The Buffalo Bills entered their bye week on a high note with a big 24-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. They are now 5-1 on the season and were sitting atop the AFC.
Even with all the injuries the Bills have had to deal with to this point, the 2022 season has gotten off to a great start for Buffalo. While it isn’t necessarily exactly the midpoint, it certainly feels like the bye week has divided up the season into two halves.
Now looking ahead, these are four questions that the Buffalo Bills have for the remainder of the regular season coming out of the bye week.
4 questions for the Buffalo Bills after their bye week
When will Tre’Davious White return and will he play at that All-Pro level?
One of the biggest questions for the Buffalo Bills, and it has been since training camp, is when will Tre’Davious White return. He suffered a torn ACL on Thanksgiving last year and the hope was that he would be ready for the regular season.
White began training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and remained there to begin the regular season. Since the Bills did have him on the PUP list to begin the regular season, he was required to miss at least the first four games of the season.
He has now missed the first six but the Bills did open the 21-day window prior to the Kansas City Chiefs game. This means he could begin practicing but the team will have to move him to the active roster prior to November 1st.
Hopefully, he is able to return this week and this question should be answered fairly quickly. However, the second question is what level will Tre’Davious White be able to play at coming off the knee injury?
The Buffalo Bills have gotten good production from their trio of cornerbacks (Dane Jackson, Kaiir Elam, Christian Benford) but when Tre’Davious White is playing at the level he is capable of, it drastically changes this defense.
Do the Buffalo Bills make any significant roster moves?
The Buffalo Bills have already shown this year that they have one of the best rosters in the NFL. However, there is always room for improvement and if the Buffalo Bills want to give themselves the best chance at a Super Bowl, they may need to make some roster moves.
The question is how they go about doing that.
One option would be to make a trade prior to the trade deadline on November 1st. There have already been some notable trades this season like the Cleveland Browns adding linebacker Deion Jones, the Arizona Cardinals trading for Robbie Anderson, and the San Francisco 49ers trading for Christian McCaffrey.
If the Buffalo Bills don’t want to trade away draft capital, they could also look at adding free agents that are still available. The biggest name is wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. but there are also players like wide receiver Will Fuller and offensive lineman Darryl Williams that could improve this roster.
General manager Brandon Beane has shown he is not afraid to be aggressive and I would expect at least one notable move over the next few weeks.
Can Josh Allen maintain his MVP numbers?
Through the first six weeks of the season, it seemed pretty clear that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was the MVP of the NFL. He is playing at an incredibly high level and leads the league in passing yards (1,980), and passing touchdowns (17) as well as running for 257 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
He has also won AFC Offensive Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks with his performances against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs.
The Buffalo Bills have not had a player win an MVP award since 1991 when running back Thurman Thomas won the award. They also have never had a quarterback with the franchise win the award.
It would certainly be notable for the franchise if Josh Allen were to win this year but he will have plenty of competition as quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts and even recently Joe Burrows has also had notable performances.
However, if Josh Allen continues to play the rest of the way like he did to begin the season, he should be able to secure the award.
Can the Buffalo Bills hold onto the number one seed in the AFC?
After the Buffalo Bills’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs, they were in first place in the AFC and also held that pivotal head-to-head tiebreaker over the Chiefs. While the Bills have made the playoffs now three straight years, and four times in the past five years, they have never been able to secure that top spot.
While the number one seed doesn’t guarantee anything, it should be a huge advantage for that team in the playoffs. The number one seed in each conference is the only team that has a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
In addition to that, the number one seed is guaranteed to play at home through the entirety of the conference playoffs. When considering the last two years the Bills’ playoff run has ended on the road and they are 3-0 at home in the playoffs during that stretch this seems like it is a big advantage for them.
The win over the Chiefs puts the Buffalo Bills in control of their own destiny. There is still plenty of football left to be played but that is a great feeling to have at this point in the season.
4 Buffalo Bills who could benefit the most from their bye week
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