Reasons why I'm still (barely) optimistic

[JerseyBills]

A. There's no team that looks like SB material, Ravens are the closest. Point being, it's a week to week league. SF looked like a legit SB team and lose 3 straight, in all our losses, we had a chance, even with a tough schedule,  if we can just figure things out on O, any team is beatable. Turnovers are killing us but that's a fixable issue.

We were a turnover and blatant missed calls away from potentially winning last night. We can hang with anyone. 

 

B. We been here before,  in 21 we were 7-6. With some ugly losses including a 6 point game vs a terrible Jags team. They bounced back and should have made it to the Title gm if not for 13 seconds. 

 

C. Piggy backing off 21, as they say, pressure bust pipes but also creates diamonds. I still have faith that the pressure we now face will do the latter. Why? Because the only evidence I see is 21, we have most of the same players, and upgrades. The alarm bells are going off and I trust our core guys and coaches to right the ship. 

 

D. We still control our own destiny in the division.  We have a very doable opportunity to win the division.  We're half a game back and have back to back home games vs Den and a big 1 vs the Jests. 2 inferior talented teams, that are must wins. We'll be feeling much better at 7-4 if we pull it off. We'll be heavy favorites in both. 

 

E. Next week we'll add 3 upgrades in Douglas, Joseph, Lenny. So a little reinforcement is coming. I know Douglas played a bit but only after 2 practices. 

 

E. I understand things look bleak right now, alot to complain about and I have but sometimes this adversity brings out the best in teams. 10 wins will def get in as a WC in the AFC. And the parity is at an all time high in this league. KC,Cin,SF,Phi,Dal etc are all beatable in any given week. I'm keeping the faith that we can absolutely turn this around but it's a short leash. A loss next week and im ringing the alarm though. Den and Jets at home are must wins

Edited November 6, 2023 by JerseyBills

[GoBills808]

we're currently 9th in the AFC rn

 

behind teams like the Browns, Steelers, and Jets

 

this is a below average NFL team at the moment

[Johnnycage46]

4 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

A. There's no team that looks like SB material, Ravens are the closest. Point being, it's a week to week league. SF looked like a legit SB team and lose 3 straight, in all our losses, we had a chance, even with a tough schedule,  if we can just figure things out on O, any team is beatable. Turnovers are killing us but that's a fixable issue.

We were a turnover and blatant missed calls away from potentially winning last night. We can hang with anyone. 

 

B. We been here before,  in 21 we were 7-6. With some ugly losses including a 6 point game vs a terrible Jags team. They bounced back and should have made it to the Title gm if not for 13 seconds. 

 

C. Piggy backing off 21, as they say, pressure bust pipes but also creates diamonds. I still have faith that the pressure we now face will do the latter. Why? Because the only evidence I see is 21, we have most of the same players, and upgrades. The alarm bells are going off and I trust our core guys and coaches to right the ship. 

 

D. We still control our own destiny in the division.  We have a very doable opportunity to win the division.  We're half a game back and have back to back home games vs Den and a big 1 vs the Jests. 2 inferior talented teams, that are must wins. We'll be feeling much better at 7-4 if we pull it off. We'll be heavy favorites in both. 

 

E. Next week we'll add 3 upgrades in Douglas, Joseph, Lenny. So a little reinforcement is coming. I know Douglas played a bit but only after 2 practices. 

 

E. I understand things look bleak right now, alot to complain about and I have but sometimes this adversity brings out the best in teams. 10 wins will def get in as a WC in the AFC. And the parity is at an all time high in this league. KC,Cin,SF,Phi,Dal etc are all beatable in any given week. I'm keeping the faith that we can absolutely turn this around but it's a short leash. A loss next week and im ringing the alarm though. 

 

I think 10 wins gets a wild card, but not the Bills at 10 wins most likely due to our very bad conference record and some possible key tiebreakers.  I think, unless the Bills somehow get to 11+ wins, a wild card is out and our only path is the division.  For that to happen we need to very likely have 9 wins heading into week 18 and Miami can have 10 or fewer and we can get the division with a win (assuming the Jets lose a couple more).

