP this time.

Maybe, if you think we will have bad weather and that will hinder Mahomes more than Josh.

But there hasn't been a home field advantage in the NFL for 3 years now.

 

There's no correlation between playing at home and winning.

 

 

[Nextmanup]

1 minute ago, Buffalo619 said:

It’s going to be hard to make the playoffs with the league against us, not impossible.  

We are our own worst enemy, not the league.

 

 

[Greg S]

5 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Maybe, if you think we will have bad weather and that will hinder Mahomes more than Josh.

But there hasn't been a home field advantage in the NFL for 3 years now.

 

There's no correlation between playing at home and winning.

 

 

 

Bills fans deserve a playoff game at home where a sellout crowd of 72,000 can attend. 

[Greg S]

5 minutes ago, Buffalo619 said:

Do they? What makes you think that? 

 

What's it been 26 years since the last home playoff game with a packed house. Very loyal fanbase that has filled the stadium during some miserable seasons over the years. Bills fans deserve a playoff game at home IMHO.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, SCBills said:

 

If NE loses to Indy and Buffalo, they might not be making the playoffs...  they need to cool it.   

 

My rational side wants NE to beat Indy because I just care about getting Josh into the Playoffs, where he can become super saiyan.  

 

My emotional side keeps hearing all this chirping from NE fans and might want to risk a decrease in playoff odds at a hypothetical 10-7 to take back the AFCE next weekend.  
 

 

Right I’m with you on that one…if Indy wins we pretty much have to beat NE because the division title track becomes the only path we have legitimate control over.  Right now if we go 3-1 with a loss to NE we would technically need some help to get in but it would take a lot going wrong to keep us out.  A lot of these afc contenders have brutal schedules down the stretch it seems like kc plays all of them lol sucks we didn’t get that call Sunday night…a win there and were in a good spot wildcard wise and can absolutely root for a NE loss next week 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, gonzo1105 said:

If you believe the Bills are going to make the playoffs , I’d root for the Chargers. They would sweep the Chiefs, could win the division and force the Chiefs into a Wildcard. That’s my opinion I’m sure others think completely opposite tho

That makes a ton of sense if you assume the bills are in the playoffs…kc is definitely a team it would be nice to see knocked out in the first round.  Still pretty salty they got the Aaron rodgers-less packers on their schedule.  Whenever we get injury riddled/Covid effected teams it seems to always be a team we’d beat anyway lol 

[transplantbillsfan]

Here's a pretty good image showing the remaining schedules (just ignore Week 14) of many of the remaining teams we're in contention with for the playoffs... namely the Browns, Broncos and Steelers... and here are their schedules:

 

Browns: LV, @ GB, @ Pitt, Cin

Broncos: Cin, @ LV, @ LA, KC

Pitt: Tenn, @ KC, Cle, @ Bal

 

Throw in the other 2 viable teams:

 

Raiders: @Cle, Den, @ Ind, LA

Miami: NYJ, @ NO, @ Tenn, NE

 

 

Holy cow... just look at that.  The Bills will have absolutely no one to blame but themselves if they don't get into the playoffs.  I think it's almost a certainty they will just looking at that schedule and looking at the way Buffalo has played against the middling to worst teams in the NFL this year, save Jacksonville.  There's no team in the AFC playoff picture with an easier schedule, and I don't think it's particularly close.  Miami might be the next easiest. 

 

But sheesh... all the AFC playoff contenders are just going to beat up on each other in the next 4 weeks and in many cases it's almost not going to matter who wins for Buffalo's chances because another AFC team in the picture will be knocked out.  And the only "meaningless" inter-conference games in there  other than our own against Carolina and Atlanta are a game for Miami against NO (probably a Win... and I'm starting to think they're going to sneak into the playoffs, after all), the Titans play the 49ers, and Green Bay can help us with 2 wins against the Browns and Ravens, and the Ravens have another inter-conference game against the Rams.

 

To all of the sudden doubters that Buffalo makes the playoffs this year, you can see above with your own eyes why it's still incredibly likely... even if we lose our lone remaining game against a real contender in the Patriots.

 

Buffalo has beaten up pretty well on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier teams this year (again, minus the Jags), so I strongly believe we'll be in the playoffs, and I also think we could very well beat the Patriots in normal weather conditions and take the division and potentially still even the #1 seed.

 

Crazy stuff with how I was feeling after that loss on Sunday.

[Success]

2 hours ago, Greg S said:

 

Bills fans deserve a playoff game at home where a sellout crowd of 72,000 can attend. 

 

I'd love that, but the more I think about it, the more I think that hitting the road for the playoffs may not be such a bad thing.

 

It's been talked about at length here, but we're just not a bad weather team. Not that we couldn't get bad weather in Baltimore, KC, NE or anywhere - but it's much more likely that we'll get it in Buffalo.  Last year's Ravens game was hard to watch at points because of the wind, and our O only scored 1 TD.  Same w/ the Pats game last week.

