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

[hondo in seattle]

I'm heartened by the fact that it's not the case that the best team wins the SB every year.  If the best team always won, we wouldn't have a chance at a Lombardi because our D mostly sucks and our O is inconsistent. 

 

But football is a funny game and anything can happen in a best-of-one series.  Sometimes good teams have bad games.  Sometimes injuries, bad ref calls, weird bounces, and all the other fun possibilities of the game allow the weaker team to win. 

 

We're good enough to be in contention and maybe the Gridiron Gods will favor us with some breaks this year.  

[Aussie Joe]

7 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Yeah, we absolutely are.

 

More, it's hard to know whether that defense will be the one we go into the playoffs with. If Ed Oliver gets back and Shaq Thompson, and our younger guys continue developing, we could easily be a lot better.

 

 

i was under the  impression Oliver is not back until late January …big ask to expect much then after a long layoff…Shaq Thompson is probably an upgrade but he is average at best for the position 

 

[WideNine]

With them playing 2 rookies on the DL, and Bosa banged up only able to use one hand, that line is really suspect right now.

 

I was wondering why no one was sealing the edges only to learn that they were forced to use Sanders (a 3 tech) as a DE in the rotation. Explains why he looked lost attacking blocks and setting the edge...

 

Looks like we are going to have to outscore folks in a boat race for any real chance against the better teams out there.

 

That is assuming we can get past NE.

 

Like the ghost of bad Christmas past seeing that team arise out of the smoking ashes of what was left after the Belichick and Brady era ended.

 

 

 

 

[Thurman#1]

39 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Nothing has changed.

 

its all on Josh Allen’s shoulders.

 

When he is hitting the gas, the defense can suck and the team around him can suck and we can beat anybody and everybody. If he can string 4 of those games together, we will be Super Bowl Champions.

 

When we get less than that, or even more infrequently, a bad game, we can basically lose to anybody and exit early.

 

the same place we have been since 2020.

 

 

Yup,

 

And no other teams with great QBs are like that ... except all of them.

 

When the great QB has a bad game, yeah, the team's not real likely to win. That's kinda the NFL. 

 

I mean, you're right, that's how we look. But I mean, when Mahomes had a bad game, the Eagles win the Super Bowl last year and the AFC championship against the Bengals about three years ago.

 

 

9 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

 

 

i was under the  impression Oliver is not back until late January …big ask to expect much then after a long layoff…Shaq Thompson is probably an upgrade but he is average at best for the position 

 

 

 

Yeah, fair enough, big ask. But it could happen, Ed playing near how he did before. Or not. 

 

And no, Shaq was playing significantly better than average, he was playing well.

[Thurman#1]

16 hours ago, 26TrapDraw said:

Our defense has let us down 4 of the last 5 years. You can win without a good defense?

how did that work out for the Bills ?

 

This is easily the worst defense in that time period. Unless they have 180degree improvement stopping the run and getting off the field on 3rd down they have no shot.

 

 

Yes, you're correct, you can indeed win without a good defense.

 

How did it work out for the Bills? Not as well as it worked out for the Chiefs a couple of years and the, Rams etc. The fact that it worked out for some teams but not for the Bills -- well, it only proves that it didn't work out for the Bills.

 

And the Bills had really good defenses several of those years, actually. Some of those years they had serious waves of injuries around the playoffs, and other times they were good but not good enough to stop the Chiefs in the playoffs with Mahomes playing at absolutely historic levels.

 

You can argue this D is the worst. But they're getting better, particularly at passing defense. When Bosa gets the cast off, when and if Oliver comes back and when Dorian gets better at the role he's already playing pretty well this past week at pass rush schemes, we could easily get a lot better. When TJ and DaQuan get not just able to play but back at previous levels. It's a shame Hoecht is out, it really is. But there's every chance we'll be a lot better.

 

We were awful against Miami. But not so awful against Tampa and pretty dang solid against KC. 

 

They absolutely have a shot. That simply isn't a question. Again, Vegas has them as the third most likely winner. That's likely a bit optimistic. But not much. They're 7-3, and beating the good teams.

[26TrapDraw]

1 hour ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Yes, you're correct, you can indeed win without a good defense.

 

How did it work out for the Bills? Not as well as it worked out for the Chiefs a couple of years and the, Rams etc. The fact that it worked out for some teams but not for the Bills -- well, it only proves that it didn't work out for the Bills.

 

And the Bills had really good defenses several of those years, actually. Some of those years they had serious waves of injuries around the playoffs, and other times they were good but not good enough to stop the Chiefs in the playoffs with Mahomes playing at absolutely historic levels.

