Before the season began, the writers at Buffalo Rumblings looked into their crystal ball to offer their predictions for how the Bills would fare in 2019.
Unlike the national media, which didn’t view the Bills favorably heading into the season, our writers were optimistic about Buffalo’s chances, with five folks correctly predicting the Bills would finish 10-6. Those clairvoyants are: Corey Giacovelli, Dan Lavoie, Sean Murphy, Skare, and myself (humble brag I also predicted the team would snatch a Wild Card berth).
Well done on those predictions, guys!
The rest of the staff wasn’t far off, with Matt B, Matt Warren, and Dylan Zadonowicz envisioning a 9-7 campaign for the Bills.
In a change of pace from our preseason prognostications, rather than simply offering our thoughts on how many games the Bills would win, our writers also gave their hot takes on several prop bets, including which players would lead the team in rushing, receiving, sacks, and interceptions.
Rookie Devin Singletary led the team in rushing yards (775) and quarterback Josh Allen paced the team with nine rushing touchdowns. Free-agent wide receiver John Brown led the team in receptions (72) and receiving yards (1,060), while Brown and fellow free agent wide receiver Cole Beasley tied for the team lead in receiving TDs (6).
Zadonowicz came remarkably close to nailing the rushing prediction, as he was only five yards shy of Singletary’s rushing total. Zadonowicz, Murphy (17 yards off), Skare, and Warren correctly predicted Singletary as Buffalo’s leading rusher.
Everyone except Warren identified Brown as the Bill to accumulate the most receiving yards. (For the record, our fearless editor-in-chief tabbed the since-traded Zay Jones for that honor!) Zadonowicz was off on Brown’s receiving yardage total by just 15 yards, with Murphy missing by a mere 19 yards.
Defensively, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips led the team with a career-best 9.5 sacks, and Pro Bowl cornerback Tre’Davious White led the team with a career-high six interceptions.
No one saw Phillips’s breakthrough as the sack leader, with our guesses including Jerry Hughes (six votes) and Trent Murphy (Sean Murphy had to vote for his namesake here). Meanwhile, only Matt B. saw White leading the team in interceptions. Our votes went to Micah Hyde, Kevin Johnson, Jordan Poyer, and Levi Wallace.
Allen’s growth potential was also explored, with staff giving their opinions on whether Allen would surpass 3,200 passing yards, 23 touchdown passes, 14 interceptions, and a 58-percent completion percentage.
Allen finished the season with 3,089 passing yards, 20 TD passes, 9 INTs and a 58.8 completion percentage, which means Murphy did a great job setting the over-unders.