The easiest part of the Week 2 rooting board is still the same: if Buffalo is involved, Bills fans want a win and nothing else. That means Thursday night at the new Highmark Stadium is simple enough - beat the Detroit Lions, get to 2-0, and spend a couple of days alone atop the AFC East.
After that, though, the NFL slate starts asking for some uncomfortable choices. In the early weeks, the math is still pretty straightforward.
Buffalo wants its future opponents to keep winning so the strength of schedule looks better later. It wants the teams it has already beaten to stay hot so strength of victory gets a boost.
And whenever the AFC East is in the picture, the safest bet is still to root against it.
That makes the New England Patriots an easy target. They’re 0-1, and the goal is to make them 0-2 when they face the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Yes, a Patriots win would technically help Buffalo’s strength of schedule because New England is a Bills opponent. That doesn’t matter here.
Some rules matter more than others.
The same logic works for the New York Jets, who opened the season with a 23-10 win over Tennessee. Buffalo wants that corrected by the Green Bay Packers, who are also on the Bills’ schedule later this year. That gives Buffalo a little of everything: a future opponent gets a win, and a division rival takes a loss.
Miami is already in the hole after losing to Las Vegas, so the ask there is even simpler. The San Francisco 49ers are the pick, because starting the Dolphins at 0-2 is enough reason on its own.
AFC matchups outside the division bring a few more layers, starting with Houston over Cincinnati. That’s the first strength-of-victory spot on the board, since Buffalo already beat Houston in Week 1. Every Texans win makes that result look better, and Cincinnati is also a team that could wind up in the AFC playoff mix.
Baltimore over New Orleans comes with a little more hesitation, because the Ravens are the kind of team Buffalo may eventually want to see lose. But Baltimore is also an AFC opponent for the Bills later this season, so for now the same early-season rule applies: keep building the schedule value and worry about AFC standings later.
The Denver-Jacksonville game is cleaner. Denver is on Buffalo’s schedule and Jacksonville isn’t, so a Broncos win helps the Bills’ strength of schedule.
Los Angeles over Las Vegas is less about schedule and more about the standings, since Buffalo plays both teams. The Raiders are already 1-0, while the Chargers are 0-1, and the idea here is to keep another AFC team from jumping to 2-0.
Then there’s the one that comes with a warning label: Kansas City over Indianapolis. Buffalo plays the Chiefs this season, not the Colts, so under the early-week rules, the Chiefs win is the one that helps Buffalo more. It may not feel great, but that’s the setup.
The NFC games are a little less tangled. Tampa Bay over Cleveland follows the same NFC-over-AFC logic, and the Browns are simply an AFC team Buffalo doesn’t need to worry about in this spot. Los Angeles over the Giants is another easy strength-of-schedule play, since the Rams are on Buffalo’s schedule and New York isn’t.
Minnesota over Chicago is where personal preference creeps in. Both teams are on Buffalo’s schedule, so the choice isn’t driven by schedule math. The pick goes to the Vikings, partly out of pettiness after the Bears’ offense was talked up after Week 1.
Atlanta over Carolina fits the broader approach, too. Carolina was a division winner last year, and early on the goal is to keep those teams from getting another easy path to the postseason. Both clubs are 0-1, so Atlanta gets the nod.
Seattle over Arizona is another choice built around taking down an unbeaten team. Both are 1-0, and Seattle already did Buffalo a favor by beating New England in Week 1. Dallas over Washington follows the same general idea: neither team matters to Buffalo’s strength of schedule, but Washington made the playoffs last year while Dallas did not, so the pick is to keep last year’s contenders from getting comfortable.
Week 2 doesn’t bring playoff brackets or seeding puzzles yet, so the board is still about the basics: Buffalo wins, the rest of the AFC East loses, and future opponents keep stacking victories when they’re not facing the Bills. Sometimes that means clean choices. Sometimes it means rooting for something that feels a little wrong.
In Other News...
Deone Walkers Rise Is Creating A Big Bills Decision
Deone Walker has gone from intriguing young piece to a player the Bills have to keep thinking about every week. The second-year defensive tackle has turned heads since the start of the 2025 season with disruptive play, and his work carried into the playoffs and the early part of 2026, where he kept showing the kind of pass-rushing ability that changes the feel of a defensive front.
For Buffalo, the question is no longer whether Walker belongs in the conversation. It is how long the Bills can wait before they start planning beyond his current deal, which runs through 2028. When other NFL players and scouts are taking notice this early, the front office has a decision to make about whether to simply enjoy the rise or move to lock it in sooner. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Win Got Overshadowed By A Pregame Criticism Fans Will Debate
The Bills 41-31 win over the Lions at Highmark Stadium should have been the main takeaway from a busy Week 2 Sunday, but Breiden Fehoko managed to inject a different kind of conversation before kickoff. The defensive tackle went to Twitter to voice frustration over the Canadian national anthem being played before the game, turning a pregame ceremony into an unexpected point of debate for fans already focused on Buffalos first home stretch of the season.
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Bills 2-0 Start Is Hiding A Defensive Issue Jim Leonhard Sees
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Leonhard has already put a label on the problem, calling the defense boom or bust, and the challenge now is turning that into something steadier before the season gets deeper. The Bills know the margin for error shrinks quickly, and Leonhards push has centered on emotional stability and cleaning up penalties, two areas that can decide whether this defense settles in or keeps living on the edge. [Read more 🡒]