[ShakAttack]

Good points, but my issue with “B” in particular, is that our remaining schedule is much, much tougher than it was in 2021 when we were 7-6 and were able to win out from there.  
 

As flawed as we are, I believe the Bills are better than at least a couple teams that will end up in the playoffs, but due to our schedule looking like a playoff gauntlet along with the injuries and inconsistencies on this team, I think we are going to miss out on playoffs this season. 

[78thealltimegreat]

Hey I respect your optimism I can even understand the defensive deficiencies from injuries but the thing is there Is something going on with the offense the Bengals are one thing but the thing is this team goes through deep lulls in games against defenses that are statistically not too good.  Something has to fundamentally change with that side of the ball. 

[JerseyBills]

Just now, GoBills808 said:

we're currently 9th in the AFC rn

 

behind teams like the Browns, Steelers, and Jets

 

this is a below average NFL team at the moment

I'm sure we were in that range in 21 at 7-6. We have 3 games til our bye. Could win all 3 but we must go 2-1.

As far as Browns/Steelers and the whole afc north, they still have plenty of games to beat up on each other

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

2 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

A. There's no team that looks like SB material, Ravens are the closest. Point being, it's a week to week league. SF looked like a legit SB team and lose 3 straight, in all our losses, we had a chance, even with a tough schedule,  if we can just figure things out on O, any team is beatable. Turnovers are killing us but that's a fixable issue.

We were a turnover and blatant missed calls away from potentially winning last night. We can hang with anyone. 

 

B. We been here before,  in 21 we were 7-6. With some ugly losses including a 6 point game vs a terrible Jags team. They bounced back and should have made it to the Title gm if not for 13 seconds. 

 

C. Piggy backing off 21, as they say, pressure bust pipes but also creates diamonds. I still have faith that the pressure we now face will do the latter. Why? Because the only evidence I see is 21, we have most of the same players, and upgrades. The alarm bells are going off and I trust our core guys and coaches to right the ship. 

 

D. We still control our own destiny in the division.  We have a very doable opportunity to win the division.  We're half a game back and have back to back home games vs Den and a big 1 vs the Jests. 2 inferior talented teams, that are must wins. We'll be feeling much better at 7-4 if we pull it off. We'll be heavy favorites in both. 

 

E. Next week we'll add 3 upgrades in Douglas, Joseph, Lenny. So a little reinforcement is coming. I know Douglas played a bit but only after 2 practices. 

 

E. I understand things look bleak right now, alot to complain about and I have but sometimes this adversity brings out the best in teams. 10 wins will def get in as a WC in the AFC. And the parity is at an all time high in this league. KC,Cin,SF,Phi,Dal etc are all beatable in any given week. I'm keeping the faith that we can absolutely turn this around but it's a short leash. A loss next week and im ringing the alarm though. 

 

Love the optimism!  Not even being sarcastic.  This place gets so doom & gloom at times.  Everyone has the answers and its fire everyone and focus on the draft or something.  

 

Going into this week I never felt particularly good about this game.  Their defensive line is a bad matchup for our offense, and I knew we would struggle to run the ball and with pressure up the middle.  So my opinion on a loss shouldn't change, even if the way they lost wasn't good.  

 

Defense mash unit didn't get the job done either.  They made quite a few plays, but they just followed them with mistakes.  

 

2-0 on turnovers, and some ref fairy dust sprinkled on top and boom - you lose.  The team knows what is in front of them now and that mindset needs to change from "not wanting to make mistakes", to "doing what it takes to win".  

[BuffaloBillyG]

I am so tired of hearing the narrative..."But in 2021....".

[C.Biscuit97]

This team has been an absolute pleasure for the past 5 years, that even the playoff losses could t ruin it for me.

 

this is the most down I have felt about this team since Allen became Allen. Offense seems to be getting worse and the defense is physically breaking down.  I’ve taken the playoffs for granted so I can’t imagine us not being in there. But man, that was a tough one.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

2 minutes ago, 78thealltimegreat said:

Hey I respect your optimism I can even understand the defensive deficiencies from injuries but the thing is there Is something going on with the offense the Bengals are one thing but the thing is this team goes through deep lulls in games against defenses that are statistically not too good.  Something has to fundamentally change with that side of the ball. 

