Bills Power Rankings Roundup: Gathering where all the experts rank Buffalo going into Week 11

With a 30-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts this past Sunday, the Buffalo Bills will ride a five-game winning streak into their high-profile matchup with the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs at Highmark Stadium in Week 11.

Now 8-2 for the first time since 1993, the Bills are in complete control of the AFC East and are essentially a lock to win the division, as every other team has just three wins.

But that obviously doesn't mean Buffalo doesn't want to take care of business on Sunday afternoon, as this battle with the two-time defending Super Bowl champs could very well determine the No. 1 seed in the AFC come January.

It's no secret that the Bills haven't had the most challenging schedule thus far. Of their eight wins, just one has come against a team that currently owns a winning record, that being their Week 1 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

The only other two games they've played against teams above .500 at the moment were against the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. And those two games, of course, account for Buffalo's only losses.

Nevertheless, the Bills are viewed by most as one of the top teams in the NFL, as they should be. Josh Allen is running second to Lamar Jackson in the MVP race and has led the offense to 29.0 points per game, tied for the third-most in the league.

And while the Buffalo defense is still giving up far too much yardage at times, Bobby Babich's unit has been fantastic in the red zone. As such, while the Bills have allowed the 15th-most yards per game (336.1), they've given up the ninth-fewest points (19.3).

One indicator of an elite team is beating those you're supposed to beat. And the Bills have done that thus far. But they still need that signature win, and besting the Chiefs for a fourth straight time in the regular season would obviously give them that. Sean McDermott's squad has been knocked out of the postseason by Kansas City three times in the last four years, but we're not here to discuss that.

Instead, we're simply here to check in on where some other experts have the Bills ranked in their NFL Power Rankings heading into this contest.

The Bills are ranked among the top three or four in all the major NFL Power Rankings

First and foremost, of course, we've got FanSided's NFL Power Rankings, which has Buffalo sitting in the No. 4 slot, trailing only the Detroit Lions, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Baltimore Ravens.

As the theme of this week's piece was the "biggest surprise of every team," what was mentioned in that regard about the Bills was how astounding it was that they've been able to put 30-plus points in each of their last four games.

And that's a valid point. At one point or another during that stretch, Buffalo has been without the services of James Cook, Amari Cooper, and Keon Coleman. But the "next man up" mentality is strong with this team. Ray Davis stepped up in Cook's absence. And the Bills' bevy pass catchers have collectively stepped up with two of Allen's biggest weapons sidelined, a group led by Khalil Shakir.

You'll see similar rankings as we move along.

NFL.com: 3

Buffalo maintained its spot at No. 3 at NFL.com behind the Lions and Chiefs, with writer Eric Edholm mentioning the defensive issues against the run early in his analysis.

And the Bills certainly do need to improve in that area, as they've allowed 123.2 yards per game on the ground, putting them roughly in the middle of the pack for the year. Thankfully for Buffalo, the Chiefs rely more on Patrick Mahomes and the passing game.

But it's not as if the Bills are great in that regard either, as they're also in the middle of the pack in that category, allowing 212.9 yards per game through the air.

ESPN: 4

The Bills dropped from third to fourth in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings, flipping spots with the Ravens, who moved from fourth to third following their wild win over the Cincinnati Bengals to kick off Week 10.

These rankings highlighted nickel cornerback Taron Johnson, who intercepted Joe Flacco's very first pass this past Sunday and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown. ESPN notes that Buffalo is undefeated in games Johnson has played.

CBS Sports: 4

Like it was at NFL.com, the Bills didn't move up or down at CBS Sports, maintaining their spot at No. 3 from a week ago.

CBS typically doesn't dive too deep in their analysis and kept their thoughts on Buffalo short and sweet: "Here come the Chiefs this week. It's the Bills chance to show they are the class of the AFC with a game against the kings of the conference -- their nemesis."

Fox Sports: 4

NFL reporter David Helman of Fox Sports took the ESPN way of thinking, flip-flopping the Bills and Ravens, with Buffalo dropping one spot to No. 4 and Baltimore jumping up a slot to No. 3.

Helman kept his thoughts brief as well: "No complaints about a comfortable road win in Indianapolis. I bumped the Bills down mainly because Baltimore’s head-to-head win is a big tiebreaker. But Buffalo has a big opportunity to make some noise this week while hosting the undefeated Chiefs."

Yahoo! Sports: 3

Senior writer Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Sports flip-flopped Buffalo and Baltimore as well. Only here, it was the Bills moving up to No. 3 while the Ravens dropped to No. 4.

"The Bills couldn’t have been happy to see the Broncos barely miss a chance to beat the Chiefs," Schwab wrote. "Still, if Buffalo beats Kansas City at home on Sunday, they’ll be one loss behind the Chiefs and have the head-to-head tiebreaker in the race for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. Huge game."

Pro Football Talk: 3

Last but certainly not least, we've got Pro Football Talk.

Mike Florio uses the one-sentence approach in his NFL Power Rankings, which I can respect, and he said what most are thinking about this upcoming matchup: "Win or lose vs. the Chiefs on Sunday, they won’t slay the dragon until they beat KC in the playoffs."

He's obviously got a point. But as stated earlier, it's not as if this game doesn't matter, even if Buffalo has essentially already clinched a playoff spot. If the Bills see the Chiefs again in January, they'll most certainly want the game to be played at Highmark Stadium as opposed to Arrowhead.

Buckle up, folks. This has all the makings of an instant classic.