The Bills’ 23-6 win over the Vikings on Monday did more than push Buffalo to 7-1. It kept them sitting near the top of the national conversation, with most of the major power rankings leaving them right where they’ve been: No. 1.
That’s the broad takeaway heading into Week 10. Across the media landscape, analysts saw a team that handled Minnesota on the road, leaned on James Cook III, and backed up the idea that this isn’t just a flashy offense. Buffalo can win the ugly ones too.
USA TODAY moved the Bills up one spot to No. 2, while noting, “The last three times they started 7-1, the Bills went to the Super Bowl in each instance. Adding a safety of Amani Hooker’s caliber makes what seems to be an improving defense even more formidable.”
Pro Football Talk kept Buffalo at No. 1, with the caveat that “If they’d been playing a team with a borderline functional offense, they may have surrendered the top spot to Jacksonville.”
The Athletic also held the Bills at No. 1 after the Monday night win, giving them a midseason grade of A. The outlet pointed to the first nine weeks of the Joe Brady era as a strong stretch for the offense, with Josh Allen continuing to look like the game’s best quarterback.
It also praised a defense that had “struggled quite a bit in the first half of the season” but was excellent against Minnesota. The Athletic said Buffalo “dominated the time of possession to nab an impressive road win” and listed the Jets on Sunday at 1 p.m.
ET as the next test.
Bleacher Report stayed at No. 1 as well, focusing on how Buffalo adjusted without left tackle Dion Dawkins and Alec Anderson. The Bills, it wrote, “needed a different approach” against Minnesota’s aggressive defense and responded by “bludgeon[ing] the Vikings with body-blow after body-blow.”
Cook carried the ball a season-high 31 times for 107 yards, and the piece said he found more room as the game went on. It also highlighted Allen’s all-around impact and argued that these kinds of wins matter more in the playoffs than the shootouts Buffalo has played in during Allen’s nine-year career.
CBS Sports also kept the Bills at No. 1, saying that if the defense keeps growing the way it has over the past two weeks, Buffalo becomes even more dangerous. The outlet said the unit is “growing up by the game.”
FOX Sports left Buffalo at No. 1 too, calling the Minnesota game “Exhibit A” for why the Bills are the best team in football. The writeup said the Bills already proved they could win high-scoring games, but now they’ve shown they can grind out “old-fashioned, grind-it-out games” as well.
It described Monday night as a “heavyweight fight” and warned of possible letdowns ahead with the Jets and Dolphins coming up in the next two weeks. FOX also noted that Allen’s 15 rushing yards on Monday moved him to 5,000 career rushing yards, making him the fifth quarterback in NFL history to reach that mark, joining Lamar Jackson, Michael Vick, Cam Newton and Russell Wilson.
ESPN kept Buffalo at No. 1 as well and pointed to Week 16 at the Broncos as the most important game of the second half. The outlet said any game in the stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas could fit that label, including the Week 13 road trip to New England, but singled out the Christmas Day rematch of last season’s playoff loss as the one that could shape the Bills’ path to home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. ESPN also noted that the losing team in that postseason game did not punt once, according to ESPN Research.
In Other News...
Bills Suddenly Have A Josh Allen Protection Concern Against The Jets
The Bills are heading into their matchup with the Jets with a familiar issue suddenly hanging over the offensive line. Dion Dawkins, Alec Anderson and Connor McGovern were all limited in practice, but the bigger concern is on the right side, where Spencer Brown sat out Thursday after picking up an ankle injury in the previous game.
Browns availability now looms as one of the key questions of the week because of what it means for Josh Allens protection. If Brown cannot go, Tylan Grable could be in line to start at right tackle, leaving Buffalo to shuffle its front just as it tries to keep its offense steady against a division opponent that will be looking to test every weak spot. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Passing Game Faces A Week 10 Problem Fans Will Notice
Week 10 brings a useful reminder that not every passing game matchup is created equal, and the Bills are one of the teams fantasy players will be watching closely. The latest matchup breakdown points to how defenses are handling slot and boundary receivers around the league, with some units offering clear openings while others are making life difficult for quarterbacks and their targets.
For Buffalo, the concern is less about one individual defender than the kind of coverage problem that can shape a game plan. The Saints have been stingy against slot receivers, the Bengals have been more vulnerable there, and the Chiefs have been especially tough on slot production, which is the sort of league-wide context that can quietly tilt decisions for a passing offense. Fans looking at the Bills this week will notice how much the matchup itself may influence where the ball goes and which receivers are most likely to be featured. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Allen Brings Another Bills Milestone Chase To The Jets
Josh Allen keeps adding to the Bills record book in ways that go well beyond the usual quarterback milestones, and Sundays matchup with the Jets offers another chance for the numbers to keep moving. Allen and James Cook both went over 5,000 rushing yards in Buffalo colors, with Cook now sitting ahead of Allen on the franchises all-time rushing list, a reminder of how much ground the Bills have covered on the ground even with Allen doing so much of the heavy lifting himself.
The bigger chase still belongs to Allen, who is closing in on the NFL mark for combined passing and rushing touchdowns through his first 10 seasons, while also nearing 90 career rushing touchdowns. There are other Bills storylines tucked into the same stretch run, too, with Greg Rousseau edging toward a personal best in sacks and Dawson Knox climbing the teams all-time receiving touchdowns list, giving Buffalo a handful of individual milestones to track as the season tightens up. [Read more 🡒]