Slowly and steady always wins the race, or at least it does in USA TODAY’s power rankings, we hope.
Ever so slightly, USAT is starting to show more and more faith in the Bills via their power rankings. Following the 2020 NFL Draft, the outlet was still only questionably supporting Buffalo’s football team, ranking it the 11th best in the league at that time. Now as training camps open and plenty of offseason drama created by COVID-19 has gone down, the Bills have jumped up two slots to ninth-overall.
Here’s how USA TODAY’s Nate Davis sees things for the Bills now:
9. Bills (11): Good luck finding a better secondary – one that should help an ever-deeper fleet of pass rushers improve on last season’s total of 44 sacks.
Inside the top-10, the Bills replace a team that Stefon Diggs will approve of, the Vikings. In a big drop off, Minnesota fell from fifth-overall to No. 14. At the 10 spot, the Packers stayed put in USAT’s ranking so the Bills just essentially jumped them into their new spot.
Comparatively to the rest of the division, the Bills are also the top-ranked squad in the AFC East. The Patriots moved up four spots, but not close enough to the Bills, as New England is USA TODAY’s No. 15 team. The Dolphins and Jets then slot in at 24 and 28, respectively.
Even though, there’s no mention on him by USAT, it’s clear once again that a power ranking needs to see more from quarterback Josh Allen in 2020. If he sees even a slight uptick in play, the Bills will push top-five status. Not that Allen was bad, but here are a few of the starting QBs for the eight teams ahead of Buffalo: Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Phillip Rivers.
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