Buffalo Bills: Breaking down each game in the 2019 schedule

Weeks 14-16: vs Baltimore, at Pittsburgh, at New England

This is where it gets rough. Baltimore schemes teams to death and you can tell they’re very well-coached. They basically had to create a new offence when Lamar Jackson took over and they didn’t miss a beat. You hate to predict an injury, but with Jackson’s recklessness and small frame, he could get seriously hurt.

If Jackson is still healthy in Week 14, the Ravens are going to be in the playoff hunt. They always seem to have a great defence too. Even though they lost their leader in C.J. Mosley, they still boast LB Patrick Onwuasor, and a secondary of CBs Jimmy Smith and Marlon Humphrey, SS Tony Jefferson and FS Earl Thomas. They also crushed the Bills 47-3 last season.

Next up is a trip to the Steel City, never an easy place to play. The Steelers will be testing the theory of addition by subtraction, as they finally moved on from Antonio Brown this offseason. While the locker room may breathe a sigh of relief, there is still a lot of production to replace.

Like Baltimore, however, the Steelers have a brand. They draft a certain way and play a certain way year in and year out. I wish I could find some stat or pattern to explain this but it’s just an unquantifiable feeling.

Part of their brand in recent years has been taking weeks off, though, and with an absolutely brutal schedule that includes New England, Seattle, both Los Angeles teams, Indianapolis and Cleveland and Baltimore twice, the Bills could catch them napping.

A team they won’t catch napping is the Patriots, who are borderline unbeatable at home. Unless they have already clinched their spot in the big dance and are resting players, don’t expect much. 0-3 to 2-1 seems to be the range here, but I’m going to go with 1-2. That brings the Bills record to 8-7 entering Week 17.