GaryPinC

To hell with KC, let's focus on why the sun doesn't seem to shine down enough in our 8 years of drafting.

For whatever reason Mahomes wasn't stepping up in the pocket or reacting to the pass rush until it was too late. For sure Josh would have done a better job of that and completing more of those passes on the scramble. That would have strained Philly's defense far more. Not saying we would have won but our offense would have fared much better.

Making strategic changes to the scouting department might also help.

There is a draft coming up in a few months, let's also not forget about free agency.

Yep. Lamar had the better individual season while Josh really took the Bills to the next level. The proof is in the playoffs. The voters got it right.

Well, Knowles is in his mid-fifties and I think this picture is classless. Not happy to have him now and I think things will turn out for for the best with OSU. I'm about his age and clearly Knowles is emotionally immature. https://www.essentiallysports.com/ncaa-college-football-news-tensions-rise-for-james-franklin-as-ten-m-jim-knowles-gamble-sees-new-twist-adding-to-penn-states-misery/

I think best candy bar has to at least have chocolate and caramel. Milky Way/Snickers for me with Twix in second. Sorry Butterfinger fans, but that one tops my list of worst candy bars ever. I couldn't not spit it out the few times I tried it. A "worst candy bars" thread might be more fun!😂

Yep! Thanks, eloquently summarized. I would just add that the lifetime of joy doesn't have to derive from losses and victories, rather the shared experiences. And that can help dad redefine his fandom too!

At a minimum Beane should bring in some scouts better at picking D-line

Ok good luck with your decision. Even though your wife hates football, I hope she respects how much you love it and if you choose to build that connection with your daughter.

Except for the shaky start, I thought he was great again. Fantastic TD pass to Hollins. Led us again, unlucky on the fourth down and a great deception by Spagnola. We were right there thanks to him, even though his superman role is less frequent because of the run game. You are well within your right to expect him to be "great" every game, but to me it comes off as petty. Great defenses are going to take their toll and Josh was far from the reason we lost, Kincaid makes that catch or coaches have a backup plan for the tush push and we're not nitpicking Josh's couple of bad plays.

Who came up short? Yep, it’s okay to love all of the great things he does AND to point out when he comes up short. But to then declare he's not reliable enough in the playoffs? That borders on deranged for me, like all his outweighing great plays are negated by a jittery start and a misread on a fourth down (where he unbelievably still got out a catchable ball with a throwing hand/wrist injury to boot)!

Concussions are a highly variable thing. Both my kids have had "mild" concussions that kept them out 2-3 weeks with symptoms even though they could pass a neurologist's mental questionnaire/assessment. A lot of it seemed to rely on the self-reported symptoms they were experiencing, and if you apply that to an ultra competitive professional athlete..... Even at the child level I was shocked at the large number of parents who still preached the attitude that you play through them unless the symptoms are severe. So, I don't know how these players recover in a week but I have some suspicions...

I'm not as confident. Kelly ran the offense, so were there really any signals to steal? The Giants defensive plan centered on taking away the passing game by jamming to disrupt timing, being extremely physical in the secondary, and changing coverage schemes every series or two. The most effective thing they did was hold the ball on offense for a 2:1 TOP advantage. Even if Belichick was secretly taping I'm not sure there was much to be gained anyways.

Thanks for this, I only wish our coaches could see this. It's easy to blame missed plays but you're right on in that this is how the coaching gap translated. What to do about it? I believe Beane/FO should bring in an experienced "consultant" coach to assist McDermott, a la Ernie Adams for Belichick (my brother mentioned this after the Rams game). Someone who's won it all and can work with McD and provide guidance, experience and advice on how to up their coaching game and self scout the Bills for the playoffs. Suggestions on what to change up in the playoffs. He could potentially provide anticipatory in-game suggestions also, like how to play that goal line situation with the Rams. 2 things jump out at me with McDermott: 1. He is a system guy through and through. He's shown some progress in opening his thinking (4th downs, no prevent D vs Mahomes) but it's a struggle for him and that's ok. His system has gotten us this far. 2. This is his first head coaching job and his system struggles in the playoffs. Get a respected voice in here to work with McD and find a new angle. A change is needed. This Athletic article points to the impending degradation of McDermott's process. The team did everything right and it wasn't enough.

