The Bills surpassed the Cowboys last Sunday and have a relatively easy matchup with the Chargers Saturday night. You know the story—if the Bills wish to make the playoffs, they’ll need to continue to win. If they beat the Chargers, Patriots and Dolphins, their odds of making the playoffs are over 90%. If they lose one of these games, it drops to 60%.
Other than a Bills win versus the Chargers, here are the Bills rooting interest in order of prevalence in Week 16:
Cowboys OVER Dolphins (2)
The Cowboys rolled over at Buffalo. Will they bounce back and do the Bills a big favor and beat the Dolphins? A Dolphins loss would be immensely crucial if the Bills want to win the AFC East.
The easiest path to the playoffs for the Bills is to win the AFC East. The Dolphins have the Cowboys, Ravens and Bills remaining on their schedule—and if you remember, they haven’t beat a team with a winning record.
Steelers (10) OVER Bengals (6)
At 8-6, the Bengals control their own destiny the rest of the way. If they continue to win, they’ll make the playoffs. The Steelers, now 7-7 are on the outside looking in and have shown their true colors, losing three straight games.
Falcons OVER Colts (7)
The Colts, also 8-6, control their own destiny and if they continue to win, will be in the playoffs. They have the AFC record tiebreaker over the Bills.
Browns (5) OVER Texans (8)
The Texans are also 8-6, but are the fourth wild card team, so they’d need some help in order to get into the playoffs. The Browns, somehow, sit at 9-5 and would be the first wild card team. A Browns win over the Texans along with a Bills win would allow Buffalo to leapfrog the Texans. A Browns loss would further murk the wild card waters.
Raiders OVER Chiefs (3)
If the Bills win the AFC East and win out, they’d be seeded over the Chiefs with the head-to-head tiebreaker if the Chiefs lose just one game.
Buccaneers OVER Jaguars (4)
SOMEONE has to win the AFC South. Might as well be the Jags. However, a loss to the Bucs would put them at 8-7 and should the Bills win the East, they’d be seeded higher than the Jags.
Patriots OVER Broncos (11)
The Bills really can’t afford to lose any games. But if they do, a Broncos loss would be beneficial as they’d have one more loss than Buffalo still.
49ers OVER Ravens (1)
The Bills have less than a 1% chance to win the #1 AFC seed. To do so, the Ravens would need to lose out amongst many other things. Hey! We can dream can’t’ we?!
