Can Buffalo really deliver on Whitner's guarantee? ( Photo Source ) As the beginnings of the 2008 NFL season approach, Buffalo Bills fans are more hopeful than we have been in recent memory that the Bills - who have not made a playoff appearance since 1999 - can end their playoff drought. Citing a weak schedule and improvements made to personnel in the off-season, playoff predictions and double-digit winning records are predicted by fans on nearly a daily basis. It ain't that easy, folks. Let's put aside the players themselves for a moment - because at this point, making an attempt to gauge just how good each individual team can be based on their off-seasons alone is quite the difficult task. It's much simpler to focus on what we already know, and that's what happened last year. That easy schedule we reference so often? It's not even the easiest schedule in the AFC East, a division so top-heavy and mediocre that beyond New England, it's a virtual crapshoot. It's also important to consider the fact that because of the NFL's scheduling, Buffalo will only play two teams this season that are exclusive from the rest of their division. That's where Buffalo could be at a disadvantage. Breaking down the schedules Below are the winning percentages of all sixteen opponents for each of the four AFC East teams, based on 2007 record. Records were counted twice in the case of AFC East opponents; as each team plays the others twice, it o ...
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Can Buffalo really deliver on Whitner's guarantee? ( Photo Source ) As the beginnings of the 2008 NFL season approach, Buffalo Bills fans are more hopeful than we have been in recent memory that the Bills - who have not made a playoff appearance since 1999 - can end their playoff drought. Citing a weak schedule and improvements made to personnel in the off-season, playoff predictions and double-digit winning records are predicted by fans on nearly a daily basis. It ain't that easy, folks. Let's put aside the players themselves for a moment - because at this point, making an attempt to gauge just how good each individual team can be based on their off-seasons alone is quite the difficult task. It's much simpler to focus on what we already know, and that's what happened last year. That easy schedule we reference so often? It's not even the easiest schedule in the AFC East, a division so top-heavy and mediocre that beyond New England, it's a virtual crapshoot. It's also important to consider the fact that because of the NFL's scheduling, Buffalo will only play two teams this season that are exclusive from the rest of their division. That's where Buffalo could be at a disadvantage. Breaking down the schedules Below are the winning percentages of all sixteen opponents for each of the four AFC East teams, based on 2007 record. Records were counted twice in the case of AFC East opponents; as each team plays the others twice, it o ...