I guess wildly off target for me would mean the receiver had little or no chance to catch it, which I completely disagree with. Kincaid had to adjust and did. His body wasn't stretched horizontal trying to reach the ball, his chest was angled up and he tried to arm scoop it into his body instead of reaching towards it with both hands. The distance and angle of the ball were such that he got his core close to the ball and was unimpeded. The throw was off but more than adequate IMO.

Yeah, I get that, for me it just rubs the wrong way. Maybe it seems too similar to all the attention seekers dramatizing their daily struggles on social media as click-bait.😄

Gotcha, thanks for explaining. The bottom line is, as a parent you have to walk the talk. There's no point in bothering if you turn into a monster and scare the hell out of her. It's got to be enjoyable and positive for you both, so how do you refocus and do that? All I could offer is this perspective: I badly want to win a Superbowl but the 90's taught me the journey and entire story is more fun. After the third loss the national mockery or pity parties took hold and I realized how much more gratifying and privileged it was to watch those teams absolutely light it up in elite football fashion except for 1 game a year compared to all the losing years of crappy, incompetence. We have the rarest of gifts with Josh and I want at least 1 superbowl but I'm going to enjoy all his amazing unstoppable performances even if the biggest one still escapes us. Especially with my daughter and family, that is far more important to me than a losing score.

Honestly, you are all over the place with your text. It sounds like there are two people talking, which one is the real you? And who is the other person? How is exposing her to the Buffalo Bills "forcing" yourself on her? The great thing about being a parent is you see parts and even a lot of yourself in them and they turn out refreshingly different because it's a different life and you help shape it! I have two kids from my first marriage, born and grown up in Cleveland and now in college. I took and showed my kids how to fish, took them to Bills games, put them in sports. My daughter likes to fish, and the Bills. My son didn't like fishing and stayed true to his hometown Browns. So, I follow the Browns and Cavs just to share that connection with him, and I know part of my daughter's Bills fandom is to share a connection. You could argue anything you expose your kids to is technically forcing but we all know that's not true. But kids love sharing and feeling your positive energy for things you are passionate about so stick with that. Expose, even repeatedly but don't force. But first you have to identify the real you here.

Sorry, not going to wallow in suffering or stratify it. We're completely lucky to have Josh and despite the bad ending following the Bills is overall interesting and fun. We lost a tough, close game in the AFC championship. Still have Josh. Woe is us.🤮 Way better than the habitually dark, hopeless tundra that is the Browns.

No one understands suffering better than the fans of the Buffalo Bills? Come on. Browns and Lions do.

So glad your son is ok too. As a parent, that is truly frightening. Especially that dark chasm of helplessness waiting for the ambulance. My daughter (who's in her 20's now) was about that age when she fell off the bed hitting her head on the slab floor. Passed out and turned a little blue until she woke up like 3 seconds later. Luckily she was fine, but ugh. I'll never forget that frantic moment holding her praying she would wake up. Then the 5-10 minutes for the ambulance to make sure she's ok. Great post and right on about seizing these moments for Beane and the coaches!

Sorry, I'm not into micromanaging every single potential issue and decision, especially as Brady deserves some amount of autonomy and we don't know exactly how that works between him and McD. I certainly support that we would try the push that had worked so well in the season and is very difficult to stop. My issue is to have an alternate plan in place for a game like this, as we ran it exactly the same way all year.

Appreciate the tidbit from Johnson, but the team felt too strongly about Levy so firing him wasn't the first step. Levy or someone should have fired Walt Corey. He bragged how he didn't have to coach that defense too much because they were so talented and their sloppiness showed in all the superbowls, especially the first three. Right after Washington, he should have been sent packing with Dickerson, IMO.

Either that or he's not overruling Brady. Don't want to short-change Brady! But somebody should have been prepared with a different alternative given this unwavering play call of ours. Just made it easier for Reid/Spagnola. Saw somewhere that after our regular season victory over them Spagnola resolved that they had to stop Allen or they wouldn't make it to the Superbowl and began planning. Wonder if any of our coaches think like/do that?