Bills Face Must Win at Kansas City

The Buffalo Bills' backs are against the wall. And on deck is one of the more difficult road games the NFL could cook up: at Kansas City. And this Sunday the Bills face a must win at Kansas City. Buffalo sits at 6-6 on the season and are 11th in the AFC standings entering week 14. Part of the reason the Bills face a must win at Kansas City is because of their conference record. Buffalo is just 3-5 against AFC opponents this year. A loss would guarantee the Bills would not finish the season with a winning record against the conference. Last year only the Baltimore Ravens made the AFC Playoffs without a winning conference record.

A loss for Buffalo would also push the Bills below .500 in week 3 or later for the first time since Josh Allen's rookie season in 2018. But there's reason for optimism among the Bills' Mafia. This will be the 5th time Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen will face each other in Kansas City. The Bills have won the two regular season games while the Chiefs have taken the post-season games. And if you want to look beyond the stats and numbers, Buffalo has got to be the more desperate team on Sunday afternoon. I mentioned the difficulty of Buffalo making the playoffs due to their conference record. But the Bills have a difficult schedule ahead of them with road games against the Chargers and Dolphins and home games against the Cowboys and Patriots. A win on Sunday should go a long way in getting the Bills into the playoffs.

Josh Allen has got to be Superman, but without the Kyptonite. We all have seen the highlight reel plays that Josh pulls off seemingly every game. But the turnovers from Josh Allen have killed a lot of the ground that the spectacular plays create. Josh leads the NFL in interceptions and turnovers since entering the NFL in 2018. And he is on track to continue that backbreaking trend this season. Through 12 games Josh has thrown 13 interceptions. Only Sam Howell has more, and he's on bye this week so won't add to his tally. ESPN Analytics gives the Bills a 21% chance at making the playoffs entering week 14. That number increases to 32% with a win a drops to 8% with a loss. This is a Bills must win at Kansas City.

This week Tiger Woods and 19 other golfers will tee it up in the Bahamas for the Hero World Challenge. In addition to Tiger Woods being in the field,  Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, and many more top-20 ranked players in the world will also play. There are starting to be some bread crumbs that Tiger is gearing up for 2024. The days of Tiger playing in multiple events in a months are long gone. But reports are out that Tiger is planning on playing in "five or six" events this season. It appears that Tiger is gearing up for 2024, and it will give us a look into the rest of his career. Should it go well, I could see Tiger continuing this schedule for however long he believes he can compete. Should the body not respond the way he wants, it could be over.

This weekend at the Bahamas won't be the only time to watch Tiger before the end of the season. Tiger and his son, Charlie are both confirmed for the PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando for mid-December. Those are 2 events on flat golf courses that are relatively easy to walk. However, walking doesn't seem to be as big of a problem for Tiger currently. Taylor Zarzour went on SiriusXM and is reporting that Tiger's limp is not nearly as noticeable and it's not as much of a problem for Tiger. So five or six events in 2024... what will they be? There is no way to really know, but here is my bet guess.

Genesis has been a long time sponsor of Tiger Woods (and also the car he was driving when he shattered his leg). This tournament is also in Los Angeles, or technically just outside of LA, but Tiger views it as his home town and loves playing in the market.

March is a busy month with 2 elevated events on the PGA Tour. The Players is a more prestigious tournament, and just 2 weeks after the API. But Tiger understands his place in the game and that is in the conversation with Arnie, Jack, and the other 2 or 3 greatest players of all time. It also gives him an extra week of recovery before his favorite tournament.

Go ahead and lock this one in. Augusta National is one of Tiger's favorite courses in the world, and The Masters is his favorite tournament. 2023 saw terrible playing conditions and it was the course that ended his 2023 comeback. Tiger will want to play this event as long as his body allows.

This one is fairly easy to identify. The only event Tiger would consider playing in May would be the Wells Fargo in Charlotte the week prior to the PGA. But he hasn't played that tournament since his neck fusion surgery. He also won the PGA Championship at Valhalla in 2000.

The year's final major will see Tiger back in the field after sitting out the US Open. The US Open is too demanding on the body for Tiger to play in. However The Open is a relatively easy walk. Going back to the historical importance of Tiger and understanding what Bobby Jones and previous greats went though to play in The Open, he will want to play as long as his body allows.

I think this will come down to how his body reacts after the Genesis, API, The Masters, and PGA Championship. If his body feels good and he wants to play, Jack's tournament would be the perfect place. And as I've said before, the US Open is a no-go for Tiger.