The Buffalo Bills have now won two straight games to improve to 4-7 and get themselves back in the playoff race. In most seasons, they would have probably have been eliminated by now, but the fact that the No. 6 seed in the AFC is 6-5 means that the Bills are just two wins off the pace. They still have a long way to go but the oddsmakers at BetDSI Sportsbook have posted odds relating to whether they’ll make the playoffs:
Will the Buffalo Bills qualify for the 2018-19 NFL Playoffs?
Yes +2200
No -5000
Related: NFL Betting Guide | Week 13 Odds
The main reason Bills fans can be optimistic is that the team has actually played well with rookie quarterback Josh Allen under center. The team is 3-4 in games that he’s started, but are 1-3 otherwise. Removing his first start, when the team was blown out by Baltimore, the Bills average margin of defeat in games that Allen has started is 13.3 points per game. Their margin of defeat in losses without him is 27.7 points per game. Beyond that, the Bills also have a fairly manageable schedule the rest of the way:
at Miami Dolphins
vs New York Jets
vs Detroit Lions
at New England Patriots
vs Miami Dolphins
Three of the Bills final five games are at home where the team is 2-3 this season. Beyond that, the Bills only have one opponent on the schedule that has a winning record (New England). The other three have been sinking in the standings as the Dolphins have lost four of five, the Jets have lost five straight and the Lions have lost four of five.
As for the Bills, they have some momentum on their side ride now. They have won two straight while scoring 41 and 24 points in the wins. Those are two of their three highest scoring outputs on the season. Their defense has looked strong, holding their last two opponents to an average of 266 yards. And the running game – which is crucial to the Bills success – has come to life as the Bills had 167 rushing yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars and 212 against the New York Jets.
The greatest challenge for the Bills is that while they are only two wins behind in the standings, there are seven teams ahead of them. They’ll have to leapfrog the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins and the Indianapolis Colts before they can get to the Baltimore Ravens. And what’s worse is that the Bills have lost to some of those teams already – like the Ravens and Colts – which means they don’t hold the tiebreaker.
Buffalo has a long way to go to make the playoffs but the good news is they are not out of it. They ended their long playoff drought last season and if they have another December to remember, they might be able to sneak into the playoffs once again.
