The Buffalo Bills lost in Week 9 versus the Cincinnati Bengals, and with Buffalo playing Denver in Week 10, the Broncos might be vulnerable to a hungry Bills team. I was kind of rooting for Buffalo to win, and that might sound weird. Well, it might not; since Von Miller is on the Bills, I bet a lot of the fanbase root for the Bills.
Anyway, the Bengals beat the Bills by six points on Sunday Night Football, and Buffalo now falls to 5-4, which is a pretty bad record by their standards. OK, so the reason I was rooting for Buffalo is pretty simple: the Bills have a habit of absolutely destroying their opponent the week after a loss. The Bills have done this numerous times over the last several seasons, and I now think the Denver Broncos are much more vulnerable.
I truly would not be surprised if Buffalo came out in Week 10 and embarrassed Denver in primetime. The two teams meet on Monday Night Football on November 13th. After the Broncos shockingly beat the Chiefs in Week 8, they surely went into the bye week feeling good. The team has now won three of their last five and two games in a row.
The defense has played extremely well over the last month and the offense is doing just enough to win thus far. Russell Wilson has been fine and the offensive line is one of the top units in the NFL. Anyway, take a look at how much the Bills dominate their opponents after a loss:
After losing two in a row in Weeks 5 and 6 of the 2020 NFL Season, Buffalo closed out the season winning nine of their last 1 contests. After losing in Week 1 of the 2021 NFL Season, they shut out the Miami Dolphins in the following week and won four in a row after the Week 1 loss, including another shutout versus the Houston Texans. They lost in Week 6 in 2021 and won 26-11 the following week.
Then, in Week 9, they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, only to beat the New York Jets 45-17 in Week 10. In Week 11, they lost to the Indianapolis Colts, only to win 31-6 versus the New Orleans Saints in Week 12. After two straight losses in Week 13 and 14, they won four in a row to close out that season. In 2022, Buffalo lost in Week 3 and proceeded to win four in a row after that.
After two straight losses in Weeks 9 and 10, they won seven in a row to close out the regular season and won their first playoff game, so they won eight overall. And in 2023, after losing in Week 1 to the Jets, they won three in a row, and all three were blowout wins. You might not think this means much, but I do think Buffalo typically responds very well after a loss, and with them losing to the Bengals in Week 9, I think them having a "get right" game versus the Denver Broncos just got more likely. I do think Denver has the coaching advantage between Sean Payton and Sean McDermott.
Denver also has the advantage with their offensive line, and I do think the Broncos' pass rush can get home against a below-average Bills' OL, so a win is certainly possible, but I worry now.