{"id":647877,"date":"2026-01-02T10:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T10:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/647877\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T10:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T10:45:15","slug":"5-storylines-to-watch-for-during-lead-up-to-week-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/647877\/","title":{"rendered":"5 storylines to watch for during lead up to Week 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Buffalo Bills<\/a> are turning to the final page of their 2025 regular season against the New York Jets.<\/p>\n

Following an offseason that has built Super Bowl hopes, can the Bills turn their fortunes in the right direction and make that a reality after a bumpy year?<\/p>\n

Before we even get to the team’s next kickoff, there will be a lot of Bills-related discussions and conversations to be had throughout the coming days.<\/p>\n

With that, here are five storylines to watch for during the lead up to Bills (11-5) against the Jets (3-13) <\/a>in Week 18 at Highmark Stadium:<\/p>\n

‘The Ralph’s’ finale’<\/p>\n

The huge talking point already this week is this contest being the last regular season game at the Bills’ current home. The new Highmark Stadium opens in 2026.<\/p>\n

Memories and leaving with a win will be discussed all week since the postseason may not provide another home game in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Josh’s health<\/p>\n

Bills quarterback Josh Allen is not often injured but his foot issue appeared to hamper him in Buffalo’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> last week. As the franchise player, Allen’s health will have eyes all over it before the postseason.<\/p>\n

Seeding<\/p>\n

While there may not be a home game for the Bills upcoming in the postseason, a better seed could change that. The Bills are currently at No. 7. Buffalo can still move up in seeding. The Bills can reach as high as the No. 5 seed with a win and depending on outcomes elsewhere in the AFC.<\/p>\n

Here’s where the rest of the AFC shakes out ahead of Week 18:<\/p>\n

Denver Broncos<\/a> (13-3)New England Patriots (13-3)Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4)Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)Houston Texans (11-5)Los Angeles Chargers (11-5)Buffalo Bills (11-5)Other starters<\/p>\n

Likewise to Allen, there are other injured players on the Bills roster that could stand to use a rest. In addition, those not hurt could avoid injury by not playing.<\/p>\n

What do the Bills decide to do in terms of starters in their finale at Highmark Stadium? There is plenty of head coach Sean McDermott to consider.<\/p>\n

Cook’s numbers<\/p>\n

One pretty huge milestone to watch (and consider in terms of a starter playing) relates to running back James Cook. He has the most rushing yards among NFL running backs in 2025 with 1,606.<\/p>\n

How much playing time should he get to keep his potential rushing title? Cook currently leads it by 47 yards over the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>‘ Jonathan Taylor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Bills are turning to the final page of their 2025 regular season against the New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2051],"tags":[857,247,265,825,215,232,214,53,2005,324,231,258,25,7,20842,2004,392,226,1979,1753,856,872,1184,5936,248,267,246,1917,255,88,2321,2097,6,35196,245,264,242,109,3686,3026,1602,2517,9,266,2355],"class_list":["post-647877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-jets","tag-allen","tag-american","tag-american-football","tag-american-football-conference","tag-bills","tag-broncos","tag-buffalo","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-colts","tag-conference","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-eagles","tag-football","tag-hub","tag-indianapolis","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jets","tag-jonathan","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-josh","tag-josh-allen","tag-listicle","tag-mcdermott","tag-national","tag-national-sports","tag-neutral","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-jets","tag-news","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkjets","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-hub","tag-overall","tag-overall-neutral","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-sean","tag-sean-mcdermott","tag-smg","tag-smg-listicle","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-taylor"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}