The Bills find themselves back on the road for the fourth time in five weeks for a Week 8 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. Buffalo hasn’t won a game in Seattle since 2004, where they last defeated the Seahawks 38-9. Now they have the chance to win again in Seattle exactly two decades later.
Both teams have a winning record and sit at the top of their respective division. The good news for both teams is that this game doesn’t determine a tiebreaker against each other. However, both teams need every win they can get as the second half of the season approaches.
This could easily become a candidate for game of the week, based on the strengths that they each bring. Buffalo will have a tough challenge against the fanbase for the Seahawks, so they will need to find a way to take them out of the game early and quickly.
With that, we take a look at three bold predictions for the Bills going into Seattle this Sunday.
Bills defense hold Seahawks offense to 15 or less first downs
Buffalo’s defense has played great situational football this season. While it takes them a little bit to adjust, they eventually do and they seem to always find a way to slow down offenses, if they don’t shut them down. Last week’s game against the Titans, it was the perfect example. The Bills’ defense was looking foolish against Mason Rudolph who was doing a lot of play-action passes. Once they adjusted, Tennessee couldn’t do anything on offense.
If the Bills can adjust early on to Seattle’s offensive gameplan, it will be very hard for the Seahawks to do anything productive on offense. The least amount of first downs that the Seahawks have recorded in a game this year is 17. It would not be surprising to see the Bills keep the Seahawks under control and consistently stop them from gaining any momentum.
Josh Allen throws 2+ picks
The only quarterback that has yet to throw an interception this year is Josh Allen. Part of his journey in the NFL has been his high risks that he takes by chucking the ball down the field. While we have seen the arm strength and seen him make fabulous plays, he has had a turnover problem since coming into the league. However, that hasn’t been an issue at all this year until potentially this weekend.
The Seahawks only have seven takeaways this year, but four of them are interceptions. While it has been great that Allen isn’t turning the ball over, it is hard to imagine that Allen doesn’t get affected by the environment in Seattle. This might be the game that we see Allen throw his first couple of interceptions this season. However, let’s hope that it is not the case.
Geno Smith gets sacked 5+ times
Despite Geno Smith keeping the Seahawks’ offense flowing as smoothly as possible, he has been sacked 20 times this season. While the last two weeks he has only been sacked twice, he took seven sacks three weeks ago against the New York Giants.
The Bills have recorded 19 sacks this season, where A.J. Epenesa leads the Bills with 4 sacks of his own. Buffalo has created great pressure this season, but they haven’t been able to put up the sack numbers that fans have been hoping for. That could easily change this weekend against Smith by bringing him down for no less than five sacks.