Bills' new Playoff Standard is Among NFL's Elite
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Just because the wins this season haven't been as plentiful or as pretty as the year before doesn't necessarily mean the Buffalo Bills have taken a step backward.
In fact, by qualifying for the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons and each of the last three, they've climbed into the NFL's super elite.
Only the Kansas City Chiefs, coached by McDermott's former boss, Andy Reid, have made it all five seasons. The New Orleans Saints may join them if things break right for them this coming weekend.
The Bills and just five other teams (The Saints, Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans) have been there four times. The Baltimore Ravens, need to make it this season to join that group, but have just a 2% chance, according to the FiveThirtyEight predictor.
That New England plays in the AFC East with the Bills makes what the Bills have been able to do even more remarkable.
What these simple facts also prove is that just making it to the postseason on a regular basis is an extraordinary feat in today's 32-team NFL, even with last season's expansion of the number of qualifiers from 12 to 14.
Yet making the playoffs became the expectation in Buffalo right away. Now it's winning the division. Next is ... well, everyone knows.
"Three years in a row, it's not easy," quarterback Josh Allen said. "Winning is not easy in this league, and you need to celebrate it when you can, but we're not just hoping to get into the playoff system. That's not our goal. Our main goal at the start of the season is to give ourselves a chance to win the Super Bowl. And yes, to get to the Super Bowl you have to make the playoffs. So we have accomplished that goal, but we have loftier ones ahead of us."
Allen was asked if he feels the Bills are peaking at the right time with a three-game winning streak heading into the final game of the regular season on Sunday against the New York Jets.
"It's good to think of it that way," he said, "but it's also good to think we've got to improve on things before we get in. And we've got one more game left. But again, I think the guys that we've got, we're fairly healthy right now, you know what our offensive line has been the last couple of weeks — it's been been awesome to see that and to see them grow and ... see how well some of these guys are playing. So that's been very promising.
"Obviously you've been able to see Motor [running back Devin Singletary] kind of step into a bigger role for our offense. He's been excelling. Guys on the outside have been getting open and catching balls and making plays. That's really all you can ask for.
"You know, we've got a bunch of guys that care for each other. They work extremely hard in practice and on game day they want to go make big plays. I wouldn't trade any of our guys for the world because, again, what we've got in this locker right now feels good."
Many of the younger players on this team haven't experienced non-playoff seasons.
That can be good as long as they are made to know that it isn't automatic, according to coach Sean McDermott.
"The critical piece of that for us going forward is to make sure those guys don't take it for granted," he said, "make sure those guys know, because they'll eventually become the leaders that then educate and influence the younger guys that come in as we go down the road here."
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
