SEATTLE 鈥 Is it too early to give the Buffalo Bills a magic number to clinch the AFC East? Is it too premature to start breaking down matchups for their home game next month against the Kansas City Chiefs? Is it too soon to start discussing potential playoff opponents?
Nope. Nope. And nope.
What else to take away from Sunday? In the early-game window, their division rivals continued to flail away. Miami blew a 10-point lead and lost to Arizona and the New York Jets lost at lowly New England. The Bills did their part, stretching their lead to 3陆 games (largest in the NFL) with a 31-10 dismantling of the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field, which Bills fans turned into Highmark Stadium Pacific Northwest.
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The Bills are the class of their division, and only a collapse will prevent them from a fifth consecutive first-place finish.
鈥淲e knew we would have to play well in all three phases and I think we did enough to get the result we were looking for,鈥 coach Sean McDermott said.
The Bills did more than enough. This was a dominant performance. They outgained Seattle 445-233. They solved the Rubik鈥檚 Cube of recent slow starts. They ran 22 more plays than the Seahawks. And they allowed 1 rushing yard in the first half.
Bills linebacker Joe Andreessen hits Seahawks kick returner Laviska Shenault Jr. during the third quarter of Sunday鈥檚 game in Seattle.
Dating to last December, the Bills have won 11 of their last 13 regular-season games.
Dating to last month, the Bills already have two three-game winning streaks.
And dating to Week 2, the Bills have played five of their last seven on the road and are 3-2.
As they packed up their bags in the locker room for the long flight home, I showed the updated AFC East standings to several players and asked for their immediate reaction.
(They could actually read my handwriting, which was a win for me.)
Bills 6-2.
Miami 2-5.
New England 2-6.
New York Jets 2-6.
First up was defensive tackle DaQuan Jones.
鈥淗ell yeah, (bleep) yeah,鈥 he said.
What was that?
鈥淗ell yeah, (bleep) yeah,鈥 Jones repeated.
My early front-runner for quote of the year.
Hell yeah, because the Bills are wise enough to know there is a hiccup or three left in the season, but they have built themselves a great cushion. Will they trip up and lose a game they鈥檙e supposed to win? Likely. It happens every week in this league. Jones has appeared in 154 regular-season and playoff games, and he got within one win of the Super Bowl with Tennessee after the 2019 season. He knows looking ahead leads to trouble.
(Bleep) yeah, because the Bills鈥 young and new players are learning the standard while winning games.
Bills safety Taylor Rapp celebrates with defensive tackle Austin Johnson during the fourth quarter of Sunday鈥檚 win over the Seahawks.
I showed defensive tackle Austin Johnson the standings.
Johnson 鈥 who posted his first career interception in the third quarter, off a tipped pass by rushing defensive end Casey Toohill 鈥 has played 128 regular-season and playoff games. He was Jones鈥 teammate with the Titans five years ago. Johnson is aware of the deal. They call the NFL a week-to-week league for a reason.
鈥淗ave to be consistent, keep on going, win the division and get in the playoffs,鈥 he said. 鈥淜eep on stacking (wins).鈥
Consistency is always elusive. Injuries pile up. Good breaks disappear. Players have bad days. The other team plays better. But the positive about Sunday was how the Bills took a step forward in putting together a complete effort.
I showed left guard David Edwards the standings.
A veteran of 88 regular-season and playoff games, Edwards started for the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in 2021.
鈥淩ecords are deceiving,鈥 he said. 鈥淭o me, so many things can happen and change. I think of (the Bills) last year 鈥 6-6 and we rattled off five straight to win the division. A lot can change from right now to the end of the season. We try to focus on us and play our style of football.鈥
Edwards remembers how the 2021 Rams went winless in November (0-3), but regrouped to win the title. And as he noted, this Bills team was a rudderless cargo ship last Thanksgiving weekend, but rallied to win out.
The Bills don鈥檛 make their schedule, so I can鈥檛 fault them for their wins. Their Week 1 win over Arizona looks decent (the Cardinals are 4-4). Same goes for their win over Seattle (4-4), which will have more bad days ahead. As for their other victims 鈥 Miami (2-5), Jacksonville (2-6), the Jets (2-6), Tennessee (1-7) 鈥 they won those games by 21, 37, three and 24 points. The Bills are pounding inferior competition.
Miami is up next for the Bills, followed by Indianapolis (4-4) and then 鈥 buckle the seat belts and bar the doors, folks 鈥 7-0 Kansas City on Nov. 17 in Orchard Park. Can鈥檛 wait, right? It would help if the Chiefs would actually lose a game, but they have Tampa Bay and Denver coming to Arrowhead before they face the Bills, so I鈥檒l say they will be 9-0.
But 鈥 one final thing. Those dang penalties. The Bills had 13 enforced penalties. Too many. Way too many. Effort penalties, those will happen. But pre-snap penalties are inexcusable.
鈥淲e have to clean that up,鈥 Edwards said. 鈥淭hat can鈥檛 happen for us to become the type of team we want to be.鈥
Bills tight end Dawson Knox makes first-down catch before running into Seahawks cornerback Coby Bryant in the first quarter. Knox had two receptions for 50 yards.
Elite opponents will take advantage of the Bills鈥 penalties. Seattle isn鈥檛 elite and wasn鈥檛 able to seize, mostly because it was in the process of being called for 11 penalties. But nitpicking things at 6-2 is better than fixing issues with a 4-4 record (or worse).
鈥淕et better each week and keep on improving where we need to,鈥 Jones said. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e doing that. Not every game will be perfect, but (Sunday), we took a great step as an entire team.鈥
Sunday was another great step, setting up fans for a final nine games of more great steps.
