Bills Play Only 5 Teams With Winning Records In 2014

[BillsImpossible]

Bears - 8-8 last year. Ranked 30th in overall defense. Set a franchise worse in points against, total yards, and rushing yards allowed. They have signed a ton of free agents, including Jared Allen and drafted cornerback Kyle Fuller in the first round.

Dolphins - 8-8 last year. GM Jeff Ireland was fired in early 2014, and head coach Joe Philbin is sitting on the hot seat in his third year. They drafted two offensive tackles with their first 3 picks in the 2014 draft, and Ryan Tannehill's window of opportunity is closing fast.

Chargers - 9-7 last year. After barely getting into the playoffs in 2013, they managed to beat the Chiefs in OT. Some guy named Frank Reich is their new offensive coordinator. Phillip Rivers is approaching the end of his very good but not great career.

Texans - 2-14 last year. New head coach, Jadaveon Clowney, and Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback. Rebuilding mode is in full effect in Houston.

Lions - 7-9 last year. New owner, new head coach, new offensive coordinator, new defensive coordinator, new receivers coach, new assistant head coach, Eric Ebron, Golden Tate, and a city in shambles.

Patriots - 12-4 last year with a bad defense. Didn't draft a single tight end, and spent a 7th round draft pick on a wide receiver to help Tom Brady. Jimmy Garoppolo was selected in the 2nd round to replace him. If I were Brady, I'd be pissed.

Vikings - 5-10-1 last year. 2nd worse defense in the NFL. New head coach. Didn't win a single road game in 2013.

Jets - 8-8 last year. Haven't been in the playoffs for 3 straight years. Rex Ryan has one more season, or else. Geno Smith or Michael Vick?

Chiefs - 11-5 last year. Team doesn't want to give Alex Smith a $100 million or more. Jeff Tuel almost beat them.

Dolphins -----

Jets ------

Browns - 4-12 last year, marking 6 years in a row of 11 losses or more. New head coach, Johnny Football Manziel, new GM, new OC, new DC.

Broncos - 13-3 last year. It's a one man team, and their defense isn't good enough to win it all even with the addition of Talib and Ware.

Packers - 8-7-1 last year. Another one man team. Their defense was horrible, so they signed Julius Peppers and drafted Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.

Raiders - 4-12 last year. Head coach Dennis Allen is on the hot seat, and Derek Carr or Matt Schaub will be QB. Even though the Raiders had a good run defense and an awful pass defense in 2013, they drafted Khalil Mack.

Patriots ------

The Bills play 5 teams that had a winning record last year.

[Night Train]

But some USA Today scribe who doesn't know Buffalo from Bloomington predicts 3-13... so just begin the complaining now. :up:

[Crisis]

What's your point? We lost to three 4-12 teams last year. We haven't been to the playoffs in 14 years, we're the team other fans are penciling a W in next to on their schedule.

[Skooby]

What's your point? We lost to three 4-12 teams last year. We haven't been to the playoffs in 14 years, we're the team other fans are penciling a W in next to on their schedule.

We also beat an 8-8 team twice, so there's a twinkle of hope.

[GreedoII]

Bears - 8-8 last year. Ranked 30th in overall defense. Set a franchise worse in points against, total yards, and rushing yards allowed. They have signed a ton of free agents, including Jared Allen and drafted cornerback Kyle Fuller in the first round.

Dolphins - 8-8 last year. GM Jeff Ireland was fired in early 2014, and head coach Joe Philbin is sitting on the hot seat in his third year. They drafted two offensive tackles with their first 3 picks in the 2014 draft, and Ryan Tannehill's window of opportunity is closing fast.

Same thing last year man. We went 6-10 so it doesn't matter what happened last year....

Chargers - 9-7 last year. After barely getting into the playoffs in 2013, they managed to beat the Chiefs in OT. Some guy named Frank Reich is their new offensive coordinator. Phillip Rivers is approaching the end of his very good but not great career.

Texans - 2-14 last year. New head coach, Jadaveon Clowney, and Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback. Rebuilding mode is in full effect in Houston.

Lions - 7-9 last year. New owner, new head coach, new offensive coordinator, new defensive coordinator, new receivers coach, new assistant head coach, Eric Ebron, Golden Tate, and a city in shambles.

Patriots - 12-4 last year with a bad defense. Didn't draft a single tight end, and spent a 7th round draft pick on a wide receiver to help Tom Brady. Jimmy Garoppolo was selected in the 2nd round to replace him. If I were Brady, I'd be pissed.

