ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Bills are back on the practice field facing a different reality than what they've become accustomed to in recent years.
They're in a fight to make the playoffs.
Buffalo is 5-4 on the year so far, coming off a 24-18 loss at Cincinnati Sunday night and facing one of the toughest remaining schedules in the NFL. The Bills will likely have to win five of their remaining eight games to qualify for the postseason.
Head coach Sean McDermott is delivering a familiar and expected message ahead of this week's Monday night game.
McDermott emphasized during a press conference on Thursday that he's "Confident in our team, confident in our coaches, confident in our players, confident in our staff. It doesn't mean we don't have work to do. It doesn't mean we don't have a gap to close."
The Bills are currently 8th in the AFC standings on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Starting with the loss to Jacksonville in London, they've dropped three of their last five games struggling to sustain production on offense and to overcome injuries to high-impact players on defense.
McDermott says the way forward is, in some ways, to go back.
"Reset some things that we need to reset. You go back and re-teach certain things or re-establish certain things this time of year."
Buffalo's final eight opponents have a combined record of 39-29. Six out of those eight teams are at least .500 on the year, with four teams having winning records. They face both the NFC and AFC conference leaders, the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs before they close out their regular season.
"It's never easy, but the belief is important. I feel like these guys know what's ahead of us. They also know we've got to take it one game at a time and I think they're ready for the challenge. I know they're ready for the challenge."
NOT PRACTICING THURSDAY:
CB Christian Benford, S Micah Hyde, S Jordan Poyer, LB Leonard Floyd (illness),
LIMITED IN PRACTICE THURSDAY:
LB Baylon Spector, LB A.J. Klein
CONCUSSION PROTOCOL:
LB Terrel Bernard