Bills Central

Bills' early-season schedule not as daunting as initially thought through two games

The Buffalo Bills' next four contests are, on paper, not as intimidating as initially feared.

Kyle Silagyi

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Naysayers and doomposters predicted the downfall of the Buffalo Bills throughout the entire 2024 offseason, the team’s unfavorable early-campaign schedule being among the various reasons people pointed to as evidence of Buffalo’s imminent collapse. Most agreed that the Bills kicked off the season with a winnable game against the Arizona Cardinals, but their next five games—on the road against the Miami Dolphins, at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and then three straight away games against the Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, and New York Jets—could prompt disaster.

The 30,000-foot view is a bit kinder through the first two games of the campaign. Buffalo has done everything it has needed to do throughout the young season, coming from behind to defeat the Cardinals in Week 1 before dismantling the Dolphins in a Week 2 Thursday Night Football clash. The Bills, now sans former stalwarts like Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White, Mitch Morse, and Stefon Diggs, certainly look different than they have in years past, but through two games, they’ve proven that they’re still one of the league’s best teams; they’re not going anywhere.

Related: LOOK: Massive Josh Allen poster installed in downtown Buffalo

And Buffalo’s early-season success, combined with the relative lack-there-of of its imminent opponents, makes its initial slate of games a bit more palatable than initially anticipated. 13WHAM’s Mike Catalana noted this on Twitter Monday morning.

It’s important not to overlook or underestimate any opponents, but as Catalana notes, the stretch—while still challenging and far from a cakewalk—isn’t as intimidating as once thought. The Jaguars have been immensely underwhelming to start the campaign; questions loom about head coach Doug Pederson’s long-term stability as the team blew both 14-0 and 17-7 leads to fall to the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 before losing to the 2024 Deshaun Watson-helmed Cleveland Browns in Week 2. The Ravens are also 0-2 through two games, dropping a nail-biter to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 before blowing a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to lose to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

Houston and the Jets have gotten off to comparatively better starts, as the 2-0 Texans top the AFC South as the only team in their division that has won a game. That said, they don’t look to be the juggernaut that some thought they’d be, with their wins being over the Indianapolis Colts by two points and the Chicago Bears by six points. The Jets, meanwhile, were handled by the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 before besting the Tennessee Titans last weekend; included below is a fun highlight for no reason in particular.

The Jets have an immensely talented roster, but quarterback Aaron Rodgers does not look to be the player he once was in his age-40 season. 

Games aren’t played on paper, and momentum can obviously shift over the next few weeks; that said, Buffalo’s early-season schedule, at this particular moment, does not appear to be as daunting as initially anticipated. Some were envisioning a 1-5 or 2-4 start, but given what we’ve seen from both the Bills and their opponents through two games, Buffalo’s next four games look incredibly winnable; constructing a favorable record through this stretch could set the team firmly down the path toward winning its fifth-consecutive AFC East title.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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