 

You can argue this D is the worst. But they're getting better, particularly at passing defense. When Bosa gets the cast off, when and if Oliver comes back and when Dorian gets better at the role he's already playing pretty well this past week at pass rush schemes, we could easily get a lot better. When TJ and DaQuan get not just able to play but back at previous levels. It's a shame Hoecht is out, it really is. But there's every chance we'll be a lot better.

 

We were awful against Miami. But not so awful against Tampa and pretty dang solid against KC. 

 

They absolutely have a shot. That simply isn't a question. Again, Vegas has them as the third most likely winner. That's likely a bit optimistic. But not much. They're 7-3, and beating the good teams.

How do you figure that the defense wasn’t awful against the Bucs? They gave up 32 points and 202 yards on the ground.its week 12….getting better!?

if we didn’t have Superman pull another red cape performance out of his ass we would of lost. 
The point I was trying to make with my post is that Josh having to carry the load with Herculean efforts to win is complete bull crap.

he is not getting the help he needs to be a championship team period.

the reason we don’t have a championship is because of this front office and inept head coach. None of it is good enough.

 

We know Josh is good enough on his own but he needs a little help. If KC doesn’t make the playoffs I hope Josh sees this as his shot and continues to play other worldly.

besides Bills fans  hes the only one who deserves a championship more.

[H2o]

The defense is bad, but the NFL seems to be full of parity across the board. Look at the Bears. The Colts. The Broncos seem to be running away with the division. Philly looks average. The Bucs are still solid despite their laundry list of injuries. The Pats. The AFC North is wide open. The Rams, Seahawks, and 49ers are all solid. The Chiefs could miss the Playoffs altogether. It's a really weird year in the NFL. All it will take is clicking at the right time, and any of a number of teams could win the SB. 

[FireChans]

2 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

And no other teams with great QBs are like that ... except all of them

No.

 

Josh Allen effectively has at least the same stats and efficiency metrics as Mahomes in the playoffs and Mahomes has 17 playoffs wins, while Josh has 7.

 

Josh has less margin of error than any of them.

[Casey D]

13 hours ago, streetkings01 said:

You must’ve been sleeping the last 2 weeks. That defense is historically bad against the run. This is the worst defense in the McDermott era. Our offense had a good passing day for the 2nd time in the last 6 games. We have too many questions to be considered a contender 

Well, l the bettors don't see it that way.  History matter I guess, as the Bills are 4th overall at +850 behind only the + 800 Chiefs.  Bills are favored to win the AFC title at +375.  Patriots are +1800 and +600 respectively, although they are heavy favorites to win division at -250.  Broncos are +1600 and +600 respectively.  What this tells me is the public perception is that all the AFC upstarts are not really that good, and that when crunch time comes they likely will fold.  But those are the odds, so take a stab at some of the new "good" teams in the AFC if your convictions are strong as betting against the Bills could be profitable. 

3 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Yes, you're correct, you can indeed win without a good defense.

 

How did it work out for the Bills? Not as well as it worked out for the Chiefs a couple of years and the, Rams etc. The fact that it worked out for some teams but not for the Bills -- well, it only proves that it didn't work out for the Bills.

 

And the Bills had really good defenses several of those years, actually. Some of those years they had serious waves of injuries around the playoffs, and other times they were good but not good enough to stop the Chiefs in the playoffs with Mahomes playing at absolutely historic levels.

 

You can argue this D is the worst. But they're getting better, particularly at passing defense. When Bosa gets the cast off, when and if Oliver comes back and when Dorian gets better at the role he's already playing pretty well this past week at pass rush schemes, we could easily get a lot better. When TJ and DaQuan get not just able to play but back at previous levels. It's a shame Hoecht is out, it really is. But there's every chance we'll be a lot better.

 

We were awful against Miami. But not so awful against Tampa and pretty dang solid against KC. 

 

They absolutely have a shot. That simply isn't a question. Again, Vegas has them as the third most likely winner. That's likely a bit optimistic. But not much. They're 7-3, and beating the good teams.

As Josh said right after the comeback over the Ravens: "next time have a little faith."  Not much faith among many here, but what the heck, I understand after Miami.  But when the Bills play their game, they will be a tough out.

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

On 11/16/2025 at 8:13 PM, PoundingDog said:

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.

To answer the title question. I’ve always said this. The Bills are a good enough where if they can get hot at the right time, they can win it all. Josh Allen is just too good. 

 

But this board will jump back on their throats if the Bills lose again.