1. Why Colin Cowherd thinks Buffalo is the best team in the NFL
Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd shared his latest Herd Hierarchy ratings after Week 14 and he believes the Buffalo Bills deserve the top spot. Herd thinks the Bills are the best of 32 because of the way they have played since Week 9.
"Buffalo is absolutely the best team in the NFL," Cowherd said. "They're a Hail Mary away from winning their last seven. The only team in the NFL, the only one with 20 or more first downs every game. They've allowed fewer than 25 points in three-straight games.
"Their defense leads the NFL by a mile in fourth quarter takeaways, so they're playing great situational football. Since Week 9 they score more than the Chiefs, they have more touchdowns to interceptions ratio that's better, their point differential is better, their turnover differential is better and they've got fewer penalties in the last three weeks. This morning, Buffalo is the best football team in the NFL."
2. Dan Orlovsky's message to the Buffalo doubters
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky appeared on Get Up this week to share his thoughts on those who still doubt the Buffalo Bills. Orlovsky thinks Buffalo has beat some great teams in order to get to 10-3 heading into Week 15.
"There is no other quarterback in the AFC playoff picture race outside of Patrick Mahomes that I want in the fourth quarter outside of Josh Allen," Orlovsky said. "And I'm not going to let you guys make this about the Steelers. This is about the Buffalo Bills because there's a lot of Buffalo Bills doubt and there's a lot of Buffalo Bills hate. Everyone was saying, 'The Buffalo Bills they don't have any signature wins.' They've got 10 wins, seven of them are against teams that are .500 or better."
Orlovsky can't find a team that's better suited to take down the Super Bowl champs in the Kansas City Chiefs.
"This is a team that has a quarterback playing top five football, they've got a top five coaching staff, they've got an offensive line that can dominate in two different ways by pass blocking or run blocking," Orlovsky said. "Stefon Diggs is a dog. I know he's really good and a really good route runner. He's also a dog, a guy that wants the ball in crunch time and their defense is getting better. Stop the Buffalo Bills doubt. They are the second best team in that conference and the only one that has a chance to beat the Kansas City Chiefs."
3. The Bills 3rd down defense trending up
The Bills defense struggled in the beginning of the season allowing an uncharacteristic amount of third down conversions. In the first six games, Buffalo ranked 30th on third down defense allowing opponents to convert them at a rate of 53.5% of the time. Since Week 7, the Bills have flipped the script on third downs by only letting teams convert 31.3% of the time. In the last seven games they rank second in getting off the field on third downs.
On Sunday, the Steelers converted only one of 10 third downs. Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier thinks it all starts with the play of safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer.
"It's a big deal," Frazier said on his team's ability to stop opponents on third down. "Being able to get off the field on third down and get teams in the situations you want to get them in and pin your ears back and try to get after the quarterback. Our secondary, Micah Hyde along with Jordan Poyer, they do such a great job of giving quarterbacks different looks, which helps our rush because that causes the quarterback to hold the ball a little bit longer.
"It also helps our corners in coverage because the quarterback is trying to decipher what they are playing. It just creates a lot of angst for quarterbacks. You really want to take your hats off to what our safeties are doing along with what our defensive front does that complements our coverage, and that's what allows you to be good on third down. The combination of the rush and then the coverage behind them."
