Life is good for the Buffalo Bills heading into the final five weeks of the regular season.
Life is good for the Buffalo Bills heading into the final five weeks of the 2024 NFL regular season.
With a dominant 35-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football, a win in which NFL MVP frontrunner Josh Allen made all sorts of history, the Bills clinched the AFC East for a franchise-record fifth consecutive season and remain just one game back of the Kansas City Chiefs in the overall AFC standings.
In regards to the No. 1 seed, the 10-2 Bills still need the 11-1 Chiefs to lose at least one game down the stretch, which is certainly possible as Kansas City has the 10th-toughest remaining schedule based on win-loss records.
Buffalo, meanwhile, has the eighth-easiest slate over the final five weeks, although a date with the Detroit Lions is still on the docket a week after this Sunday’s matchup with the Los Angeles Rams. Over the final three weeks, however, the Bills have the New England Patriots in Week 16, the New York Jets in Week 17, and then the Pats again in Week 18.
So, once again, life is good for the Buffalo Bills, who have welcomed back a familiar face, which is where we’ll kick things off.
Micah Hyde rejoins the Bills but will start on the practice squad
Over the last couple of months, rumors have been swirling that longtime Bills safety Micah Hyde would rejoin the team at some point or another.
And those rumors have now come to fruition, as it was announced on Wednesday that the two-time Second-Team All-Pro had been signed to Buffalo’s practice squad.
Hyde, who became a free agent at the end of last season, went unsigned during the offseason and stated on several occasions that he would likely retire before playing for anyone but Buffalo.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott made it crystal clear that Hyde is purely a practice squad player at this point and went on to compliment current safeties Taylor Rapp, Damar Hamlin, Cole Bishop, and Kareem Jackson.
After missing most of the 2022 season with a neck injury, Hyde returned and had a solid 2023 campaign, recording 54 tackles, seven passes defended, and a pair of interceptions. So, while McDermott says he’s not expecting much, don’t be surprised if No. 23 gets called up the main roster at some point.
Josh Allen has taken a commanding lead in the NFL MVP race
With all due respect to Saquon Barkley, who’s having a phenomenal first season with the Philadelphia Eagles and will likely win Offensive Player of the Year, Josh Allen is the clear call for NFL MVP at this juncture.
From a statistical standpoint, Allen’s numbers might not stack up to some of the other quarterbacks in this race and certainly won’t be the best of his career at season’s end.
But the fact of the matter is that he’s been ridiculously consistent for the vast majority of the season and has never been more of a leader for this Bills team than he is now. And the NFL MVP odds are reflective of that.
A week ago, Allen was the frontrunner on DraftKings at +150, while Barkley was a close second at +250. But that gap has widened considerably, and Allen is now the only player in this race who has a minus sign in front of his odds, which is obviously quite telling.
Heading into Week 14, Allen sits at -225, with Barkley in second at +350. Lamar Jackson (+900), Jared Goff (+1200), and Patrick Mahomes (+2500) round out the top five.
Bills are looking to join the 1985 Bears in a highly exclusive club
As mentioned, the Bills locked up the AFC East for a fifth consecutive season this past Sunday with their win over the Niners.
And in doing so, they became just the seventh team in NFL history to clinch a division with five or more weeks remaining in the regular season and the first since Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts wrapped up the AFC South with five weeks to go in 2009.
The good omen here for Buffalo is that of the six teams that have previously accomplished this feat, five went on to make an appearance in the Super Bowl.
The bad sign, on the other hand, is that of those five, only one actually hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, that one being the famous 1985 Chicago Bears. So, if the Bills can finally bring a Super Bowl title to Buffalo, they’ll be in some pretty elite company.