ESPN predicts Bills do not defend AFC East title in 2021
The Buffalo Bills won their first AFC East title in 25 years this past season. In regard to the division, ESPN predicts they’ll one and done.
The world-wide leader recently penned extremely early 2021 NFL playoff predictions and how the 14-seed postseason will look. Now, the expectation is still that the Bills will be in the dance… but not as divisional winners.
In the estimations, the Miami Dolphins land as the No. 3 seed as AFC East title winners while the Bills slot in at No. 5.
Here’s part of analyst Bill Barnwell’s predicted step back from the Bills next season:
I’m expecting a small step backward for the Bills for a couple of reasons. One is that they went 13-3 with the point differential of a 10.6-win team. They went 4-1 in games decided by seven points or fewer and got to that point differential only after finishing the season by winning three consecutive games by 29-plus points. They have one of the league’s deepest lineups, but they’re basically at the cap line for 2021 before giving Allen a lucrative extension.
The Bills taking a step back could be possible in 2021. The 13 wins Buffalo nabbed last season was a franchise record… so dropping one or two more games next year is fair. However, the Dolphins failed to make the postseason this past season in general…
No playoffs to divisional winner in general is bold, but the added reasoning is an expected step forward, and a big one in that by Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa:
Brian Flores’ team probably won’t have Ryan Fitzpatrick back, but it seems fair to suggest that Tua Tagovailoa will be better with a true offseason in his first full year as Miami’s starting quarterback.
We still have a long ways to go until the 2021 season, but as things currently sit, Buffalo is the clear-cut favorite in the AFC East despite ESPN’s prediction. Tagovailoa has a lot to prove and in order to edge out the Bills… he would have to have a Josh Allen type of breakout from this past season. Imagining that happening is very unlikely.
Additionally, the Dolphins had their defense carry them to a 10-6 record this season. Everyone just assumed the Bills defense would just keep churning out productivity this past season as well. Remember how that went?
