Super Bowl LVI Prediction:
My slowly evolving Super Bowl pick, which also will be updated each week, depending on performances: Buffalo over Arizona.
Why the Bills will be atop the AFC throughout the season
"It's called the 17-game schedule, I'm not gonna be a prisoner of one game. Buffalo has the easiest schedule left. They only have two teams with a winning record left on the schedule. I think they play Tampa Bay, and I think they play New Orleans. And if you look at the other games, you only play two teams with a winning record that gives a decisive edge to what they have going on in Buffalo."
Takeaways from Week 6
Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen will keep them in every game, but their defense is suddenly a concern. They had no answers for the Titans as Monday night's shootout wore on, even if a better QB sneak would've changed the final outcome.
Week 7 Offense Rankings
#3. BUFFALO BILLS
When Josh Allen is playing at his peak, there's little way of stopping this Bills offense. No team in the NFL has a higher rate of scoring drives than Buffalo, and it is consistently making smart decisions and play calls to maximize its potential of winning games. Even when those decisions don't pay off, the process is sound. Buffalo took criticism for trying to sneak for a first down and win the game against Tennessee rather than playing for overtime in Week 6. The decision didn't work out for them, but before that sneak, Allen had converted 29-of-31 such attempts on third- or fourth-and-1. Allen's PFF grade isn't quite where it was a season ago, but an 83.7 mark still puts him inside the top 10.
Are the Bills the best team in the AFC?
Foxworth – Yes
"I still feel like Buffalo is a very good team, they're still the best team AFC. This is a Monday night, primetime game in Tennessee and maybe I'm making excuses for the Bills but you're not gonna win all the games. You're gonna lose some games, and this is a reasonable one. … So, I still think just because the Bills lost, it doesn't make me lose any confidence in them. They struggled in the redzone, but they moved the ball pretty well. I think Josh Allen and the Bills are still the class of AFC."
Spears - No
"It's really not about [Monday] night. Did y'all see the Ravens play the Chargers. Things are things are starting to come together in the AFC. I still believe the Bills are an elite contender to make the Super Bowl, out of the AFC. But there's other teams, it's just like I talked about on NFL Live about the Chiefs. Your margins for error are starting to shrink, that's football, and that's week to week as we go."
Josh Allen moves up one spot in NFL QB Index
Rank: 7
Josh Allen:· Buffalo Bills
2021 stats: 6 games | 64.8 pct | 1,723 pass yds | 7.5 ypa | 15 pass TD | 3 INT | 214 rush yds | 2 rush TD | 3 fumbles
The further that Allen's first two sluggish games get in the rearview mirror, the clearer it becomes that he's playing at (or close enough to) his 2020 level again. Monday night's loss in Tennessee felt fluky in many ways, and it finished as one of my highest-graded Allen games of the year, with just a few throws and that unfortunate slip near the goal line marring an otherwise-perfect evening.
The loss stings, but the Bills have to be proud of their team effort
Allen was once again excellent, completing 35 of 47 passes for 353 yards and three touchdowns, including a tremendous sequence in which he found the unheralded Tommy Sweeney for a touchdown, then caught a pass from tight end Dawson Knox to convert a two-point try. Allen connected with nine pass-catchers in the game, firing a touchdown pass to Cole Beasley to take the lead just before halftime in a wild back-and-forth affair, and it seemed Tennessee wouldn't find an answer for Allen because he was simply too effective at going where the Titans weren't located. But the fourth quarter failure in Tennessee's red zone will end up stinging the most, as the Bills' high-powered offense was able to easily get close to the end zone but wasn't able to finish the job. It's fair to believe McDermott wouldn't change a thing about his decision on fourth down, and the Next Gen Stats back it up, too, as the call boosted Buffalo's win probability by 21.3% before the snap. The Bills aren't going to get over the hump in the AFC by playing it safe. When they look back at this game, they'll likely lament their two missed touchdown opportunities in the first quarter, which produced six points via Tyler Bass field goals instead of 14 points. The Bills will learn from Monday night's loss and hope to apply the lesson going forward.
Getzenberg's confidence rating (0-10): 7.8, down from 7.9. There are still plenty of reasons to have confidence in the Bills, despite the team coming off a loss, but the issues displayed vs. the Titans need to be corrected before this number moves again in a positive direction.
