For the past four seasons, it has been a great time for the Buffalo Bills. They won the AFC in 2020 for the first time since 1995 and have gone on to win the division four consecutive years, which includes taking it from the Miami Dolphins in Week 18 last season that earned them the second seed in the AFC playoff picture. While the Bills have fallen short year after year in the playoffs, they have been more successful in this four year run than they have the previous 20 years.
Part of rising as one of the best teams in the league is by taking over the AFC East, which seemed to belong to the New England Patriots forever. All it took was Tom Brady leaving the division for the Bills to take over the division, who would have thought? Either way, the Bills run the division until proven otherwise. While there are serious doubts about them winning the division again in 2024, as long as Josh Allen is playing in his prime, the Bills will always be a contender to go far.
There is no doubt that the AFC East is going to be tough this year. Assuming that there are no season-ending injuries again like there was last year with Aaron Rodgers, the Bills are going to need to step up their game and even get some luck their way. This season will be the toughest for the Bills within the division for the first time since 2019, but it is hard to say that the Bills will not be in the running to win their fifth consecutive division championship.
Here are three expectations for the Bills within the AFC East going into 2024.
1.) Bills sweep the New England Patriots
There is no denying the Patriots are going backwards as an organization. They tried very hard to make Mac Jones as the successor to Tom Brady but when a head coach has many issues with the quarterback and then puts a defensive coach as the offensive play caller, it is destined to fail. Even though the Patriots have been a bit of a dumpster fire as of lately, they still managed to defeat the Bills in their first matchup against them last year where the Buffalo defense made Mac Jones look like Tom Brady. Aside from that game, the Bills have flat out dominated the Patriots.
With New England going into a completely new regime as well as the development of a new rookie quarterback in Drake Maye, they are going to have growing pains. Buffalo needs to show that they cannot let the worst team in the division hang around with them in both of their matchups.
2.) Bills sweep the Miami Dolphins
While the Bills have dominated the Patriots in recent memory, the Dolphins have been no match for the Bills since Josh Allen entered the league. Including a playoff win against Miami, Allen has led the Bills to an 11-2 record against the Dolphins. In those two losses back in 2018 and 2022, the Bills lost by a total of six combined points. Tight end Charles Clay dropped a wide open touchdown grab that made Buffalo lose in 2018. Then just two seasons ago, the Bills lost half of their roster due to the extreme heat down in South Florida and lost by two points because Isaiah McKenzie could not get out of bounds to stop the clock.
Last season, the Dolphins came to Orchard Park in Week 4 after putting up 70 points on the Denver Broncos the week prior. There was a little bit of fear as to what Miami could do against the Bills, but like always, the Bills stomped on the Dolphins and won by 28 points. Then in the last game of the regular season, the Dolphins were one quarter away from winning the AFC East but fell apart to lose 21-14, giving the Bills the division.
Heading into 2024, the Bills will once again need to show that they can continue their dominance of the Dolphins. Buffalo cannot allow Miami to think that they can take the division anytime soon as long as Allen is under center.
3.) Bills split season series with New York Jets
If there is one team that is built to stop the Bills from having success, it is the Jets. While there are many questions surrounding Aaron Rodgers and the offense, the Jets have a top tier defensive unit that rattled Allen and the Bills in Week 1 last season. They caused five turnovers and helped lead the comeback win in overtime despite losing Rodgers in four plays for the rest of the season. The Bills have only swept the Jets twice since 2018 so it is hard to expect the Bills to make yet another division opponent sweep just because the Jets know the Bills very well and adjust on the fly.
The Jets are in win-now mode and they have the most amount of pressure out of every team in the NFL. However, the Jets seem to always have some sort of bad luck happen to them so the Bills might be able to capitalize and split the season series.