 

Maybe this is all playing out exactly as it needs to for a Bills SB run.

 

Or maybe I'm just rationalizing.

 

[Bruce Smith]

Just wait for the COVID positives to hit this locker room in December.  

[Patrick Duffy]

No matter how this all plays out with which teams get in, whoever plays Tenn is going to have a really hard time with Henry coming back by 1st playoff game. 

[ngbills]

Bills beat Pats they are basically guaranteed. Well assuming they win the "easy" ones.

 

With Bills going to 3-1 there are really two things that stand out that could help knock the Bills out.

 

1) NE loses to Indy. Sadly we need to root for the Pats here

2) KC loses to CIN 

 

Sucks to be dependent on both NE and KC. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by ngbills

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

45 minutes ago, ngbills said:

Bills beat Pats they are basically guaranteed. Well assuming they win the "easy" ones.

 

With Bills going to 3-1 there are really two things that stand out that could help knock the Bills out.

 

1) NE loses to Indy. Sadly we need to root for the Pats here

2) KC loses to CIN 

 

Sucks to be dependent on both NE and KC. 

 

 

 

 

At least ne losing to Indy opens another road to the playoffs by winning the division…disaster scenario is ne loses to Indy then beats us.  Our odds of winning the division absolutely skyrocket if NE loses two in a row.  I don’t think Miami is gonna be a pushover for them either I’m sure Flores would love spoiling his old team 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

2 hours ago, Sheneneh Jenkins said:

No matter how this all plays out with which teams get in, whoever plays Tenn is going to have a really hard time with Henry coming back by 1st playoff game. 

Oof didn’t know this was the case…that could be the best team in the afc with him healthy 

[DBilz2500]

2 hours ago, Sheneneh Jenkins said:

No matter how this all plays out with which teams get in, whoever plays Tenn is going to have a really hard time with Henry coming back by 1st playoff game. 

Henry coming off a pretty serious foot injury not in peak condition doesn’t really scare me. Tannehill has also regressed to his Miami days 

[Patrick Duffy]

10 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Oof didn’t know this was the case…that could be the best team in the afc with him healthy 

 

9 minutes ago, DBilz2500 said:

Henry coming off a pretty serious foot injury not in peak condition doesn’t really scare me. Tannehill has also regressed to his Miami days 

Not sure but from article I read earlier today (will try and find it again) it said he would be ready to go for final game of season if it's meaningful, if not 1st playoff game. I think his condition will be just fine and I guarantee you if will scare whatever team that has to play them.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Sheneneh Jenkins

[Evian]

2 hours ago, Bruce Smith said:

Just wait for the COVID positives to hit this locker room in December.  

 

Yes, because this won't happen to other teams. This COVID excuse is a joke. The Bills are having a typical year in terms of player availability. 

 

 

[DBilz2500]

3 minutes ago, Sheneneh Jenkins said:

 

Not sure but from article I read earlier today (will try and find it again) it said he would be ready to go for final game of season if it's meaningful, if not 1st playoff game. I think his condition will be just fine and I guarantee you if will scare whatever team that has to play them.

 

 

But how can you expect somebody to be in true peak game shape when they will be coming off a 3 month layoff. On top of that it’s a pretty serious foot injury and last time I checked that’s a pretty big deal for a RB. At the least he’ll definitely be rusty and not 100%.

[Mango]

1 hour ago, ngbills said:

Bills beat Pats they are basically guaranteed. Well assuming they win the "easy" ones.

 

With Bills going to 3-1 there are really two things that stand out that could help knock the Bills out.

 

1) NE loses to Indy. Sadly we need to root for the Pats here

2) KC loses to CIN 

 

Sucks to be dependent on both NE and KC. 

 

 

 

 

I forget how, but I believe there is a world where the Broncos are involved if they win out. Again, only if the Bills lose to the Pats. 
 

The Pats game is basically the Bills SB unfortunately. Things are REALLY difficult if they drop that game. 
 

EDIT: Also, if the Bills win out, and the Pats lose to Indy, Buffalo wins the division. Weird year. 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Mango

[Patrick Duffy]

1 minute ago, DBilz2500 said:

But how can you expect somebody to be in true peak game shape when they will be coming off a 3 month layoff. On top of that it’s a pretty serious foot injury and last time I checked that’s a pretty big deal for a RB. At the least he’ll definitely be rusty and not 100%.

I don't know but there's been countless times when players come back from a lengthy injury and expected to not be well enough to make much difference and said player ends up playing lights out. And couldn't tell he was injured in the 1st place.

 

imo if he's good enough by last week of season then he's good enough to cause nightmares for defenses.

