The Bills won; where does the Bills rank in your book in terms of contending for superbowl now?

[PoundingDog]

When they were 4-0, even though they did not play that well, you say to yourself that they were missing people and had not played up to their best. Full of hope as a legit Superbowl favorite in January.

 

Then the Patriots game happened, and we pushed it aside as a surprise from an upstart team. Deep down, you say we are going to get it back when we go to Foxborough.

 

The Falcons game to me is a sign that this team has serious flaws on defense and offense that we may not overcome like the Ravens game. But we had hopes for the PED guys to change the fortune on defense.

 

Then the 2nd Dolphins game, along with the out-of-season injuries on D. Everywhere I go, football fans were in shock, not just us Bills fans, in the sense that we REALLY could lose to anyone, to the worst teams. 

 

And that carried over to this game. I can honestly say I did not have confidence when the game went into the 4th quarter, that we got this.   

 

You can clearly see Josh is pressing. He's throwing into tight coverages more like he did in his earlier years in NFL. He's putting his body on the line more like he was 3 years ago.  It won't help his MVP cause and longitivity, but to me, it is necessary for this offense to succeed right now. I know Kincaid didn't dress today so we may see the offense to be able to go busting out in the air like this game, probably earlier than McDermott would've liked this season (i.e., not wait until the playoffs) when the running game is not working.

 

But defensively, I just don't think we have a championship caliber squad. Tampa is not some super lethal offense without their top running back and wide receiver. And we had trouble stopping them. It is just a bad combination of not bigger enough to stop people from running between the tackles and not fast enough to go side line to side line. It was a pain for me watching Bernard could not catchup to Mayfield on one of his 3rd conversions. I believe the LB corp is the weakest link of this D and there is no hope of improvement for guys behind them. 

 

What I'm afraid is that Josh and company will exhaust themselves to get into the playoffs and then simply burn out on a dud, like that Cincy playoff game, to someone in January.

[Saratoga Fan]

You said it. Defense is the issue. 

[Offside Number 76]

14 minutes ago, PoundingDog said:

longitivity

 

Found GWB...

[NoSaint]

They can win one. 
 

they can beat anybody 

 

but it’ll be a struggle to string 4 games without some real luck 

[BlazinBill]

I don’t see how this defense gets past a wildcard to be honest- they have a bunch to get through just to make it- not even certain of that- with JA17 anything is possible but …..

[SCBills]

Defense is a joke. 
 

Down Oliver and Hoecht shouldn’t make them this bad.  We invested heavily into this group and they’re more pathetic than ever.

 

Josh Allen unleashed can beat anyone, but looks like another year of him having to drag us through the Playoffs, but hey.. maybe the Chiefs don’t make it. 
 

Sidenote: Already preparing myself to be sick to my stomach as the 5 seed having to go into Baltimore if Pittsburgh can’t take the Division. 
 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by SCBills

[Big Turk]

Ask me in the playoffs.

[Chaos]

I will expect them to win the first playoff game, and if they win that one, to win the second, and if they win that one, to win the third. And if they win that one to win the fourth one.   But i don't expect they will win all four.  They will more likely lose one that it seems they could have won. Because that is how it goes every year. 

[WotAGuy]

I don’t think they can string together enough Chief’s game-type performances to even make it to the conference championship.

[26TrapDraw]

With this Defense we have a 0.00 chance.

rhis hero ball is unsustainable. 
 

this defense is atrocious.

[RyanC883]

another early playoff exit coming unless Sanders or someone just pops out of nowhere.  Right now we make 3rd string RBs running behind a bunch of backup OLmen look like pro bowlers.  

[MDH]

Right now the D isn’t playing well enough to compete for a SB. Thankfully the playoffs don’t start next week. The important thing is to be injury free and playing well when the playoffs start.

 

We’ll see if that happens.

[GASabresIUFan]

This defense isn't good enough to win in the playoffs.  If you can't stop the run, you're not going to win long-term.

 

That said, the Bills are good enough to beat anyone on a given Sunday, but without more consistency on offense and better play stopping the run and getting to the QB, this team as currently constructed isn't good enough to win the SB.

[strive_for_five_guy]

17 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

They can win one. 
 

they can beat anybody 

 

but it’ll be a struggle to string 4 games without some real luck 

That’s the thing….they’re great at winning two out of three, but that doesn’t win Super Bowls….

[Magox]

The biggest difference this year is that there is no other team that looks as tough as last years Eagles or Chiefs.  
 

The field is wide open for the team that is the hottest come the playoffs.

[gonzo1105]

They have as good a shot as anyone if they are playing their best ball

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

If Ed can go and Shaq Thompson stays healthy to replace Milano I think they can beat anybody on the afc side tbh Baltimore will be a struggle though.  One of kc or Baltimore not making it would be huge 

 

today’s shootout felt a bit ref assisted there were holds all over the place.  
 

Edited 2 hours ago by Generic_Bills_Fan

[stevestojan]

If the other team never gets the ball, I feel pretty pretty good. 

[Gunsgoodtime]

Honestly with this Defense i don't even consider the Bills as a team that I think of when thinking of the SB this year

Edited 2 hours ago by Gunsgoodtime

[Rew]

Bills currently have the best odds in the AFC of going to the Superbowl.  Not because this is our best team in the last several years, but because nobody else is that good either and we have the highest ceiling of the teams likely to make the playoffs.  While we can all see an early out as possible, all the other teams look at what we are capable of and just hope that we don't put together a complete game against them.  

 

This is the same reason that the chiefs would also be a Superbowl contender if they squeak in.  Good teams have bad games, bad stretches, and bad seasons.  All that matters is what happens in week 19, and the Bills have as good a shot as anyone.