Vikings - 5-10-1 last year. 2nd worse defense in the NFL. New head coach. Didn't win a single road game in 2013.

Jets - 8-8 last year. Haven't been in the playoffs for 3 straight years. Rex Ryan has one more season, or else. Geno Smith or Michael Vick?

Chiefs - 11-5 last year. Team doesn't want to give Alex Smith a $100 million or more. Jeff Tuel almost beat them.

Dolphins -----

Jets ------

Browns - 4-12 last year, marking 6 years in a row of 11 losses or more. New head coach, Johnny Football Manziel, new GM, new OC, new DC.

Broncos - 13-3 last year. It's a one man team, and their defense isn't good enough to win it all even with the addition of Talib and Ware.

Packers - 8-7-1 last year. Another one man team. Their defense was horrible, so they signed Julius Peppers and drafted Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.

Raiders - 4-12 last year. Head coach Dennis Allen is on the hot seat, and Derek Carr or Matt Schaub will be QB. Even though the Raiders had a good run defense and an awful pass defense in 2013, they drafted Khalil Mack.

Patriots ------

The Bills play 5 teams that had a winning record last year.

[trapezeus]

just to play devils advocate:

1. bears - still have a good qb and good rb. if we had that, this board would be saying "you don't need much more". its a season openner on the road, other than the KC blow out two or three years ago, i don't remember a road opener going well

2. dolphins - if we had tannehill, this board would be saying "he keeps looking better and he did it with no line. we picked two great steals in the draft, nothing but the moon now!" they got rid of a know nothing GM...they look better. tough game, but our season home openner. not a guaranteed win, but a game with a fighting chance.

3. chargers - a team in flux for sure, but they still hav rivers. who is better than anything we've had the last 14 years. they are traveling to us so thats in our favor.

4. texans - if we took the top pick overall, and got a vet qb to replace our disaster qb situation the year prior, i think we'd all have said, "we were the best 2-14 team the nfl has seen in a while. a turnaround quickly is possible if we get better qb play than schuab throwing pick 6s every other throw." I don't know if they are a playoff team, but they severly underperformed last year. i see them as a 7-9 team to 10-6 team depending on the breaks.

5. lions - we have no owner, a failed CEO who has provided poor coaches, GM's, and talent for 14 years, we have the vague threat of a move, marginally improved on paper and our strongest side of the ball has a new coordinator. hard to say that our lot is so much better.

6. patriots- i predicted theirdownfall every year until spygate and then just realized they aren't playing with the same rules. as accurate as what you said is true, they played 12-4 ball last year with no wide receivers, no run game, and an aging defense. at some point in the last 14 years they should have really struggled, but they never do. the nfl loves having boston being an active market. something they never did until they won superbowls. and now that they are good, they have a huge market. they will never give up on that team.

7. vikings - vikings in buffalo, i would expect a buffalo a win. but there is always the obvious game we should win in june that just doesn't happen in october.

8. jets - we split this routinely. the meadowlands game is a boring affair where they win. and the OP one is where they just don't show up and we house them. occassionally one of us takes the series. i doubt that that is this year.

9. chiefs - i dont' think they were as good as their record last year. we should have beat them last year if we weren't using our rookie third string undrafted qb. if its in buffalo again, i like our chances

10. browns - late season, if we aren't doing good, we'll want to win that game to save face for the draft pick that no doubt is being talked about at this point. manziel will have a lackluster season up until this point, then this game will make peopel talk for a week how the real johnny football has arrived. he'll never have a repeat performance of this game in his career. another dubious all star game for the bills to endure as well as provide.

11. Broncos - this is the game where just when you hate the bills for letting you down so much during a year, they put in the effort that clearly is superior. they may be in the lead. they may have frustrated a good team. and then in the fourth quarter things you didn't imagine could happen in a football game happen. the bills lose the last second and now we are on to the "i can't believe we don't have a first round pick" discussion.

12 Packers - they were missing rodgers for a good part of last season no? they were very good when he was in and fizzled when he was gone. if that is correct, they live and die with rodgers. if he's playing, not good for us. if he isn't, then game on!

13. Raiders - no opinion. two historically bad teams at the end of the season trying to be relevant.


So that's the rebuttal based on season's past and just assuming its more of the same ol same ol. Hopefully it isn't.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

BillsImpossible, the White House press secretary job is open. Is this spin your attempt at submitting a resume?

[OpIv37]

Did you really just call out the Jets for 3 years without making the playoffs and the Browns for 6+ consecutive seasons of double digit losses?

