Buffalo Bills' Playoff Chances Partly Benefit From Saturday Games

The Buffalo Bills will emerge from Week 15 as big winners ... so long as they conquer the Dallas Cowboys in the Sunday late afternoon window.

Alive from Western New York, it's Saturday night.

The Buffalo Bills did not appear on Saturday's NFL slate, but they emerged as one of the big winners from the first of the final four weeks of the regular season. Each will include Saturday action, and the Bills will get to partake in next week's edition against the Los Angeles Chargers. 

In the meantime, the Bills' playoff case benefitted from at least some of the action on the opening Saturday trio: while they could've done without the Cincinnati Bengals' come-from-behind, 27-24 overtime interconference victory over the Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo no doubt cherished the efforts of the Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions, who respectively topped the Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos. 

Bills fans no doubt appreciated the Detroit Lions' demolition of the Denver Broncos on Saturday :: Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Bills, of course, will need to make a late Sunday statement by getting past the Dallas Cowboys in an interconference clash of their own (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox). But they did get some help via the kindness of strangers to improve their playoff fortunes.

After Saturday's events, the Bills are one of two 7-6 teams left in the AFC Wild Card logjam, each a half-game behind Cincinnati and Indianapolis for the latter two spots. The other, Houston, is missing its starting quarterback CJ Stroud as it hits the road to face the Tennessee Titans. Before their team's clash with the Cowboys, Buffalo fans will likely be pulling for the Chicago Bears, who take on the Wild Card leaders from Cleveland during Sunday's early window. 

Alas, with the Cowboys residing in the NFC East, Buffalo won't be able to do much in one of the most vital tiebreakers, conference record. The Bills still sit behind the Texans due to falling short in that department (4-4 vs. 4-5) and would also fall short of the Colts' tally (6-4). Cincinnati is 3-6 in divisional play but owns the tiebreaker against the Bills thanks to a win in their November matchup. 

Bills fans will also hold their noses and root for the New York Jets, who face the AFC East division-leading Miami Dolphins. As long as the Bills sit one game behind the Dolphins heading into their regular season closer on Jan. 7, they'll remain in the hunt for a winner-take-all showdown in South Florida thanks to the Bills' 48-20 win in Orchard Park in October.

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The remedy, of course, is winning and there's ample opportunity to do so, even with the mighty Cowboys' visit looming. Over the next two weeks, the Bills face the doomed Chargers and New England Patriots before the Week 18 finale against the Dolphins, which could be rendered meaningless for South Beach depending on how the next two weeks play out.