3 expectations for the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East in 2024

Over the past four seasons, it has been a tremendous time for the Buffalo Bills. They won the AFC in 2020 for the first time since 1995 and have won the division four years in a row, which includes beating the Miami Dolphins in Week 18 last season, giving them the second top seed in the AFC playoffs. Although the Bills failed year after year in the playoffs, they had more success in those four years than in the previous 20 years.

Part of ascending as one of the league’s best teams is taking back the AFC East, which seemed to belong forever to the New England Patriots. All it took was for Tom Brady to leave the division for the Bills to take back the division, who would have thought it? Regardless, the bills lead division until proven otherwise. Even though there are serious doubts that they will win the division again in 2024, as long as Josh Allen is playing at his peak, the Bills will always be a contender to go far.

There’s no doubt that the AFC East will be tough this year. Assuming there are no season-ending injuries like last year with Aaron Rodgers, the Bills are going to have to step up their game and even get a little lucky. This season will be the Bills’ toughest in the division for the first time since 2019, but it’s hard to say the Bills won’t be in contention to win their fifth straight division championship.

There is no denying that the Patriots are going backwards as an organization. They tried very hard to make Mac Jones the successor to Tom Brady, but when a head coach has numerous quarterback issues and then assigns a defensive coach as the offensive play caller, it is doomed. to failure. Even though the Patriots have been a bit on fire lately, they still managed to beat the Bills in their first game against them last year, where Buffalo’s defense made Mac Jones look like Tom Brady. Outside of this game, the Bills largely dominated the Patriots.

With New England entering a completely new regime as well as the development of a new rookie quarterback in Drake Maye, they are going to have some growing pains. Buffalo needs to show that it can’t let the worst team in the division hang with it in its two matchups.

While the Bills have dominated the Patriots as of late, the Dolphins have been no match for the Bills since Josh Allen entered the league. Including a playoff victory against Miami, Allen led the Bills to an 11-2 record against the Dolphins. In those two losses in 2018 and 2022, the Bills lost a total of six points combined. Tight end Charles Clay dropped a wide-open touchdown that lost Buffalo in 2018. Then, just two seasons ago, the Bills lost half their roster due to extreme heat in the South. Florida and lost by two points because Isaiah McKenzie couldn’t get out of bounds to stop the clock.

Last season, the Dolphins came to Orchard Park in Week 4 after scoring 70 points against the Denver Broncos the week before. There was a bit of fear about what Miami might do against the Bills, but as always, the Bills crushed the Dolphins and won by 28 points. Then, in the final game of the regular season, the Dolphins were a quarter away from winning the AFC East, but they collapsed to lose 21-14, giving the Bills the division.

Heading into 2024, the Bills will once again need to show that they can continue to dominate the Dolphins. Buffalo can’t allow Miami to think they can take the division at any time as long as Allen is under center.

If there’s a team built to keep the Bills from succeeding, it’s the Jets. While there are plenty of questions surrounding Aaron Rodgers and the offense, the Jets have a top-tier defensive unit that shook up Allen and the Bills in Week 1 last season. They forced five turnovers and helped lead the victory into overtime despite losing Rodgers in four games the rest of the season. The Bills have only swept the Jets twice since 2018, so it’s hard to expect the Bills to sweep yet another divisional opponent simply because the Jets know the Bills very well and adjust to the stolen.

The Jets are in win-now mode and they are under the most pressure of any team in the NFL. However, the Jets still seem to have some sort of bad luck, so the Bills might be able to capitalize and split the season series.