Question #1: Will the Bills make the playoffs?

[justasportsfan]

What they need to do
Starting fast is a concept that is brought up each and every September. Coming out of the first month of the season on the winning side of the ledger doesn't always mean a team is destined for the playoffs, but it does provide valuable margin for error when that unexpected loss pops up later in the season.

Unfortunately Buffalo has been unable to manage a winning record in the season's first month for a long time. The Bills have not posted a record of better than 2-2 after the first four games of a season in nine years. Not surprisingly, 1999 was the last year in which Buffalo finished the first four weeks with a 3-1 mark en route to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth.

Staying healthy will be another prerequisite. Buffalo was bit by the injury bug early and there was never any let up. Whether it was Ryan Denney in the preseason, Ko Simpson in week one or Paul Posluszny in week three, the list just kept on growing severely thinning out Buffalo's roster with 17 players on injured reserve by the time the season was over.

On offense Schonert has widespread plans to diversify the attack. Hopefully it improves the team's third down conversion percentage. Buffalo was 30th in that category a year ago making good on just a third of their 195 attempts. It's why their time of possession in 2007 was only marginally better (45 seconds) than it was the year before.

But the number one requirement is points.

"We've got to score," said Jauron. "Get the ball in the end zone. I don't care how, just score points and stay on the field. The way you do that is to be consistent. We don't want to turn the ball over. We want to be precise and we want to be aggressive in our attack and in our attitude with everything we do."

Dramatically improving the run defense will fall to the revamped front seven led by the newly acquired Marcus Stroud and Kawika Mitchell. Giving up better than 110 yards rushing per game usually reduces a team's chances in securing a playoff berth. But Buffalo is confident many of these necessary improvements can be accomplished this season.

http://buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?news_id=6236

[DraftBoy]

Nope

[The Jokeman]

Sadly no, as the Patriots are still the clearly class of this division and think the Jets and Dolphins have narrowed the gap between us and them. Not to mention teams like Cleveland< Jacksonville and Denver might also be improved making the playoffs difficult. As I truly think our offense will struggle through sophomore slumps and while the D should be improved it won't be able to carry us to the playoffs. Not to mention the Special teams might take a step back as well.

[Captain gameboy]

No, but since this is predictive, I think we will be happy with the results, if we wait until February.

[THATHURMANATOR]

What they need to do
Starting fast is a concept that is brought up each and every September. Coming out of the first month of the season on the winning side of the ledger doesn't always mean a team is destined for the playoffs, but it does provide valuable margin for error when that unexpected loss pops up later in the season.

Unfortunately Buffalo has been unable to manage a winning record in the season's first month for a long time. The Bills have not posted a record of better than 2-2 after the first four games of a season in nine years. Not surprisingly, 1999 was the last year in which Buffalo finished the first four weeks with a 3-1 mark en route to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth.

Staying healthy will be another prerequisite. Buffalo was bit by the injury bug early and there was never any let up. Whether it was Ryan Denney in the preseason, Ko Simpson in week one or Paul Posluszny in week three, the list just kept on growing severely thinning out Buffalo's roster with 17 players on injured reserve by the time the season was over.

On offense Schonert has widespread plans to diversify the attack. Hopefully it improves the team's third down conversion percentage. Buffalo was 30th in that category a year ago making good on just a third of their 195 attempts. It's why their time of possession in 2007 was only marginally better (45 seconds) than it was the year before.

But the number one requirement is points.

"We've got to score," said Jauron. "Get the ball in the end zone. I don't care how, just score points and stay on the field. The way you do that is to be consistent. We don't want to turn the ball over. We want to be precise and we want to be aggressive in our attack and in our attitude with everything we do."

Dramatically improving the run defense will fall to the revamped front seven led by the newly acquired Marcus Stroud and Kawika Mitchell. Giving up better than 110 yards rushing per game usually reduces a team's chances in securing a playoff berth. But Buffalo is confident many of these necessary improvements can be accomplished this season.

http://buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?news_id=6236
NO YOU IDIOT THE BILLS HAVE 0 CHANCE OF MAKING THE PLAYOFFS! :shakeno:

[OpIv37]

NO YOU IDIOT THE BILLS HAVE 0 CHANCE OF MAKING THE PLAYOFFS! :shakeno:

show me one place where one person said the Bills have 0 chance.

They have a chance, just an extremely slim one. That's why the answer to the question is "no".

[yordad]

yes

[Ed]

show me one place where one person said the Bills have 0 chance.

