The Buffalo Bills are staring their season in the face against Dolphins
The Buffalo Bills may not have to beat a single good team to reach the playoffs. They just can’t afford to lose to the bad ones.
At 6-3, Buffalo currently occupies the fifth seed and top wild card slot in the AFC playoff picture. This Sunday, the Bills travel to take on the Miami Dolphins, a 2-7 outfit currently on a two-game winning streak.
Miami isn’t the easy mark it once was, but it remains one of the league’s worst. If Buffalo loses this game, it could be the turning point of a collapse in the making.
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The Buffalo Bills are coming off a 19-16 loss to the Cleveland Browns. It was a tough afternoon but not crushing with the Dolphins on deck. Should Sean McDermott and Co. win and get to 7-3, remaining games against the Denver Broncos and New York Jets should get them to nine victories.
However, a loss and suddenly those two easy games don’t matter as much. The Bills would still need to win at least one and potentially two of the following games:
- at Dallas Cowboys
- at New England Patriots
- at Pittsburgh Steelers
- vs. Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo will be underdogs in at least three of those games and potentially four. The remaining schedules of other wild card contenders including the Oakland Raiders, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Browns and Steelers also need to be factored in. Both Cleveland and Pittsburgh have comically-easy dockets the rest of the way, while the Raiders have road dates with the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers, but little else of note.
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In short, the Bills need to reach nine wins to have any shot of the playoffs, but 10 could be the number. If it ultimately ends up being the latter, Buffalo desperately needs to beat Miami to make the road ahead more palatable.
Buffalo should handle the Dolphins. The Bills won the first contest between the two, albeit after trailing in the third quarter. This is a test any playoff team should pass with ease. If Buffalo can’t beat Miami, it portends a very tough last six weeks of the season for a group that, to this point, it yet to beat a single team with a winning record.
The Buffalo Bills have put themselves in a good spot. Time to win and keep it that way.
