The Buffalo Bills did not play a snap in Week 7, but they still came out of the bye with more ground in the AFC East and a live path toward the AFC's No. 1 seed. Josh Allen and Buffalo now sit a game-and-a-half ahead of the New England Patriots, with a chance to make that lead two games if Week 8 breaks the right way.
That is why the bye matters now. The Bills are 5-1, the same record as the Kansas City Chiefs, and they are still one Patrick Mahomes interception away from the top of the conference race. Buffalo can keep building on that position with a win over the Baltimore Ravens, and it can sharpen its conference record at the same time. The Bills already beat the Las Vegas Raiders, while Kansas City's lone loss came against an NFC team, giving the Chiefs the current edge in the tiebreaker between the two 5-1 teams.
Week 7 helped Buffalo without a kickoff. The New England Patriots lost to Chicago last week, and the Miami Dolphins beat the Jets, leaving the division picture tighter but still tilted toward Buffalo. The Bills also know this is not just about the AFC East. A little help from Denver could move them into the AFC's top spot, but that depends on other results lining up while Buffalo handles its own business.
That is the friction in the race: the Bills gained ground while idle, but Kansas City still holds the tiebreaker over them, and that makes every conference result matter. Buffalo's loss came against an AFC opponent, which is why the conference record remains part of the equation. The Ravens arrive for Week 8 off a loss to Cincinnati, and Buffalo has a direct chance to strengthen both its division hold and its standing inside the AFC.
What happens next is simple enough to track and hard enough to control. Buffalo gets Baltimore in Week 8, then turns toward Thanksgiving and Kansas City, where the race for the AFC's No. 1 seed could look very different depending on how these next two weeks land.
