Bills face impossible road to playoffs
The Buffalo Bills have not made the National Football League playoffs since 1999. If you need some quick math, that means Buffalo is working on 16 consecutive campaigns without a 17th game. Season No. 17 is well on the way.
After losing to the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football at New Era Field, it’s very apparent that the Bills are all but certain to be watching meaningful football from the couch come January. Buffalo simply was not good enough to compete with a solid but flawed Jets team, even though the game was on its own turf.
In Week 1, the Bills were able to hold the Baltimore Ravens to 13 points on the road. Yet, Buffalo only managed 165 total yards of offense with Tyrod Taylor throwing for a putrid 111 of them. The Bills ended up losing 13-7, and coupled with the defeat to New York, they now sit 0-2 both overall and in conference.
Some will speak of the season behind long and the Bills having a chance to regroup with the long week and a half ahead. Those people are fighting a losing battle with their hearts, not their heads. Buffalo has a ridiculous schedule ahead with the Arizona Cardinals coming to town next, followed by a trip to Foxborough to visit the New England Patriots. There is a very, very good chance that the Bills will be 0-4, and are almost certain to at least be 1-3.
In the AFC, it is going to take at least 10 wins to reach the postseason. New England will win the AFC East, so Buffalo will be hoping for a wild card berth. At this rate, that looks very bleak. The Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders are all going to be in the mix, along with the Houston Texans, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Ravens and Jets.
The latter two on that list are especially problematic for Buffalo and head coach Rex Ryan, who has to be feeling considerable heat coming from his chair. Baltimore already owns the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Bills, and New York will get Buffalo at home in the rematch come Week 17.
All told, the Bills simply aren’t good enough. Outside of Marcell Dareus – who is suspended for the next two games – there is not one player on the roster who would be considered a great player. Taylor is a decent player and a terrific athlete, but he’s not carrying anybody to a Super Bowl, especially when surrounded by such middling talent.
Back in the 1990s, the Bills were famous for getting to the Super Bowl and then falling painfully short. Now, Buffalo can’t even sniff the playoffs, something that has become a rite of autumn in western New York.