[newcam2012]

5 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:

Here's a pretty good image showing the remaining schedules (just ignore Week 14) of many of the remaining teams we're in contention with for the playoffs... namely the Browns, Broncos and Steelers... and here are their schedules:

 

Browns: LV, @ GB, @ Pitt, Cin

Broncos: Cin, @ LV, @ LA, KC

Pitt: Tenn, @ KC, Cle, @ Bal

 

Throw in the other 2 viable teams:

 

Raiders: @Cle, Den, @ Ind, LA

Miami: NYJ, @ NO, @ Tenn, NE

 

 

Holy cow... just look at that.  The Bills will have absolutely no one to blame but themselves if they don't get into the playoffs.  I think it's almost a certainty they will just looking at that schedule and looking at the way Buffalo has played against the middling to worst teams in the NFL this year, save Jacksonville.  There's no team in the AFC playoff picture with an easier schedule, and I don't think it's particularly close.  Miami might be the next easiest. 

 

But sheesh... all the AFC playoff contenders are just going to beat up on each other in the next 4 weeks and in many cases it's almost not going to matter who wins for Buffalo's chances because another AFC team in the picture will be knocked out.  And the only "meaningless" inter-conference games in there  other than our own against Carolina and Atlanta are a game for Miami against NO (probably a Win... and I'm starting to think they're going to sneak into the playoffs, after all), the Titans play the 49ers, and Green Bay can help us with 2 wins against the Browns and Ravens, and the Ravens have another inter-conference game against the Rams.

 

To all of the sudden doubters that Buffalo makes the playoffs this year, you can see above with your own eyes why it's still incredibly likely... even if we lose our lone remaining game against a real contender in the Patriots.

 

Buffalo has beaten up pretty well on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier teams this year (again, minus the Jags), so I strongly believe we'll be in the playoffs, and I also think we could very well beat the Patriots in normal weather conditions and take the division and potentially still even the #1 seed.

 

Crazy stuff with how I was feeling after that loss on Sunday.

I agree with what you are saying. It just difficult to get too high on this team. They have some massive issues in the trenches, lost their lock down CB, have an injuried Qb, and have been wildly inconsistent. The second half of the Bucs game is certainly encouraging. That version of the Bills would be extremely dangerous. We should get a pretty clear idea of what we have in the upcoming games. 

[transplantbillsfan]

12 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

I agree with what you are saying. It just difficult to get too high on this team. They have some massive issues in the trenches, lost their lock down CB, have an injuried Qb, and have been wildly inconsistent. The second half of the Bucs game is certainly encouraging. That version of the Bills would be extremely dangerous. We should get a pretty clear idea of what we have in the upcoming games. 

 

I've been discouraged, too. But if you have an Elite QB--which we do--anything can happen in the playoffs.

[Since1981]

McClappy IQ TEST:

100 nfl players covid today. 
you:

1) isolate players

2) declare choice. Golden Corral for all

3) reaffirm team is focused ok X Os

[Dablitzkrieg]

The entire Browns team is on Covid protocol...

 

 

[newcam2012]

38 minutes ago, Dablitzkrieg said:

The entire Browns team is on Covid protocol...

 

 

You think NFL is going to have to shut it down? The covid positives seem to be trending upward. 

[Greg S]

48 minutes ago, Dablitzkrieg said:

The entire Browns team is on Covid protocol...

 

 

 

Of course. I have the Browns -6 in my office pool. That's not looking like a good bet right now.

[Dablitzkrieg]

31 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

You think NFL is going to have to shut it down? The covid positives seem to be trending upward. 

Nope. Too much $$ at stake.  "No evidence of on field transmission" per NFL meetings today

[Bills fan since 87]

6 hours ago, Greg S said:

 

Of course. I have the Browns -6 in my office pool. That's not looking like a good bet right now.

 

But beneficial for the Bills.  Provided the Browns lose

[Success]

The NFL needs to really re-think that COVID protocol.  I can't remember if I'm allowed to say that - but it's too strict.  At this point, the world has to get on w/ its business.  

 

[Jrb1979]

38 minutes ago, Success said:

The NFL needs to really re-think that COVID protocol.  I can't remember if I'm allowed to say that - but it's too strict.  At this point, the world has to get on w/ its business.  

 

Disagree. It's fine the way it is. Teams have to learn to deal with it. 

[Captain Caveman]

Having those 2 home games in a row at the end of the year could be an unexpected piece of good luck in terms of not having our guys cooped up on a plane shedding and spreading virus.

[SydneyBillsFan]

Playoff geeks - does the Browns loss help us if we fail to beat the cheats?

[Philly McButterpants]

37 minutes ago, SydneyBillsFan said:

Playoff geeks - does the Browns loss help us if we fail to beat the cheats?

I heard ion the radio yesterday that if the Browns had won, the Bills playoff chances are 72%; with the Browns loss, the Bills are 82% likely to make the playoffs.