Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

[WagonCircler]

Nice article.

Buffalo Wild Things: Why the Bills Can Win the AFC East

There are two ways of looking at the franchise-altering choice that Bills coach Doug Marrone made earlier this week. The first is the depressing way, the “Oh, those Bills” way. Yanking quarterback EJ Manuel is, undeniably, an admission of failure. Only 17 months have passed since Buffalo made Manuel the 16th pick in last year’s draft, and Manuel is already headed to the bench — another name to join Johnsin, Losman, and Edwards on the list of QB futility that’s defined the post–Jim Kelly Bills.

Having to abandon a first-round quarterback 14 starts into his career would be a concession for most teams, but Marrone’s choice to hand the ball to Kyle Orton isn’t the Bills’ version of waving the white flag. It’s actually their way of bearing down.

The Patriots are a mess. The Dolphins ransacked the Raiders last week, but Miami is a week removed from its own quarterback drama. The Jets are still mired in theirs. The division is up for grabs, and with an ownership change in Buffalo, Marrone’s job probably is too. A division title would be enough for him to keep it. The Bills can win the AFC East. And they know it.

More....

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/buffalo-wild-things-why-the-bills-can-win-the-afc-east/

[GvilleBills]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

Writer seems to have paid attention, for the most part.
Sadly, kinda rare these days.

[ServoBillieves]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

Is "Johnsin" a play on words or are there just no such thing as editors anymore? 3rd spelling mistake I've seen on a "professional" website today...

[Pinkerton Security]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

Is "Johnsin" a play on words or are there just no such thing as editors anymore? 3rd spelling mistake I've seen on a "professional" website today...

i wondered the same myself. Im guessing a play on words

[Thurmal]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

The next two weeks are pretty huge. Gotta be at least 3-3, hopefully with the win coming against NE, who is not close to dead, by the way.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

LMAO ,the Patriots are a mess????LOL Are they sitting Brady this week?

I take it that you didn't watch MNF. To be sure, the Pats have a very annoying streak of making people forget bad or slow starts. However, right now, that Chiefs loss looked dreadful. They couldn't run, they couldn't pass, they couldn't protect Brady, they couldn't stop the run, and they couldn't stop the pass. Even their cute little ****, the running back the offense onto the field on fourth and short when the other team was expecting a punt looked bad. In past years, they would have ran the play and got a first down.

[Mr. Pink]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

If the Bills want to be taken seriously or have serious aspirations to win the East, they have to beat New England next week.

[feldspar]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

I did see that game MST but I also submit that if this current Bills team was on the field that night Orton OR EJ would not have helped and the Bills team would be dominated just as bad.Sitting your starting QB puts ANY nfl team in the "mess" category.

WHAT I SAY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYBODY ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JohnnyGold]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

If the Bills want to be taken seriously or have serious aspirations to win the East, they have to beat New England next week.

that's certainly what you SHOULD think, but i disagree.

let's put it this way, broken into 3 logical steps:

1) the only way for the bills to get into the playoffs is to win the division. the bengals appear to be the class of the conference, and baltimore looks to be back to their winning ways. indy will win the south, and san diego and denver could easily win 12 games each. that's not even including kansas city and houston, who also BOTH might be for real. there's a good chance the 6 seed in the afc this year is 10-6, maybe 11-5. and people say the afc is a cake walk? im not seeing it.

so, assuming point 1 is true, then:

2) the only way for the bills to win the division is if the patriots are bad. there's 2 options here: either the pats are TRULY in decline, and will finish 9-7 or worse, or they will do what they always do, which is: turn it on, and finish 13-3 or 12-4. if they go 12-4? we're not catching them. so we need the pats to be of the 9-7 or 8-8 variety to have any shot of making the playoffs.

so if 1 and 2 are true, then:

3) at 2-2, the bills basically need to go 7-5 the rest of the way (to finish 9-7). even losing 2 games in a row means we need to go 7-3 the rest of the way... good, yes, but hardly dominant. a 2 game losing streak here and there won't doom us. hell, the vaunted packers went 8-7-1 last year and won the division.

basically, our road to the playoffs is the road of mediocrity. with that being said, it means we need to accept that 7-5 from here on out gets us in. POSSIBLY 6-6. so everyone needs to stop with the "must win" talk, or "if we are TRULY a playoff team, we'd win this game." not this year guys. just enjoy the ride.

[BillsImpossible]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

Patriots remaining opponents are, drum roll please.............

Bengals
Bills
Jets
Bears
Broncos
Colts
Lions
Packers
Chargers
Fish
Jets
Bills

Ouch.

[feldspar]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

I think that the Bills probably need to win the division to make the playoffs as well.

[feldspar]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

Thank you Captain obvious

YOU ARE WELCOME!

[BillsImpossible]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

I think that the Bills probably need to win the division to make the playoffs as well.

We are all going to find out if the end of the Brady era has come against the Bengals at Gillette. If the Pats lose at home, it's over.

Colonel Mustard did it (Andy Dalton) with the revolver in Bob Kraft's Library.

The Jets have a great run defense, as do the Bills...split.

The Bills beat the Dolphins at a supercharged RWS, but they play the Fish in Miami on Thursday Night.

Away teams have not fared well on Thursday Night...split.

Can the Bills sweep New England?

That thought hasn't crossed my mind since I was 14 years old.

[BillsImpossible]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

YOU ARE WELCOME!

lol. Okay, you both win...back to football.

I still can't believe we're talking about the Bills having a realistic shot at winning the AFC East.

The only thing that sucks is that if the Bills do win the AFC East, anyone who dares tear down the field goal posts at the Ralph would likely be tasered.



Paul McGuire's comments are super funny, lol....

[WagonCircler]

Re: Grantland: Why the Bills can win the AFC East

I miss Paul Maguire.