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The Buffalo Bills are headed into the 2026 season as one of the Super Bowl favorites. Josh Allen is certainly a reason why, coming off another excellent season at quarterback. But the Bills also hired Jim Leonhard as their defensive coordinator, which Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr says could help them win a Super Bowl.
“Leonhard was a critical piece of a highly innovative Rex Ryan staff in the early 2010s as a player and went on to Denver, where he coached under Vance Joseph, instituting a similar simulated pressure-style defense aimed at stressing offensive lines beyond their resources. Weaponizing the Bills’ defense will be the key to helping Buffalo weather a division with a [much-improved] Patriots team, and a conference that is returning to full strength after many of its behemoths fell to injury last season,” Orr wrote.
Sean McDermott handled the defensive play-calling duties for the Bills while he was the head coach. Now, the former Bills safety takes the headset. Orr says that this change could help the Bills finally make and win the Super Bowl.
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Despite their seventh consecutive playoff appearance, the Bills fired McDermott after last season. A dreadful loss to the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round ended the McDermott era in Western New York. Now, Joe Brady moves from offensive coordinator to the big chair, while bringing Leonhard in as the defensive coordinator.
The Bills watched Drake Maye and the New England Patriots make the Super Bowl in the quarterback’s second season. Allen is starting his ninth season in the league, but has never made the Super Bowl. There are different reasons for each season’s playoff failure, but Buffalo needs to get to the big game this year.
Can the Bills make the Super Bowl in the AFC this year? Or will their two big rivals – Kansas City and New England – steal their thunder again?
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