What Would You Consider a Successful Season? - Poll

[Real McClappy]

SB or bust at this phase for me.

[May Day 10]

Overall, Id say that with a close loss to KC, I would consider this a 'successful' season...  I'm sure the team wouldn't though.

 

From a fan standpoint, they held serve.  They lost a few games in the regular season they shouldn't have.  It did seem like fortune wasn't on their side in some critical close games... but they still won the Division.  The beat-down they gave New England was such a gratifying game.  For us to finally get a full-throat home playoff game, and it ended up being a 3 hour bonfire where we were able to put the 20 year Patriots dominance over us to bed was amazing.  

 

All year we knew this season would come down to the game against KC.  IMO, the winner of this game is going to win the Super Bowl.  I dont think its fair for fans to give a Pass/Fail grade on this game.  KC is a great team.  

 

Furthermore, they certainly have another really good kick at the can next season before they will be forced to make some roster adjustments and re-tool in certain position groups.   They were almost certainly a 14-3 or even 15-2 team this season.  There are some obvious holes and adjustments that can easily be made to augment this team.  This team is pretty incredible.  I believe their last 21 wins are all by 10 or more points, other than the Indianapolis playoff game.  Other than that, their last 1-score win was the Cam Newton fumble game.

 

Seattle 44-34 (+10)

Chargers 27-17 (+10)

49ers 34-24 (+10)

Steelers 26-14 (+11)

Denver 48-19 (+29)

New England 38-9 (+29)

Miami 56-26 (+30)

Indianapolis 27-24 (+3)

Baltimore 17-3 (+14)

Miami 35-0 (+35)

Washington 43-21 (+22)

Houston 40-0 (+40)

Kansas City 38-20 (+18)

Miami 26-11 (+15)

Jets 45-17 (+28)

New Orleans 31-6 (+25)

Carolina 31-14 (+17)

New England 33-21 (+12)

Atlanta 29-15 (+14)

Jets 27-10 (+17)

New England 47-17 (+30)

 

21 wins, point differential 419.  Average of 20 points.  

 

Im not sure what that means, other than maybe this is possibly an emerging historically good team.  It has also already been a really fun ride.  I dont think Im in the mood to stew all offseason in negativity and demanding changes, etc if they lose on the road to KC.  Also, one thing this team need to accomplish is getting/finishing the clutch win.  

 

 

[Freddie's Dead]

Anything less that Josh hoisting the Lombardi this year will be a disappointment.  We have the best player and the best team in the NFL, RIGHT NOW!  Let's bring home the hardware.

[No_Matter_What]

This is really an interesting topic and I struggle with the answer.

 

With a team like Bills, obvious answer is "Superbowl". But I think it is a flawed logic - there are a lot of good teams in the league and even if you have the best one you don't have more than 15-20% chance to win it all, so considering anything else than SB as unsuccesful season seems off to me.

 

I'd say that it can't be a disaster anymore, once we have won the division and confirmed it by crushing the Pats in the WC.

 

I'd call it a success if we beat the Chiefs - we owe them a lot and when we beat them there will be no more dragons to slay (not to mention we deny them winning another one). If we lose, it will suck a lot, since I hate their arrogant fan base and it will widen the gap between their success and ours.

 

After that it is freeroll to me. Losing to Titans again will be much less painful to me than losing to Pats or Chiefs, and even if that happens, we can be pretty sure from now on that we can win it all. But I really think that losing in AFCCG is the least probable option right now - if we beat the Chiefs, we are going to SB.

 

Losing in SB would suck for sure but like I said, there can be only one winner.

 

So yeah, beating the Chiefs makes succesful season for me I guess. 

[Greg S]

A Super Bowl win. This team is capable of doing that so anything less would be disappointing.

[TheCockSportif]

A SB appearance would be fabulous, but I didn't vote for that option, because I've seen SB appearances with this team before, and always to negative results.  Ugh.

 

A SB win suits this team.

[billsfan1959]

I don't think there is much debate about which two teams are the best in the AFC - the Bills and the Chiefs. I am confident the Bills can go into Arrowhead and win this weekend. However, if the Bills play well and lose, I would still consider this season a success. 

 

People forget just what a s*** show the offensive line was for most of this season. They have played 18 games this year:

 

- They have had Dawkins, Morse, Williams, Brown playing together in half of those games (9).

- In those 9 games they averaged 416 YPG, 154 rushing YPG, 32 PPG, and went 6-3

- The three losses were to the Titans 34-31, Bucs 33-27 OT, and mother nature (Pats 14-10)

 

- They played 9 games with at least one of those four missing

- In those 9 games they averaged 358 YPG, 110 rushing YPG, 26 PPG, and went 6-3

- The three losses were to the Steelers 23-16, Jags 9-6, and Colts 41-15

 

- They have had Dawkins, Bates, Morse, Williams, Brown playing together in only 4 games

- In those 4 games they averaged 427 YPG, 194 rushing YPG, 35 PPG, and went 4-0

 

 

                                                            Games              YPG              Rush YPG           PPG

With less than 4 of their best OL          9                   359                 110                     26

With 4 of their best OL                          9                   416                  154                    32

With their 5 best OL                              4                   427                  194                    35

 

Given what they had to deal with along the offensive line, I kinda feel like the season has been a success to this point

[Einstein's Dog]

I think one of the main reasons for considering this a successful season is it has solidified the Bills as a top team for the future.  Last season was shown not to be a fluke.  The Bills are not a one year wonder.  The football world will take notice, and deservedly so - another double digit win season, another conference championship, another playoff victory.  All the key players will be back next year.

 

The Bills are now a top tier team for the foreseeable future!  Lots of hype, TV coverage, prime time games.  The Bills have established themselves as a cut above the Clevelands, Indy, Pitts, and New Englands of the world.  It's great for the long time fans to now be able to talk to coworkers/friends from the perspective of an upper echelon team.

 

Of course I want to win it all.  And I'll be disappointed with any loss.  But as a known Bills fan, as the subject of football comes up, i will enjoy taking part in the discussions.

[ArtVandalay]

If you don't beat KC there has not been any progress.

 

The Jacksonville game cost us home field this weekend.

 

We must go to the Super Bowl.  You can split hairs if winning or losing that game matters but I'm on the side that we need the Lombardi.