From here on out, the Buffalo Bills are guaranteed to play football from now until atleast January and Bills Mafia can’t wait. The Bills just had their bye week and their attention is now set towards welcoming the Baltimore Ravens at home in Week 8. The Bills haven’t played in Orchard Park since their Week 4 loss against the New England Patriots. It’s time to make things right.
The Bills will come into this AFC clash at 5-1 against a 4-3 Ravens team who has lost back-to-back divisional games so they are getting a bit desperate. That's a big disadvantage for the Bills that no one is talking about. Not to mention, the last time the Bills and Ravens faced off against each, Baltimore blew a 4th quarter 40-25 lead and lost 41-40.
1 key matchup for Bills vs. Ravens is plain out obvious
Both Buffalo and Baltimore hired first-time head coaches. The Bills promoted Joe Brady and the Ravens brought back Jesse Minter who was on the coaching staff from 2017-2020. Brady specializes on offense while Minter was considered the best defensive-minded candidate during the head coach hiring cycle this past offseason.
Both of them call the plays for their respective sides of the ball so essentially, they will be facing each other which is a key factor to consider.
When it comes to Brady, he has lived up to expectations up to this point as a first-time head coach. He started off his tenure beating the Texans in Houston, which is an accomplishment that the Bills did not have for 20 years. Then he helped the Bills win their season-opener at the new Highmark Stadium against the Lions. Finally, he did something that Sean McDermott never did as the head coach for the Bills...win in overtime with Josh Allen.
Brady has been doing great up to this point, but he isn't perfect either. Now he has another test that fans should be looking at going into this game.
Joe Brady faces post-bye week pressure that Sean McDermott delivered every season
Sean McDermott was the head coach of the Bills for 9 seasons, and in all 9 of those seasons, the Bills never lost coming off of a bye week. In fact, the Bills haven't lost a game coming out of their bye week from 2015-2025. Their last game they lost coming off of their bye was in 2014 against the Kansas City Chiefs, losing 17-13.
Here is the breakdown of the Bills' wins coming off their bye week from 2015-2025:
2015: def. Miami Dolphins, 33-17
2016: def. Cincinnati Bengals, 16-12
2017: def. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 30-27
2018: def. Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-21
2019: def. Miami Dolphins, 31-21
2020: def. Los Angeles Chargers, 27-17
2021: def. Miami Dolphins, 26-11
2022: def. Green Bay Packers, 27-17
2023: def. Kansas City Chiefs, 20-17
2024: def. San Francisco 49ers, 35-10
2025: def. Carolina Panthers, 40-9
In that 2015-2025 span, the Bills have outscored opponents 309-179 when coming off of their bye week. So, Joe Brady faces some massive pressure to keep this momentum going for Buffalo.
Luckily, the Bills are averaging 32.8 points per game and if their defense can just make a few impactful plays (and not give up consistent big plays), then the Bills should be on their way to 6-1 in Week 8.
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