Saturday, September 12, 2020

Buffalo Bills Week 1 NFL Power Rankings Roundup

Throughout the 2020 NFL season, we will compile a consensus NFL Power Rankings that averages the rankings of all 32 NFL teams.

Here is where the Buffalo Bills rank in terms of average, best and worst:

  • Average ranking: 8.8 (8th)
  • Best ranking: 6th (NFL.com)
  • Worst ranking: 11th (The Athletic)

Below you will find a Week 1 roundup for the Bills in our consensus 2020 NFL Power Rankings.

The Athletic -- Rank: 11

Take away every team's quarterback, and the Bills probably have one of the five best rosters in the league. QB traditionalists have given up on Josh Allen, but he made significant progress from his rookie year to last season. Not all quarterbacks find success in the same way. Allen is never going to complete 70 percent of his passes. But if he can be more accurate downfield and hurt teams with his legs, the Bills have a chance to make a deep playoff run. The defense is well-coached and might be more talented than last year when it finished seventh in efficiency.

CBS Sports -- Rank: 7

The improvement of Josh Allen will decide how far they go this season. I think he makes big strides and they are a deep playoff team. The Pats' run atop the AFC East is over.

USA Today -- Rank: 10

We're with you, Sean McDermott -- fairly "ridiculous" a league built on parity is allowing such a range of stadium attendance policies in 2020.

ESPN -- Rank: 10

Can Josh Allen make as much progress in Year 3 as he did in Year 2?

Marcel Louis-Jacques: Allen was much improved in his second season (58.8 completion percentage up from 52.8%), but was still the NFL's least-accurate starting quarterback in 2019. If he can start to win games with his arm, the Bills are a dark horse AFC contender in 2020. Allen called himself his harshest critic and has been working all offseason on several points of his game -- including the deep ball, which he struggled to hit last season.

NFL.com -- Rank: 6

There may be no team in the NFL that can match what the Bills have put together in the trenches on both sides of the ball. A very good offensive line will return four of five starters from a year ago (it would have been five if guard Jon Feliciano wasn't on injured reserve with a torn pec), and the team has depth behind those starters to weather any further injury issues. The team is similarly stacked on the other side of the ball, with versatility that might have Jets QB Sam Darnold seeing ghosts in Week 1. It will be interesting to see what Ed Oliver does for a follow-up after a promising rookie year. Get excited, Western New York -- this team is going to bully some people.

Previous update: Buffalo Bills Post-Draft NFL Power Rankings Roundup

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