Buffalo Rumblings
Can the Bills overcome the challenges of November?
It’s finally November, and with it comes the second half of the Buffalo Bills’ schedule. The Bills have three games scheduled during November, starting off in Week 9 with the Miami Dolphins at home on Sunday. For Week 10, Buffalo travels to face the Indianapolis Colts before a big home showdown against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11.
November is an important month for the team as they try to gather momentum for the final stretch of the season. However, this is a month that hasn’t always been kind to head coach Sean McDermott and the Bills.
Since Sean McDermott arrived in 2017, the Buffalo Bills has a 15-14 overall record in November. That’s not ideal because it forces the team to make a run during the last portion of the season. Take last year for example when the team was 1-3 in November. This left Buffalo needing to win out in December to make the postseason. The last time the Bills had a winning record in November was in 2020, when they went 3-1.
These next three games will carry plenty of playoff implications. With Buffalo already having a 3.5-game lead over the Dolphins, a win on Sunday should put them in the rearview mirror barring a collapse. It would also give the Bills the season sweep over Miami, which would extend quarterback Josh Allen’s dominance against them.
When Buffalo travels to take on Indianapolis, it won’t be an easy game by any means. The Colts are a good football team and even though they’ve making a quarterback change going with Joe Flacco, the team is loaded with talent. We all know what running back Johnathan Taylor did against the Bills a couple of seasons ago. This game may also impact seeding if the Colts were to win their division as well.
Finally, we all know the impact that Bills-Chiefs carries. There’s also a real possibility that Kansas City will come into this game undefeated. A win against the Chiefs should give the team confidence of being able to get over the hump. However, the Bills have defeated the Chiefs a couple of times in the regular season, yet didn’t translate into playoffs success. This game could also have an impact on determining the number-one overall seed in the AFC.
If the Bills are able to weather November well, they’ll be greeted with a bye week before big games in December against the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions.
