Buffalo Rumblings
It feels like the Buffalo Bills haven’t played a game in ages, thanks to the team’s Ween 7 bye. That’s what happens when a team loses two games in a row against opponents they should have been able to push aside.
Almost nothing’s come easy for the Bills through six games this season, but there’s little time to dwell on the past. There’s a lot of good to lean on with Buffalo’s roster, but the time for playing “cute” must end. Failing to do so may find the Bills under head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane in unfamiliar draft territory next April. But that’s a conversation for another space.
As alluded to above, the building blocks for success are in-house and it starts with a return to form by quarterback Josh Allen and offensive coordinator Joe Brady. Much has been made about Buffalo’s wide receiver situation, but the truth is that Allen’s ad much to blame for the poor on-field product the last two games. Brady needs to remember how much he likes running plays and utilize star running back James Cook more than a handful of snaps in critical moments and downs.
Then there’s the defense, which some have labeled a “liability” or worse in 2025. That includes last season’s playoff run in January. It’s time that a team led by a defensive mind for nearly a decade figures things out on defense. Injury and suspension haven’t helped matters, but the latter situation is over. Defensive end Michael Hoecht and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi make their debuts in Week 8, and there’s plenty of lost time to make up for thanks to six-game suspensions.
Most viewed the bye as great timing for the Bills, but they may disagree simply due to the sour gobstopper lodged in their throats the past three weeks. What does that mean for the always-entertaining-yet-sometimes-confounding (and poorly constructed) NFL power rankings, which are certainly nothing more than a thought exercise based on W-L records? Let’s find out more with a horde of the latest below.
Touchdown Wire drops off our list as of this edition because I won’t suffer inferior, incomplete, and inconsistent efforts in this arena. This also means that Mike Florio is on notice as his effort could be best described as mailing it in each week (check out his latest effort with Pro Football Talk below).
Florio certainly knows how “valuable” power rankings are for his empire of clicks and sphere influence, but the work he puts in is marginal at best. If I’m going to extend featured article time and space to national writers whose work I link directly to (and away from Buffalo Rumblings) I expect their output be on at least equal footing as our small corner of the internet.
Let’s get to this, shall we? Despite the bye week, the Bills dropped in many Week 8 power rankings. Others logically so reason to leave them be where sent a week ago, while a couple found...