They have a chance, just an extremely slim one. That's why the answer to the question is "no".
Extremely slim? What are we, the dolphins? The AFC is tough and we've got a young team, but let's not act like we're total garbage. Maybe the Raiders and Chiefs have a slim chance, but we've had our best off-season in a few years and have at least been in the hunt into December for the past couple years.

[OpIv37]

Extremely slim? What are we, the dolphins? The AFC is tough and we've got a young team, but let's not act like we're total garbage. Maybe the Raiders and Chiefs have a slim chance, but we've had our best off-season in a few years and have at least been in the hunt into December for the past couple years.

We have an inexperienced QB, no WR's other than Evans (maybe hardy but rookie WR's do not have good track records) an OL that hasn't proven it can run block and perhaps the worst TE situation in the league. We did NOTHING with the #30 overall offense from last year except add a rookie WR. Schonert should help, but emphasis is on the word "should"- he's completely unproven.

The D looks better on paper but still has question marks and will be on the field too much because the offense blows.

Winning the division is out because of the Patriots so the only way to make it is to get in the annual AFC Cluster**** to the Wildcard. 10-6 may not even be good enough.

Worst of all, we still have Jauron as our HC and that's good for at least two losses.

All this team has is potential- a whole lot of players still need to prove themselves before this team is anywhere close to playoffs, and that's what makes the chances so thin.

[baalworship]

I want to see what this team looks like after training camp and in the pre-season before I make any predictions.

[John Doe]

I think that the team has a legitimate shot at the playoffs.

The offense should be much better this season.

[OpIv37]

I think that the team has a legitimate shot at the playoffs.

The offense should be much better this season.

same guys should be much better? Makes perfect sense! :up:

[John Doe]

I really think that the key man is Edwards.

He will improve a lot.

It makes sense.

[Dujek]

same guys should be much better? Makes perfect sense! :up:

If you keep an offensive line intact it improves, Lynch and Edwards will have a year's experience under their belts and while I don't expect Hardy to light up the league I do expect him to take enough pressure of Evans to allow him to put up the numbers we all know he's capable of. So yes, expecting the same guys to be much better does make sense.

Quit being so miserable, the Bills are going to the playoffs. :bandwagon:

[Mr. Pink]

Op, you said "no one says we have zero chance." I've said at best we're going 9-7. 9-7 ain't making the playoffs in the AFC. We have zero chance of making the playoffs.

Unless, of course, Goodell allows us to move to the NFC West for the season. Then, we have a chance.

[OpIv37]

I really think that the key man is Edwards.

He will improve a lot.

It makes sense.

he should improve a lot. There are plenty of examples of QB's who didn't. But apparently people are allowed to talk in absolutes when saying the Bills make the playoffs. However, it doesn't work that way if one is speaking in absolutes about well-deserved criticisms.

[SABuffalo786]

same guys should be much better? Makes perfect sense! :up:


You don't believe that guys actually you know.....improve or get better as they progress through their careers?

[OpIv37]

You don't believe that guys actually you know.....improve or get better as they progress through their careers?

Most guys do- some guys don't. We don't know if these guys will improve or not.

More importantly, our offense was ranked 30th last year and got no new talent except a rookie WR. So I suspect they will improve, however I seriously doubt they will improve enough to make an offense that bad into playoff-caliber from just one year of experience.

[yordad]

same guys should be much better? Makes perfect sense! :up:
link (http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=155948)

[justasportsfan]

same guys should be much better? Makes perfect sense! :up:
Why not? The guys that replaced Spikes and co. that you ragged on for pages last year were inexperienced some who eventually got injured played better D than the year before wich is why you lost our bets. Some of them are now injury free and the others have better experience. SO yes, same guy should be much better especially the OL and Lynch.

[OpIv37]

Why not? The guys that replaced Spikes and co. that you ragged on for pages last year were inexperienced some who eventually got injured played better D than the year before wich is why you lost our bets. Some of them are now injury free and the others have better experience. SO yes, same guy should be much better especially the OL and Lynch.

Better? Yes. Much better? no. It's just one year of experience. 30th ranked offense to playoff caliber because of 1 year of experience? That's ridiculous.

[justasportsfan]

Better? Yes. Much better? no. It's just one year of experience. 30th ranked offense to playoff caliber because of 1 year of experience? That's ridiculous.
Edwards may be inexperienced but JP was able to throw for 3000 yards in 06 in his first year under Fairchild with hardly any weapons and a crappy OL , I can't see why Trent cant.

Why didn't you accept my bet that our O will be at least top 25?

[OpIv37]

Edwards may be inexperienced but JP was able to throw for 3000 yards in 06 in his first year under Fairchild with hardly any weapons and a crappy OL , I can't see why Trent cant.

