Subscribe
Follow Us
The Buffalo Bills’ 2023 season is almost here, and once again, the team is among the favorites to win the Super Bowl. Josh Allen and company face an uphill battle, though, as the AFC is as loaded this year as any conference in history. Before the Bills’ Week 1 showdown with the New York Jets, let’s make some bold predictions for the upcoming campaign.
*Watch NFL games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
4. Sean McDermott will fix the middle linebacker problem
This Bills season will be notable for the fact that former defensive coordinator and now Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott will be calling the defense after parting ways with DC Leslie Frazier this offseason.
The problem is his partner in crime, general manager Brandon Beane, left the coach and his defense without a middle linebacker for the upcoming slate of games. Tremaine Edmunds left in free agency, and rookie Dorian Williams, Tyrel Dodson, Terrel Bernard, and Baylon Spector have competed for the job.
Through injuries and lack of performance in preseason games, no player has grabbed a hold of the MLB spot and claimed it yet. However, the bold Bills prediction here is that McDermott will make sure someone does before the season gets too old.
After roster cut-down day, the Bills brought in veteran LB Christian Kirksey from the Houston Texans. That could be the fix, but he’s also ended four of the last five seasons on IR. It’s a great first step but not necessarily the final answer.
It may be by coaching up one of the youngsters, firing up a veteran, or finding a creative solution, like playing safety Taylor Rapp at the position. Either way, McDermott will figure it out and have a solid defense this season.
3. Buffalo youngsters will break out
Brandon Beane hasn’t drafted any Pro Bowl players since 2019 (TE Dawson Knox) and doesn’t have a non-replacement Pro Bowler outside of the Josh Allen Class of 2018.
However, in 2023, some of the Beane draft picks will start to come good in the new Bills season.
Rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid and guard O’Cyrus Torrence have a chance to be real difference-makers on the offense, and LB Dorian Williams could see playing time, too. Second-year players like running back James Cook, wide receiver Khalil Shakir (when healthy), and cornerbacks Christian Benford and Kaiir Elam will all play bigger roles this season as well.
The point is, this year is make-or-break for the last few of Beane’s draft classes, and the bold Bills prediction here is that these players will swim, not sink, starting in Week 1 of the 2023 season. And if they do, it could finally put the Bills (and their Super Bowl window) back on par with much younger teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, Bengals, and Philadelphia Eagles.
2. Josh Allen will win the NFL MVP Award
Regardless of rookies, veterans, middle linebackers, upset wide receivers, and anything else going on with the Bills leading into Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season, the team will still have a chance to compete because of Josh Allen.
Allen has developed into one of the best quarterbacks in the league and may rank even higher among his contemporaries than Buffalo legend Jim Kelly.
Last season Allen dealt with an elbow injury for a good chunk of the season and just wasn’t himself. This year, he is fully fit heading into the campaign, and he will ball out and lead the Bills to many victories against a brutal AFC.
This season will be so good for Allen — both with his arm and his feet — that he will take home the NFL MVP Award. Not only is he in (arguably) the toughest division in the league this year, but he’ll also be winning with less star power around him than most big-name QBs.
The 2023 Bills season is the time when Allen takes the next step to the Hall of Fame and earns his first MVP. However, for Allen and Bills Mafia alike, the real prize is that elusive Super Bowl trophy.
1. The Bills will not win their first Super Bowl
While Josh Allen may don his Superman cape starting in the Bills’ Week 1 tilt with the New York Jets on Monday Night Football, the truth is, he can’t do it all himself.
The Bills are absolutely talented enough to make the playoffs and maybe even get the No. 1 seed and a bye in Round 1. However, when it comes to one-game, do-or-die situations against other elite quarterbacks, the Bills simply aren’t as strong across the roster as some of the best in the AFC.
Unless two or three players like James Cook, Gabriel Davis, Gregory Rousseau, or Kaiir Elam take a significant step forward and become major difference-makers this season, Buffalo just doesn’t have the balance and depth that some AFC teams have, which will ultimately stop them once again from winning the big one.
