We’re back, once again with the results all of Buffalo Rumblings craves. That’s right, our weekly Buffalo Bills confidence rating from a healthy cross-section of our Rumblings audience. It’s been a bit since the Bills played winning football, what with that bye and those two losses. After nearly a month, the team’s more than ready to get on the field and put the October blues behind them.
It seems the bye week has done some good in reassuring Bills Mafia that this team is still in decent playoff position
(fourth-best odds per ESPN’s playoff metrics), and that with quarterback Josh Allen leading the charge — all things remain possible.
But hold your horses, those of you circling the wagons (I’m here all weekend; 365/6, actually)! This isn’t a exactly the kind of feel-good article where fans were stuck in a 17% confidence rut only to surge to become a group where more than half of voters were sending in their ringing endorsement. That’s still very far from the case, but the Mafia is beginning to heal a bit. Right now, 31% of voters in our latest Reacts poll are confident the Bills are heading in the right direction this season. That of course represents a three-week high here at Rumblings, and nearly double the prior confidence ratings. We’ll take what we get and we won’t throw a fit. Maybe? It seems fair, at least until the offense comes back to life and the defense realizes it’s more than a tackling dummy languishing in a rain storm.
A 14% increase in fan confidence is a move in the right direction. If the losing continues, we may need to have a conversation about head coach Sean McDermott’s glasses.
Moving on…
With the bye this past week, I felt it was best to ask another question given I expected nearly identical confidence results as the two prior weeks’ polls. Though that ended up being a pleasant surprise, the ringing-endorsement factor still lacked. Enter a pertinent Week 8 matchup question, with the Carolina Panthers as Buffalo’s latest potential foil.
An easy thought experiment for voters, I just wanted to know where folks’ thought processes were at regarding this team when push comes to shove. Confidence in a nebulous future is one thing, but it’s quite another to see how people are feeling about a potentially sneaky-difficult matchup.
This is where confidence shone brighter, with 74% of respondents believing that, “yes,” the Bills will defeat the Panthers in Week 8. It may be the opponent, or the quality of the matchup when considering all circumstances (Buffalo’s 8-0 record under McDermott after a bye; no three-game losing streak since 2018). However, in the immediate, Bills Mafia are actually pretty confident in Buffalo’s present. It’s that hazy future that has people a bit apprehensive.
And that tracks, as it should with a team dead-set on Super Bowl or bust.
Let’s take a look at this afternoon’s opponent, and check in on what fans over at Cat Scratch Reader believe about their favorite team. A three-game winning streak does a lot for fan confidence, as evidenced by the latest numbers. Right now, 82% of CSR voters are confident in Carolina’s overall direction.
But wait, there’s more. It’s not all sunshine and ice cream cones, as we well understand. Voters aren’t so certain that quarterback Andy Dalton will save the day for an injured Bryce Young. Sixty-three percent of voters said that, “no,” the Panthers’ offense will not improve with Dalton at the helm. Regardless of your thoughts about Young, I’d venture a guess that most would agree that Dalton does not represent an obvious upgrade for the offense.
There’s more to digest, Rumblers! Let’s quickly glance at a pair of national polls that asked voters to pick divisional winners across the NFL, and also winners from Week 8 of action. The results may surprise you, where the Bills were the pick as AFC East winners, but voters sided with the Panthers in the head-to-head matchup. Interesting, to say the least.
Go Bills!
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