[better days]

The Bears also have a new HC & Coaching staff, with new systems on both sides of the ball.

[Meathead]

five teams with winning records, five with a losing record, and six at five hunnerd. so its not exactly a creampuff schedule

quite a lot of talent on some of those fringe teams, any of them could easily get on a little run and get double digit wins. or tother way round

theres always like two or three teams each at the very top and bottom of the league, and for everybody else you could just basically roll a multi sided dice to determine who makes the playoffs

[Uncle Jesse]

The Bears also have a new HC & Coaching staff,

Huh?

[GingerP]

The Bears also have a new HC & Coaching staff, with new systems on both sides of the ball.

That was last year.

[better days]

That was last year.

Yeah, my bad. I forgot Lovie took a year off before joining the Bucs.

[BillsImpossible]

Did you really just call out the Jets for 3 years without making the playoffs and the Browns for 6+ consecutive seasons of double digit losses?

Oh yes I did! What the H happened to the Jets? Why do they suck now? Super talented defense, big talking coach, but EJ Manuel smoked them in their second meeting last year. If the Jets thought Geno Smith was good, they wouldn't have signed Vick. I'm picking the Jets to finish last in the division.

The Bills have sucked for a long time now, but I don't think they have ever sucked as much as the Cleveland Browns. I actually feel bad for Mike Pettine given the horrible situation he walked into. Less than 3 weeks after he was hired by Mike Lombardi and Joe Banner, the GM got canned and their CEO resigned.

Compared to the Jets and Browns, I'd rather take the hand the Bills have been dealt in 2014.

[JoeMama]

Eh, citing last year's team records doesn't mean much entering a new season.

The NFL is a pretty fluid, mobile league in terms of playoff turnover from year to year.

Teams go through unpredictably meteoric rises and meteoric collapses all the time.

I've never put much weight into last year's results since next year's results are bound to be surprising. Always works that way.

[BillsImpossible]

Eh, citing last year's team records doesn't mean much entering a new season.

The NFL is a pretty fluid, mobile league in terms of playoff turnover from year to year.

Teams go through unpredictably meteoric rises and meteoric collapses all the time.

I've never put much weight into last year's results since next year's results are bound to be surprising. Always works that way.

The meteoric rise of EJ Manuel and fall of Brady and Manning, amen.

[BillsImpossible]

But some USA Today scribe who doesn't know Buffalo from Bloomington predicts 3-13... so just begin the complaining now. :up:

And that is why USA Today is for 4th graders, or college grads stoned to the bejesus.

[JoeMama]

The meteoric rise of EJ Manuel and fall of Brady and Manning, amen.

That will always be the dream.

But are the football gods watching and empathizing with us when we throw coins down the wishing well for EJ's sake?

They have frowned on us for what feels like a million years. They must nurse some serious grudges up there in football god heaven.

[BillsImpossible]

EJ played better than most most rookies do. He showed more good than bad. Give him a full season, and then decide. I think EJ Manuel is going to have a great year.

[DynaPaul]

Super Bowl!

[Skooby]

We need to get great coaching and stop patting the cream puffs on our team, Doug acts tough then says all that matters is the players well being. Who here ever had a job that paid millions & you need to get baby sat ?

Time me to man up & use our new O-line meat to grind us some burgers, then Mario puts his sauce out there against. Sounds tasty, who's in ??

[Fletch]

The Bills play 5 teams that had a winning record last year.

We only played five teams that ended up having a winning record last season too.

[Fletch]

five teams with winning records, five with a losing record, and six at five hunnerd. so its not exactly a creampuff schedule

quite a lot of talent on some of those fringe teams, any of them could easily get on a little run and get double digit wins. or tother way round

theres always like two or three teams each at the very top and bottom of the league, and for everybody else you could just basically roll a multi sided dice to determine who makes the playoffs

Last season we played four teams that were 7-9 to 9-7. This season we play five teams that were 7-9 to 9-7 last season.

Last season we played four teams that finished 4-12, we lost to three of them. This season we play only three teams that finished worse than 7-9, the Vikes and Raiders and Cleveland. The Vikes and Raiders both scored more points last season than the other three 4-12 teams we played last year.

It's a tougher schedule.

We also face five of last season's top-6 passing teams. Last season, and despite our gawdy sack totals, we didn't beat a single team that ranked above average in passing. This season we play 8 teams in 9 games that ranked above average in passing last season, 7 games of which feature teams that ranked in the top-10 in passing last season.

Should be an interesting season.

