Some Buffalo Bills fans have been saying the team should lose in order to secure a higher NFL Draft pick in 2019. But according to our voters in this week’s FanPulse poll and previous polls, more people are confident in the direction of the team when they are winning. It’s not necessarily a surprise, but still something to track.
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After the Bills’ win over the Detroit Lions, the fan confidence rose 11% back to 64%, where they were prior to losing to the New York Jets. Let’s compare that to the other times the score went up:
- Victory over Minnesota Vikings: 40% jump
- Victory over Tennessee Titans: 13% jump
- Loss to New England Patriots: 3% jump
- Victory over New York Jets: 19% jump
- Bye week: 1% jump
- Victory over Jacksonville Jaguars: 15% jump
- Loss to Miami Dolphins: 8% jump
- Victory over Detroit Lions: 11% jump
If Buffalo can beat a playoff-bound Patriots team in New England on Sunday, they might need to make a new metric to measure Bills fan confidence. As long as we see positive signs from Josh Allen and the rest of the young players, fans should be pretty content.
Bills fans are actually the most confident in the division right now. Dolphins fans are 39% confident, Jets fans 32%, and the Patriots fans bring up the rear at 28%.
Looking around at other rookie quarterbacks, Buffalo is in near the top: Cleveland Browns fans (97%), Bills (64%), Baltimore Ravens (58%), Jets (32%), and Arizona Cardinals (3%).