Buffalo Rumblings
Concerns remain, but the Buffalo Bills earned their second necessary AFC victory in a row on Sunday afternoon and held onto their AFC playoff spot after defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in one of the last remaining games at Highmark Stadium before moving across the street in 2026.
With the New England Patriots in a commanding lead of the AFC East, the Bills are battling with the 7-5 Houston Texans, 6-6 Pittsburgh Steelers, and 6-6 Kansas City Chiefs for a Wild Card spot in the 2025 AFC playoffs. Even teams like the Miami Dolphins are still mathematically alive at 6-7.
The idea that the Bills would cruise to a divisional championship, punch their ticket to the playoffs, and jockey for a top seed is still out the window. The tier of teams in the conference that could be considered Buffalo’s peers has taken a step back from the “championship hopefuls” to the “playoff hopefuls”.
Not a single unit has been an Achilles’ heel for the team in 2025, however. The defense has underperformed and has lost its pass rush juice after a promising start. The run defense has continued its year-over-year trend of suboptimal play. The passing game lacks any kind of vertical effectiveness and even Josh Allen has regressed in terms of avoiding negative plays after a historical 2024 that helped propel him to his first NFL MVP award. Simply put, the Bills are giving the ball away more and taking it away less.
A career season from running back James Cook, a big step forward from second-year safety Cole Bishop, and continued strong play from the offensive line have been highlights, but they haven’t been enough to help the team replicate its previous years’ successes.
The types of issues mentioned above, combined with the teams’ win/loss record and current seeding, lead to a justifiable lack of optimism surrounding the organization. The Bills could absolutely go on a run, make the playoffs, and even win some games. The AFC looks as weak as it has in years. But what about the team that’s been observed over the last month makes you think that they will do just that? Josh Allen making inhuman plays used to be the competitive advantage for the Bills; now it’s what they need just to stay competitive.
But staying competitive is exactly what they’re doing right now.
The Bills needed back-to-back interceptions, one on a tip and another on a spectacular effort from star cornerback Christian Benford, to slow down the Bengals offense, who had scored at will up until the end of the fourth quarter and quickly scored after those two blips as well. But for the second week in a row, Buffalo did what it needed to do to get a win against an AFC playoff hopeful to add another W to their record.
There are four games left on the Bills’ 2025 regular season schedule: at the New England Patriots, at the Cleveland Browns, hosting the Philadelphia Eagles, and hosting the New York...
