The Buffalo Bills have defeated the top teams in the AFC and NFC this season.
It’s impressive, but it doesn’t change the fact that the team is two games back of the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC’s No. 1 seed with three weeks to go. Buffalo has three divisional games remaining (New England Patriots twice and the New York Jets) while the Chiefs face the Houston Texans, Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos. There’s a chance for the Bills to make up ground, but they are running out of opportunities.
If the Bills do not claim the AFC’s top seed the team should still feel pretty good about their chances come January. No offense has been better than Buffalo’s over the past month. Of course, the defense will have to pull their weight when it matters most, but with Josh Allen on the other side of the ball there is always a chance of the Bills making a run all the way to the Caesars Superdome for the Super Bowl.
Following their 48-42 win over the Detroit Lions, here is a look at where various media sites ranked the Bills on their power rankings along with their analysis.
ESPN: No. 4 (No change)
Biggest improvement: Offensive cohesion
Early in the season, there were some lulls for the Bills’ offense. Quarterback Josh Allen needed time to get on the same page with new wide receivers. From Weeks 1 to 7, the Bills scored touchdowns on 31.5% of drives; they have since scored on 42.9% (first in the NFL) thanks to the play of Allen and a consistent offensive line. From Weeks 4 to 6, the offense scored 23 or fewer points in each game; the Bills have now tied an NFL record by scoring 30-plus points in eight straight.
Sports Illustrated: No. 1 (Up 1)
Joe Brady has been cooking the past two weeks, which is a good thing for Josh Allen but ultimately ensures that he will probably lose his second coordinator of the last three he’s worked with in Buffalo. Combine Brady’s incredible run looks, which bashed Detroit’s defensive line, along with some incredible performances from players like Ty Johnson making receiver-caliber catches early in a tone-setting first half and you have an unbeatable recipe. This is the multifaceted Bills team we’ve been waiting for, and boy do they look good.
USA Today: No. 1 (Up 2)
They’ve scored at least 30 points in their past eight games – only the fifth team ever to manage that in a single season – while averaging 35 during that stretch. Per NFL Media, they’re also the only team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to score at least five touchdowns in three consecutive games without giving up any sacks or turnovers. The Bills play the Patriots twice and the Jets once over the final three weeks – which would suggest the AFC East champs will score a lot more points, wind up 14-3 and have a great shot at the conference’s No. 1 playoff seed – all while QB Josh Allen should produce another 12 TDs or so in the ongoing bid for his first league MVP award.
Pro Football Talk: No. 2 (Up 3)
They’re 2-0 against the Chiefs and Lions. The rest of the league is 2-24 against those teams.
Yahoo: No. 2 (Up 2)
The weirdest stat Sunday might have been that the Bills had 559 yards, 362 of which were passing, nine players caught a pass and Amari Cooper didn’t even get a target. Cooper will be a factor at some point, and that will make the Bills even more explosive on offense, if that’s possible.
CBS Sports: No. 3 (Up 2)
Winning at Detroit against the Lions was a big statement game. The past two weeks have showed that to beat this team, you might need to score 40 or more. Josh Allen is the MVP right now.
NFL.com: No. 2 (Up 2)
The Bills have now beaten the 13-1 Chiefs and the 12-2 Lions and have topped the 30-point mark for eight straight games. As is true of Detroit, but to a lesser degree, Buffalo’s season could end up hinging on how healthy the defense is when the playoffs roll around. The Bills also have a lot of work to do if they are to steal the top seed in the AFC to earn a first-round bye. Then again, there’s always the Josh Allen counterargument: that the quarterback might just be good enough to blowtorch opponents into submission, defense be damned. In two consecutive contests, the Bills’ D has been run over, with the secondary being in particularly rough shape. But Allen nearly brought Buffalo back the first time and never trailed in the second. He’s your MVP until further notice, and he might give the Bills the best chance to win a Super Bowl, now or ever.
Bleacher Report: No. 2 (Up 3)
One week ago, the Buffalo Bills lost the highest-scoring game in the league to date in Los Angeles. In Week 15, Buffalo played in an even higher-scoring affair—and got the win this time.
One week after Josh Allen became the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to run for three scores and throw for three in the same game, the MVP favorite took it easy against the Lions—430 yards of total offense and four touchdowns (two though the air and two on the ground).
That was sarcasm, in case you were wondering.
Despite that dominant performance, Allen told reporters he feels like the Bills actually left plays on the field.
“The mindset we had this week was to win every play, whatever the play was, find a way to execute at the highest level,” said Allen. “This is going to help us in the long run. Too many plays we left out there. To nitpick a game like that sounds kind of dumb. But I still felt like we left some out there.”
Analyst’s Take
I still have concerns about Buffalo’s defense. However, with the way Josh Allen is playing and the way Joe Brady continues to get everyone involved, I believe the Bills offense can carry this team through three playoff games and into the Super Bowl. It may require flawless offensive play for that to happen, but it can happen, especially if Buffalo plays the majority of its playoff games at home.
It’s hard to see Buffalo losing to the Patriots (who it’ll see twice) or the Jets over the final three weeks. The big question for the Bills is whether Kansas City can slip enough to hand hand them the No. 1 seed.