 

The lulls get sort of amplified when the defense struggles to get off the field.  

[SCBills]

If the Dolphins lose any of their next 3, I'll feel like we can win the division (Raiders, Jets, Commanders).. until then, they are a good, not great team, that doesn't seem capable of losing to clearly inferior teams. 

 

Going to be hard to catch them if they keep beating teams they should beat. 

[RobbRiddick]

I don't think we make the playoffs, I didn't before the season and sadly think it's going to end up the case. Too many good teams remaining on the schedule and the team is too inconsistent. Hope I'm wrong and they have a magical turnaround

[JerseyBills]

1 minute ago, 78thealltimegreat said:

Hey I respect your optimism I can even understand the defensive deficiencies from injuries but the thing is there Is something going on with the offense the Bengals are one thing but the thing is this team goes through deep lulls in games against defenses that are statistically not too good.  Something has to fundamentally change with that side of the ball. 

Completely agree. that's my biggest concern and again i just have (blind) faith that our coaches and core guys can figure it out asap. We're totally capable of putting up 30+ , just got to work out the kinks

[ngbills]

In 2021 the AFC East stunk. At one point MIA and NYJ were both like 1-7. Nobody took NE as a serious threat. 

[PayDaBill$]

There’s being optimistic & then there’s reality.

 

This team doesn’t pass the eye test on either side of the ball & its leadership (staff) are basically dinosaurs.  
 

It’s past the time to fish, we’re at the cut bait stage.

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2023 by PayDaBill$

[JerseyBills]

2 minutes ago, PayDaBill$ said:

There’s being optimistic & then there’s reality.

 

This team doesn’t pass the eye test on either side of the ball & its leadership (staff) are basically dinosaurs.  
 

It’s past the time to fish, we’re at the cut bait stage.

 

 

 

Any of your current top 5 teams doesn't pass the eye test imo. Except maybe Baltimore but they have 3 legit teams in the division that'll all beat up on each other.  

KC,Phi,SF are super overrated despite their records. no reason we can't right the ship and beat anyone.  Lot of football left

 

Again,  week to week league. We should crush Den n NY at home and things will look alot brighter. A loss to either and I'll definitely change my tune. 

[Lieutenant Aldo Raine]

Nobody beats the Bills but themselves.  Everything is self inflicted!

[MJS]

The Bills are high variance. It is a week to week league. They have the ability to get on a hot streak (and have in the past). So yeah, the season isn't lost by any stretch of the imagination. Also, sorry to say it, but teams have down years sometimes. The Bills are no exception.

 

That being said, I don't think this is the right type of offense for Allen. Allen is only average when it comes to the mental side of the game. He needs a simpler scheme with easy reads, presnap motion, spreading things out, and maximizing his elite physical abilities. Have him roll out and only have half field reads. Predetermine things for him. Whatever you can do to get him to think less and play ball.

 

So, I think Dorsey needs to revamp the offense completely next year, or they need to move on from him and bring in someone who will. For one thing, he is putrid at calling and scheming in the run game.

[JerseyBills]

2 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

we're currently 9th in the AFC rn

 

behind teams like the Browns, Steelers, and Jets

 

this is a below average NFL team at the moment

I see, it's frustrating,  luckily it's only week 9. We're also only a half game back in the division 

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

2 hours ago, Johnnycage46 said:

 

I think 10 wins gets a wild card, but not the Bills at 10 wins most likely due to our very bad conference record and some possible key tiebreakers.  I think, unless the Bills somehow get to 11+ wins, a wild card is out and our only path is the division.  For that to happen we need to very likely have 9 wins heading into week 18 and Miami can have 10 or fewer and we can get the division with a win (assuming the Jets lose a couple more).

It is extremely unlikely that 10 wins will miss the playoffs due to tiebreaker. The chances of FOUR teams other than division winners having 10 wins are very remote. People spend way too much time focusing on tiebreakers instead of overall record.

 

Not since 2017 have four Wild Card contenders been tied at the end of the season. And that was with 9 wins (albeit in a 16-game schedule).

 

The Bills need 10 wins for a ~95% chance of the playoffs.