Why didn't you accept my bet that our O will be at least top 25?

because I agree with that- I said before that our O may improve to 24th or 25th. I just don't think having the 25th ranked O will be enough to get to the playoffs.

[justasportsfan]

because I agree with that- I said before that our O may improve to 24th or 25th. I just don't think having the 25th ranked O will be enough to get to the playoffs.
I'll go top 20.

[OpIv37]

I'll go top 20.

how much?

[justasportsfan]

how much?
10,000

[OpIv37]

10,000

I'm in.

Overall offensive rank at the end of the season- 20 or lower you win, 21st or higher and I win.

[justasportsfan]

I'm in.

Overall offensive rank at the end of the season- 20 or lower you win, 21st or higher and I win.
lets reword this properly 1-20 I win. 21-1000 you win.

[OpIv37]

lets reword this properly 1-20 I win. 21-1000 you win.

alright but I don't know if we need to go all the way to 1000. I'm not too high on this offense, but even I don't think they're going to finish ranked 1000 out of 32.

[justasportsfan]

alright but I don't know if we need to go all the way to 1000. I'm not too high on this offense, but even I don't think they're going to finish ranked 1000 out of 32.
pfft! The fins will be at 1,000

So we have a total of 3 bets going. The first one was the no. of wins vs. NE (30,000), the bills making at least wildcard (10,000) and O ranking (10,000)

[OpIv37]

pfft! The fins will be at 1,000

So we have a total of 3 bets going. The first one was the no. of wins vs. NE (30,000), the bills making at least wildcard (10,000) and O ranking (10,000)

sounds right to me.

[HHURRICANE]

Why not? The guys that replaced Spikes and co. that you ragged on for pages last year were inexperienced some who eventually got injured played better D than the year before wich is why you lost our bets. Some of them are now injury free and the others have better experience. SO yes, same guy should be much better especially the OL and Lynch.

How is the Bill's D better when they are 30th in the league than when Spikes and Co. were here?

I'm glad that we cleaned house but until we actually prove it on the field you can't make that statement.

[justasportsfan]

How is the Bill's D better when they are 30th in the league than when Spikes and Co. were here?

I'm glad that we cleaned house but until we actually prove it on the field you can't make that statement.

I won a bet with OP. Nuff said.

[OpIv37]

How is the Bill's D better when they are 30th in the league than when Spikes and Co. were here?

I'm glad that we cleaned house but until we actually prove it on the field you can't make that statement.

Actually, the run D got better from 06 to 07- that's why I lost the bet. However, the Pass D got worse, and was so bad that the overall D got worse as well.

[HughC]

Back to the original question, "will the Bills make the playoffs?"

I don't realistically see the Bills winning the AFC East, so that leaves one of two wild cards spots. I would expect both the Colts and the Jags to get in, so now there's only one playoff spot available. I think the Bills have a good chance of finishing with a better record than the Titans, Texans and Broncos. So that leaves whichever team does not win the AFC North, Pittsburgh or Cleveland, to compete with the Bills for the wild card. Certainly not a given, but I'll take my chances that we do end up as the #6 seed, especially when you compare our schedule against the Steelers' and Browns'.

[John Doe]

he should improve a lot. There are plenty of examples of QB's who didn't. But apparently people are allowed to talk in absolutes when saying the Bills make the playoffs. However, it doesn't work that way if one is speaking in absolutes about well-deserved criticisms.

I don't think that all of your criticisms are "well deserved."

[OpIv37]

I don't think that all of your criticisms are "well deserved."

well, you're wrong. I always state the reasons for my criticisms, and if they're not justified, I don't make them.

[John Doe]

well, you're wrong. I always state the reasons for my criticisms, and if they're not justified, I don't make them.

I don't believe that I am wrong in this case.

Your truth is subjective.

Your rationale is not obsolute.

You can be wrong.

[justasportsfan]

So if the results prove OP wrong then his criticisms were not deserved?

[OpIv37]

I don't believe that I am wrong in this case.

Your truth is subjective.

Your rationale is not obsolute.

You can be wrong.

Well, for example, if I criticize Schobel for having a huge drop-off in sacks after getting a pay increase, the criticism is deserved.

If I criticize Whitner for having a paltry stat line and getting burned for at least 3 huge runs that led to TD's (2 in the Giants game and the McGahee TD), the criticism is deserved.

If I criticize Jauron for using 2 timeouts on the same play with an ill-advised challenge that he had the entire first time out to analyze, the criticism is deserved.

Those things are not subjective. They are all objective. There are stats and video tape of the events that prove they actually happened. So, while you can argue that some of my criticisms are subjective, many of them are objective and deserved whether you want to see it or not.