[Fletch]

Oh yes I did! What the H happened to the Jets? Why do they suck now? Super talented defense, big talking coach, but EJ Manuel smoked them in their second meeting last year. If the Jets thought Geno Smith was good, they wouldn't have signed Vick. I'm picking the Jets to finish last in the division.

The Bills have sucked for a long time now, but I don't think they have ever sucked as much as the Cleveland Browns. I actually feel bad for Mike Pettine given the horrible situation he walked into. Less than 3 weeks after he was hired by Mike Lombardi and Joe Banner, the GM got canned and their CEO resigned.

Compared to the Jets and Browns, I'd rather take the hand the Bills have been dealt in 2014.

You're dreaming. The Jets still finished 8-8 and have averaged over 8 wins under Ryan. They beat five teams that we lost to last season including the Pats.

They had a great draft and had a great draft in hindsight last year too.

They also split with us and ran the ball down our throats. That genius Pettine had no answers to stop powerhouse RBs Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell, the latter of which was on Pettine's team for two seasons, and neither of which has ever even sniffed 1,000 rushing yards or run for more than 5 TDs in a season. Yet, they ran for 279 yards on 5.5 ypc against us in two games. Most of that, nearly 200 yards, mostly by Powell, were in their first game win over us.

If anything I'd say that the Jets, pending their QB situation, are the ones positioned to make the playoffs and perhaps finish 10-6.

[Fletch]

Eh, citing last year's team records doesn't mean much entering a new season.

The NFL is a pretty fluid, mobile league in terms of playoff turnover from year to year.

Teams go through unpredictably meteoric rises and meteoric collapses all the time.

I've never put much weight into last year's results since next year's results are bound to be surprising. Always works that way.

I agree, but what does factor in is how we played teams with certain aspects to them.

For instance, we didn't beat one team that finished ranked in the top-16 teams, or top-half, of the league in passing, and despite our sick sack totals.

This season we play even more of those teams. I'll put some numbers to it.

Last season we played the following ranked passing teams with the result next to it:

2nd: Loss
7th: Loss
8th: Loss (to a 4-12 team)
10th: 2 Losses
11th: Loss
12th: Loss
18th: Win
20th: 2 Wins
22nd: Win
24th: Loss
29th: Win
31st: 1 Win, 1 Loss
32nd: Loss

This year's rankings of passing teams from last season:

1st
3rd
4th
5th
6th
10th twice
11th
15th
20th twice
23rd
24th two teams tied, play both
31st twice

The only teams that we play this season that we beat last season are the Fins and Jets.

We played four games against three of the four worst passing teams last season. This season we only play two of those games, both are against the Jets with whom we split and who have gotten better for sure. Other than the Jets we don't play a team that was ranked worse than 24th last year in passing.

Also, everyone talks about how great our D was last season, but I would argue that if it weren't for ranking 2nd in the league in sacks that few would be arguing that. But think about it, we were 2nd in the league in sacks last season, but yet, we couldn't beat any good passing teams.

How do we reconcile that? If you ask me it can only mean that the sacks weren't as relevant as everyone seems to think that they are.

Again, between Manuel, the lack of chemistry between him and his receivers, especially with Stevie gone, and this, I don't see why everyone is assuming that we've improved.

[better days]

What teams aside from the Pats* & Packers should have the Bills penciled in as a win?

Good thing those teams are using pencil & not pen.

[Fletch]

EJ played better than most most rookies do. He showed more good than bad. Give him a full season, and then decide. I think EJ Manuel is going to have a great year.

This from someone who started a thread suggesting that we would win our last four games last season, three of which featured three of the easiest opponents we'd played all season.

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php/221926-4-Straight-To-8-8?highlight=

We barely beat 4-12 Jax and lost to 4-12 Tampa in those four games.

Manuel got worse as the season went on. His best games were early on, which is not unusual for QBs for which opposing DCs don't have any NFL film on.

[Figster]

This from someone who started a thread suggesting that we would win our last four games last season, three of which featured three of the easiest opponents we'd played all season.

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php/221926-4-Straight-To-8-8?highlight=

We barely beat 4-12 Jax and lost to 4-12 Tampa in those four games.

Manuel got worse as the season went on. His best games were early on, which is not unusual for QBs for which opposing DCs don't have any NFL film on.

Manuel had his ups and downs like most rookie QB's normally do, but when you take into consideration it was a whole new Offense being installed and EJ was throwing to an inexperienced and below average WR corp in combination with the injuries, its hard to get a good evaluation IMO.

