Bills' backs are against the wall and it could help them make the playoffs
The Buffalo Bills have had a frustrating season, so far, and they're fighting for their playoff lives entering Week 14. It doesn't help the team has to travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs, either. The bittersweet news, however, is this team has been here before. Not the exact roster, obviously. It's […]
The Buffalo Bills have had a frustrating season, so far, and they're fighting for their playoff lives entering Week 14. It doesn't help the team has to travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs, either.
The bittersweet news, however, is this team has been here before. Not the exact roster, obviously. It's a good chunk of not just players, but veterans and team leaders – you know, the majority of the most important guys on the squad. Now, that's not the greatest experience in the world because it means the Bills have underachieved and struggled deep into a season before.
But they've also shown they can dig out of these holes – most notably in 2021 when they started off 7-6 and rattled off four straight wins before winning a playoff game against the New England Patriots.
The Bills didn't just win those games, either. They dominated them, outscoring their opponents by an average of 15 points per game. They clobbered the Patriots, 47-17, in the playoffs and that franchise hasn't been the same, since.
So, it's fair to say that when the Bills' collective backs are against the wall, they have the capability to come out swinging. And swinging, hard.
"You take it one game at a time, but you rely on the leaders on this team, you rely on Micah Hyde and Jordan poyer You rely on Mitch Morse and Stefon Diggs, and guys that have been in these situations before," Josh Allen told reporters Wednesday. "It's nothing that's super new to us, obviously, we don't want to be in situations like this all the time.
"But we feel like we've been in the situation before and that's produced a lot of our best football. So, you know, we've still got a lot of games left a lot of time left, but you know, it starts on Sunday."
The Chiefs game will be the springboard, or anchor, for the rest of the Bills' season
The Chiefs aren't who they typically are, but that's only on the offensive side of the ball. They have an elite defense that will keep them in every game, no matter how the offense is playing at the time.
But even more, another AFC loss would essentially sink the Bills' playoff hopes. As it currently stands, they are 3-5 in conference games, which is at least two games behind the top-8 AFC teams and even three games behind a team like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who beat the Bills head-to-head earlier in the season.
At 3-6 in the conference and Week 15 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, the Bills would be all but cooked. They would still have a chance, considering their last three games are AFC bouts, but they would need a miracle in order to make the playoffs.
They aren't there yet, though. There's still plenty of reason to believe, but there also needs be a dire sense of urgency throughout the halls of One Bills Drive.
"I wouldn't say it's hard to believe, [but] it's hard to win this league," said Allen. "That's one thing I do know. I haven't played that long in this league, but I feel like I have a good grasp of it [and] it's hard to consistently win this league. If you're not on your A-game, any given week, you can be beat, or you can win. So, we have to, we have to take it one game at a time and just continue to keep pushing, keep fighting for each other. And that's what we're gonna do."
The Bills showed plenty of fight against the Philadelphia Eagles and it's fair to argue they lost that game because of a couple of circumstances that had nothing to do with the players on the field. This team isn't going to quit and they have the right guys in place to make sure that doesn't happen anytime soon, either.
"I think so," Allen said when asked if the tumultuous season could bring the team together. "I think that the guys that we have in this locker room, obviously, we've been brought here for a reason… We can embody that type of mentality and I think that's something we've done in the past and, you know, maybe that's what we need."
