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The Buffalo Bills Week 10 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings is incredibly tough to predict. That’s because we don’t know if superstar quarterback Josh Allen will play in the Bills-Vikings game due to a UCL elbow injury. That won’t stop us from making some bold Bills Week 10 predictions, though.
Buffalo lost its second game of the season last week to the New York Jets, and in the process, Allen picked up his injury. If he can’t go for Bills-Vikings, backup Case Keenum will take the reigns of the offense.
On the other side of the ball, the Vikings come in as one of the hottest teams in the NFL. Kirk Cousins and company haven’t lost since their Week 2 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles and own the second-best record in the entire league.
If the Bills win this game, it will seem like their potential Super Bowl season is still on track. If they lose, the No. 1 seed, the AFC East, and maybe even a playoff appearance, in general, could come into question. With that as the backdrop, let’s move on to some bold Bills Week 10 predictions.
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4. Josh Allen plays
When Josh Allen suffered a UCL injury during his rookie season, he missed four games. That was a different time, and Allen and the Bills were in a different place.
Back then, Allen was a 22-year-old prospect on what would ultimately be a 6-10 Bills team. There was no reason to take any risk with that incarnation of Allen, and the Bills smartly didn’t. At 6-2, poised to make a Super Bowl run, deciding what to do with a 26-year-old Allen is a much more difficult decision.
Reports out of Orchard Park are that Allen wants to play. And while the Bills are in wait-and-see mode with the QB and his doctors, it certainly sounds like Allen will do everything he can to start the Bills-Vikings game on Sunday.
Dawson Knox on how Josh Allen is feeling: "He's optimistic. He's a dog, that's a great word for him cause he's gonna be in that training room 24/7 doing everything he can to get back on the field. And from what I can tell, he's in a pretty good mood"
More from my NFL Live debut pic.twitter.com/zcSoZ4FwxV
— Alaina Getzenberg (@agetzenberg) November 10, 2022
After losing last week, the Bills face another good team in the 7-1 Vikings. Even against an NFC squad, a loss in the Bills Week 10 matchup would throw the team’s conference- and division-winning hopes into flux. That’s why Allen gives it a go on Sunday.
3. Bills get creative in the run game
If Josh Allen plays, he’ll likely throw about as much as he usually does. If he can’t do that, he shouldn’t be in there. However, he is also the team’s leading rusher, and offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey will have to scale back the designed runs in this game.
The Vikings defense is good against the run. They’re currently ranked seventh in the league with just 890 yards allowed. That means that lining up in I-formation and pounding it up the middle isn’t going to work against this unit.
The good news for the Bills is that with Devin Singletary, the newly-acquired Nyheim Hines, rookie James Cook, and fullback Reggie Gilliam, Buffalo has one of the most versatile and dynamic groups of runners in the league.
To help protect Allen and limit his exposure outside the pocket, look for Dorsey to pull out all the stops in this game. That means draws, pitches, inside screens, outside screens, reverses, Wildcat, and multiple backs in the backfield will all be on the table.
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For eight games, Allen has been the one to manufacture tough yards when his team needs it the most. Now it’s up to Dorsey to put other players in those situations and give them a chance to succeed.
2. The Bills defense steps up
The Bills have the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL, although you may not know it after the Jets thrashed them for 174 rushing yards last week. In the Bills Week 10 matchup, they’ll have to deal with Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, and Dalvin Cook.
This will be a challenge, but with Allen hurt, the Bills D will step up and meet this challenge.
Buffalo’s D is a MASH unit right now, with linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano, safety Jordan Poyer, and defensive end Greg Rousseau all limited in practice this week. None of these players are out, and if they all play in the Bills-Vikings game, it will be a huge boost for the squad.
Also, the Bills should be getting a boost some week soon, with the return of Pro Bowl cornerback Tre’Davious White, who hasn’t played in 12 months after a knee injury.
The boldest Bills Week 10 prediction here is that with all the injuries on both sides of the ball right now, look for Von Miller to take it up even another notch and terrorize Cousins into some mistakes.
1. Bills 28, Vikings 21
Whether the team makes the Super Bowl this season or not, we will all look back at the Bills Week 10 matchup with the Vikings as a turning point. Is this where players rallied around their injured star and pulled out a much-needed win? Or is it when things started to fall apart?
The Bills are a wildly talented team, but they seem equally tough and resilient. This is a game where the former won’t show up as much as it usually does, so the team will have to lean on the latter to get the W.
In this case, the final bold Bills Week 10 prediction is that they do just that and get the win by a touchdown.
