Richard Mackson- US Presswire
As the Buffalo Bills return home to Orchard Park, the team approaches what may be the hardest part of their schedule. Many have said that Buffalo have a light schedule and should be able to make a run at the playoffs. I decided to take a look at the heart of the schedule, October and November, and see just how “easy” it is.
The Bills strength of schedule ranks 29th in the league, ahead of only the Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots. While the fact that the Packers and Patriots both have the two easiest schedules is enough to rant about alone, I am not going to rant about other team’s schedules. The 29th ranking is misleading in that it only bases ranks off of opponents and not on the actual NFL scheduling.
Of the seven games played in October and November, the Bills have only two home games. The first home game of that stretch is this week against the Tennessee Titans. The Bills started off October by heading out West and playing two tough teams, the San Francisco 49er’s and the Arizona Cardinals. The team decided to stay out West for two weeks, which seemed to be a positive move as they were able to go into Arizona and put up a win in overtime. Now, however, they head back to Buffalo after being out West for almost 10 days and prepare for the Titans, who are inconsistent, and the like the Bills, unpredictable when it comes to deciding which team will show up any given week.
The only other home game is a Prime Time Thursday night game against division opponent, the Miami Dolphins. Not only do they play a division opponent on a short week, they are facing the Dolphins after back to back away games against the Houston Texans and the Patriots, two teams that will likely be atop the AFC at the end of the season.
They finish out the two month stretch facing an Indianapolis Colts team that is tough to be in their house, just recently winning a battle against the Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Whoever, thinks this schedule is one of the easiest needs to reevaluate the schedule because the Bills will be lucky to pull out of this stretch with a winning record. With that being said, if the Bills can go into December with a 6-5 record, the Bills will make the playoffs for the first time in over a decade.
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