Note: The first time Manuel had a chance to march his team down the field and score from behind in the last minutes of a football game EJ Manuel got the job done in spectacular fashion.( Against a good football team in the Carolina Panthers )

When was the last time we had a Billls QB deliver the game winning points in the last seconds of the football game? (aside from Manuel)

[GingerP]

When was the last time we had a Billls QB deliver the game winning points in the last seconds of the football game? (aside from Manuel)

Does it have to be a TD? Because Thad Lewis led the Bills to a late, come-from-behind win against Miami in week 7.

I remember when Ryan Fitzpatrick led the Bills to a last-minute win against the Pats and a 3-0 record to start the 2011 season. Those were heady days.

Fitzpatrick also had that late TD to David Nelson to beat Oakland the week before in an exciting, come-from-behind victory.

[Figster]

Does it have to be a TD? Because Thad Lewis led the Bills to a late, come-from-behind win against Miami in week 7.

I remember when Ryan Fitzpatrick led the Bills to a last-minute win against the Pats and a 3-0 record to start the 2011 season. Those were heady days.

Fitzpatrick also had that late TD to David Nelson to beat Oakland the week before in an exciting, come-from-behind victory.

Yes, it has to be a passing TD

How many times has Fitzpatrick not delivered with the game on the line?

My point is EJ Manuel delivered at crunch time the very 1st opportunity he was given as a rookie.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

What teams aside from the Pats* & Packers should have the Bills penciled in as a win?

The Broncos.

[GingerP]

Yes, it has to be a passing TD

How many times has Fitzpatrick not delivered with the game on the line?

My point is EJ Manuel delivered at crunch time the very 1st opportunity he was given as a rookie.

Then, to answer your question, I'd guess the last time was Fitzpatrick against Oakland in 2011, but I could be missing a more recent one.

I'm a lot less impressed by some highlight moment than consistency over time. Good QBs deliver consistently.

I mean, Geno Smith played well in his first NFL game in leading the Jets to an 18-17 upset victory over Tampa last year. He had 5 come-from-behind 4th quarter wins last year where he authored game winning drives. Am I supposed to overlook his overall crappy play for the season? No, I still would be more impressed with consistent good play.

[Fletch]

Manuel had his ups and downs like most rookie QB's normally do, but when you take into consideration it was a whole new Offense being installed and EJ was throwing to an inexperienced and below average WR corp in combination with the injuries, its hard to get a good evaluation IMO.

Note: The first time Manuel had a chance to march his team down the field and score from behind in the last minutes of a football game EJ Manuel got the job done in spectacular fashion.( Against a good football team in the Carolina Panthers )

When was the last time we had a Billls QB deliver the game winning points in the last seconds of the football game? (aside from Manuel)

Carolina may have been good at season's end but they struggled early in the season when we played them. They started 1-3 and we played them in week 2. They were also one of the worst passing teams in the league last season. They were good but overrated at 12-4. Still, that's one game. Every QB plays one good game every season, we can't build a case on that. We can say the same thing about Geno Smith when the Jets beat the Pats last season, and the Pats were a better team than Carolina.

As I said elsewhere, the unknowns about a QB give them an advantage. We'll see what happens this season with film now available.

[Fletch]

Then, to answer your question, I'd guess the last time was Fitzpatrick against Oakland in 2011, but I could be missing a more recent one.

I'm a lot less impressed by some highlight moment than consistency over time. Good QBs deliver consistently.

I mean, Geno Smith played well in his first NFL game in leading the Jets to an 18-17 upset victory over Tampa last year. He had 5 come-from-behind 4th quarter wins last year where he authored game winning drives. Am I supposed to overlook his overall crappy play for the season? No, I still would be more impressed with consistent good play.

Exactly

[Figster]

Carolina may have been good at season's end but they struggled early in the season when we played them. They started 1-3 and we played them in week 2. They were also one of the worst passing teams in the league last season. They were good but overrated at 12-4. Still, that's one game. Every QB plays one good game every season, we can't build a case on that. We can say the same thing about Geno Smith when the Jets beat the Pats last season, and the Pats were a better team than Carolina.

As I said elsewhere, the unknowns about a QB give them an advantage. We'll see what happens this season with film now available.


Right, with an upgraded WR corp and Oline protection along with an Offense that is not in its 1st year of installation.

Lets not forget this was a rookie QB, rookie WR's, and a new coaching staff and as far as evaluations go and defending against the young EJ Manuel,

I contend no team in the league has any idea what our young and very talented QB/ football team is capable of,

but they're all going to find out soon... :topdog: