Buffalo Bills: Is late-season collapse inevitably coming?

The Buffalo Bills started out hot early in the 2019 season but some stumbles as of late make a late-season collapse seem all too possible.

In the infancy of the 2019 NFL season, the Buffalo Bills appeared to be looming as a sleeper. Sean McDermott‘s team started the year with three straight victories, albeit over teams that currently have a combined four wins between them. However, when they welcomed the Patriots to Buffalo in Week 4 and pushed New England in a six-point loss, they seemed legit.

After the loss to the Pats, the script seemed to stay the same for the Bills. They went on the road and fought hard for a win against the Titans and, though they stumbled a bit, they got past a divisional opponent in the Dolphins after their bye week. Though they were 6-1 at that point, that may have been the first warning sign.

Then came Week 8 as the Bills welcomed the Eagles to Buffalo and were promptly run off the field. The stout defense that defined the identity of the Bills was nowhere to be seen as they gave up 31 points at home.

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Though Buffalo bounced back to beat an abysmal Redskins team the next week, they followed it up with a loss in Cleveland to a Browns team that tried their best to give the Bills the game. That loss dropped them to 6-3 on the season but, more importantly, it should also raise concern about how legitimate Buffalo actually is.

When they were on their early-season run, I was on board with this team as a win-ugly type of group. This strong, veteran defense headlined by playmakers like Tre’Davious White and Micah Hyde seemed able to carry this team. And though Josh Allen, Devin Singletary and the offense have their warts, they seemed capable of making enough splash plays to keep winning.

After the past four weeks, though, we could be looking down the barrel of a late-season fall-off for the Buffalo Bills. In Week 11, they travel to Miami to play the Dolphins. While the Phins have been a punchline for much of the season, they’re winners of two consecutive games — playing their best football of the season — and took Buffalo to the brink back in Week 7.

In the final six weeks of the regular season, the Bills do get favorable matchups at home against the Broncos, on the road against Pittsburgh and at home for the Jets. However, also in that stretch they have to go on the road to face the Cowboys, take a trip to New England and welcome the Ravens to town.

With the way this team was playing early in the season, they seemed destined to secure a playoff spot in the wide-open AFC. However, as teams like the Oakland Raiders, Indianapolis Colts, Titans and even the Browns have started making a run, that is looking less certain by the day.

It was always the case that Buffalo was going to be an imperfect team with upside — that’s the marriage to Josh Allen in this team. As talented physically as the second-year quarterback is, he can only have so much put on his shoulders given his inconsistencies and turnover woes, especially with limited weapons around him.

The unfortunate part for the Bills is that they might have realized that upside far too early in the season, peaking too soon. And now, as they enter a crucial part of the schedule with some tough matchups and even a couple of trap games on the docket, they could very well be in danger of falling out of a once-secure postseason berth if things don’t turn around.