G. Host
11-23-2004, 11:39 PM
Coach Mularkey will probably tell his players that their fate is in their hands; they have gone through the "tough" portion of the schedule and if they win out they can 'steal" a wild card slot. I do not think he will do a "Wade" and declare playoffs out until mathematically out.
I tend to think everything is possible so I tinkered with upcoming schedule assuming that assumption is correct. Two teams are SOLIDLY in AFC playoffs Pittsburgh and New England (while it is true either could do a collapse like the Redsucks who were winning all games until Buffalo beat them a couple of years ago and then collapsed I do not think it is worth investigating) and six others have winning records. If Bills have ANY chance of getting into playoffs even with 7 game winning streak they need to have better records than three of them or beat them in tie breakers and the tie breakers are very odd for multiple teams.
We lost to Baltimore and Jacksonville - that well especially hamper playoff chances but IMO both teams are weak and can be beaten by even weaker teams with right game plan.
We split games with NJ Jets and they are wounded.
We have not played Indy, Denver or SD.
I put together a matrix of remaining games like I do almost every year
http://members.cox.net/billswatch/schedules.html
It is color coded by what is happening with each of the 7 teams one row - Bills IF they won out <b> hypothetically </b> they would have a chance for Baltimore, Jets and Jacksonville have to play "SOLID" teams at least once (too bad they do not play Eagles or Falcons in NFC) and they each have other serious competition. The Bills do not have that other than Pittsburgh and if they <b> hypothetically </b> won out they would have beaten their toughest opponent.
Indy plays Baltimore, San Diego and Denver and I think is they are likely the AFC South champion so a strong finish aid will the Bills getting into the playoffs.
Tennessee and Houston have enough strengths to be spoilers.
Minnesota, Green Bay and St Louis at home are strong enough to beat Jacksonville and Jets.
Those marked in my chart are Pink require a team to be a spoiler who is not playing well so I think they are unlikely to occur so I conclude that Denver will likely be in playoffs although division games are unpredictable.
IF hypothetically I knew Bills would win last 6 games, I would say the odds are not too bad about making playoffs; not a solid bet but better than better 00 on a roulette wheel.
Coach Mularkey appears to be a motivator and I do not think they will give up nor play inexperienced players as some suggest. I think he will fight for every win.
I tend to think everything is possible so I tinkered with upcoming schedule assuming that assumption is correct. Two teams are SOLIDLY in AFC playoffs Pittsburgh and New England (while it is true either could do a collapse like the Redsucks who were winning all games until Buffalo beat them a couple of years ago and then collapsed I do not think it is worth investigating) and six others have winning records. If Bills have ANY chance of getting into playoffs even with 7 game winning streak they need to have better records than three of them or beat them in tie breakers and the tie breakers are very odd for multiple teams.
We lost to Baltimore and Jacksonville - that well especially hamper playoff chances but IMO both teams are weak and can be beaten by even weaker teams with right game plan.
We split games with NJ Jets and they are wounded.
We have not played Indy, Denver or SD.
I put together a matrix of remaining games like I do almost every year
http://members.cox.net/billswatch/schedules.html
It is color coded by what is happening with each of the 7 teams one row - Bills IF they won out <b> hypothetically </b> they would have a chance for Baltimore, Jets and Jacksonville have to play "SOLID" teams at least once (too bad they do not play Eagles or Falcons in NFC) and they each have other serious competition. The Bills do not have that other than Pittsburgh and if they <b> hypothetically </b> won out they would have beaten their toughest opponent.
Indy plays Baltimore, San Diego and Denver and I think is they are likely the AFC South champion so a strong finish aid will the Bills getting into the playoffs.
Tennessee and Houston have enough strengths to be spoilers.
Minnesota, Green Bay and St Louis at home are strong enough to beat Jacksonville and Jets.
Those marked in my chart are Pink require a team to be a spoiler who is not playing well so I think they are unlikely to occur so I conclude that Denver will likely be in playoffs although division games are unpredictable.
IF hypothetically I knew Bills would win last 6 games, I would say the odds are not too bad about making playoffs; not a solid bet but better than better 00 on a roulette wheel.
Coach Mularkey appears to be a motivator and I do not think they will give up nor play inexperienced players as some suggest. I think he will fight for every win.