Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills are riding a two-game winning streak, and now enter a three-game home stand that begins with an AFC East showdown against the Miami Dolphins for Thursday Night Football in Week 3. Fresh off a 30-10 thrashing of the hapless New York Jets, and with a comeback for ages still the talk of the town, where do national analysts place the Bills in their latest power rankings?
You likely aren’t surprised to learn that Buffalo is the talk of the league right now, at least in conversations about the best NFL teams. I pointed out in our latest Reacts poll just how fortuitous the early season has been for the Bills, thanks to this tidy chart courtesy of ESPN:
Every bit of that above comes with the territory when a team has the reigning NFL MVP at quarterback. Josh Allen is still very much on an upward trajectory, young enough that his prime is nowhere near a plateau. The Super Bowl remains well within reach so long as Buffalo’s Winter Soldier continues slinging footballs.
But yes, I get it — it’s far too early to talk about the playoffs (even though we may begin doing so sooner than you expect). For now, let’s live in the present and dive in to the latest NFL power rankings, passing the mic to rankings experts around the country…
“Biggest QB takeaway: Josh Allen continues to embrace he doesn’t have to be Superman”
“Although it’s sometimes necessary for Allen to put the Bills on his back, he had issues early in his career of trying to do too much on his own. That still comes up sometimes, but the Bills have shown that they don’t have to rely solely on Allen’s arm and legs. That was on display versus the Jets, as Buffalo’s dominant rushing attack led the way. James Cook finished with 132 yards and two touchdowns, and Allen didn’t score in a start for just the eighth time in his NFL career.” — Alaina Getzenberg
“There are a small handful of NFL teams each season that make inferior opponents look like actual collegiate programs attempting to play professionally. Such was the case when Buffalo avoided a major hangover in East Rutherford and won a game in which Josh Allen’s nose was hammered (and Allen didn’t score a passing or rushing touchdown).” — Conor Orr
“It was a dominant performance against the Jets, even as Josh Allen had a pedestrian day throwing the football and suffered a bloodied nose, giving way to Mitchell Trubisky for a short spell. Allen got back in to lead a ground-based punishment of New York’s defense. James Cook led the way, and Buffalo’s defense made a strong statement after giving up 40 points to Baltimore in Week 1. The Bills only allowed the Jets to cross midfield once in the first 53 minutes of the game. Buffalo’s...
