Buffalo Bills: 2021 schedule analysis and predictions
Buffalo Bills: Week 14 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
For the first time since he made the jump down south, the Bills will be reunited with their dad I mean former Patriot Tom Brady.
Brady is 32-3 against the Bills. He is simply hard-wired to beat this team. And with 22/22 Super Bowl starters returning for the Bucs, he’s running it back with the exact same group that won the ‘chip last season.
I would say I’m an optimist when it comes to predicting Bills games, but at this point, I’m done betting against Brady. We could discuss Tampa’s potent pass rush that rendered Kansas City’s offence useless in the Super Bowl, or the fact that the Buccaneers’ offensive line is one of the best in the league, but the buck simply stops with Thomas Edward Patrick Brady.
Prediction: 34-28 Buccaneers
Week 15 – vs Carolina Panthers
A late-season visit from the Panthers will see Josh Allen cross paths with one of the two quarterbacks taken ahead of him in the 2018 draft.
With the third overall pick, the New York Jets selected Sam Darnold, four picks before the Bills would take what was then a sizeable gamble on a raw but physically gifted quarterback from Wyoming. Three years later, the Bills seem to have come off the better team. But, with a change of scenery, could Darnold be on the rise?
In Carolina, Darnold finally has the type of supporting cast that the Jets could never acquire. Reunited with former Jet and top target Robby Anderson, Darnold will also have underrated receiver D.J. Moore at his disposal. With a healthy Christian McCaffrey behind him and a young but improving defence, Carolina could make some noise in a weakened NFC South.
While they are certainly better than last year, the Panthers top out as a Wild Card team. The Bills pick up another win in this one.
Prediction: 31-10 Bills
Week 17 – vs Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are the most mysterious team in the NFL.
Despite keeping the offensive core of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones in tact from their Super Bowl run, the Falcons have come nowhere near replicating their 2016 success. It simply seems like the 28-3 lead they blew to Tom Brady and the Patriots is hanging over the team.
However if you look a little closer, the problem isn’t with Ryan or Jones, even though they’re the two faces of the supposed bugaboo around the Falcons. It’s the defence. Despite averaging 4,657 passings yards a season over the last three years, Ryan’s Falcons have gone 18-29 over that same span. The Falcons are in the doldrums.
Atlanta got a game-breaking weapon for Ryan in Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, but failed to land any of the big-name defensive players from this year’s draft class. They’ll score, but against an offence like Buffalo’s, they’ll give up more than Ryan, Jones and Pitts can manage to keep up with.