Business handled in the easy portion of the schedule
Looking at the 2019 Buffalo Bills’ schedule, it was accepted that the Bills would have to stack as many wins as possible before Thanksgiving because the level of difficulty ramps up significantly in the final five games. With Sunday’s win against Denver, the Bills are done with the portion of the schedule everyone agreed was easier than the back end.
You couldn’t have asked for much more from this Bills’ team through the first 11 games. Aside from the week 10 slip up in Cleveland, the Bills won every game they were supposed to win so far on the schedule.
The Bills took care of business again Sunday by easily handling the Broncos. While the Bills had been winning and winning often through October, many of their wins were too close for comfort against bad teams. The Bills struggled to beat the likes of the New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, and Washington Redskins heading into the November portion of their schedule. After losing against Cleveland, the questions really began to be asked about just how good this team was.
The Bills have answered some of these questions in the last two weeks by winning comfortably against Miami and Denver. Again however, these are teams the Bills are supposed to beat. But there has been no struggle the last two weeks like there had been against similar opponents earlier in the year. This could be a good sign that the Bills are about ready to hit their stride in time for the difficult December slate.
The Bills have also avoided the letdown loss that has plagued them in so many of these playoff-less seasons. The Bills have been able to sidestep their lesser opponents without suffering catastrophic losses that have crippled previous seasons. While the loss to Cleveland really stings and may loom large if the Bills stumble in this next stretch of games, they have avoided the type of collapse that dashed their playoff hopes in 2008 and 2011 and threatened to keep them out of the playoffs in 2017.
With eight wins in their first 11 games, the Bills have accomplished exactly what many said they would have to do in order to make the playoffs. The Bills have stacked wins against lesser opponents and now find themselves in a situation where they can take on a few losses during this difficult stretch without having it destroy their playoff hopes. The Bills have set themselves up for a playoff season, they just have to knock the door down now that they’re right outside.