GaryPinC
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Posts posted by GaryPinC
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18 hours ago, MDH said:
It’s interesting to me how it’s being phrased as an “upset” when, after week 18 Allen was the favorite for MVP. The “upset” was Allen didn’t get voted All Pro, not that he won MVP.
That said I think this played out the way it should have. In a race as close as this split it and let both guys get their accolades.
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.
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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.
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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!😂
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8 hours ago, SinceThe70s said:
My suggestion is to give your daughter the freedom to make her own choice. She'll be exposed to your fandom and it'll either take or it won't. If it takes, she's in for the ride good or bad - that's the gig, like it or not. And while you think you may be protecting her from a lifetime of heartbreak who knows maybe you'd be depriving her of a lifetime of joy.
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!
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At a minimum Beane should bring in some scouts better at picking D-line
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23 hours ago, letsgoteam said:
Great points and I agree 110%
To note, nothing that I do in reaction to them losing would scare her or anyone. I mean I'm frustrated and not happy with the outcome (and I get frustrated at myself internally for caring too much) but nothing that scare her or make her uncomfortable. Additionally, she has never even heard me cuss/say a bad word. 🙂
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.
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5 hours ago, Gugny said:
I’m not negating anything.
I’m just not giving him a pass just because he IS usually awesome.
He had a “good” game last Sunday.
We should expect him to be great in every playoff game.
He’s been great in one playoff loss (13 seconds).
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.
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On 1/28/2025 at 4:43 PM, Gugny said:
If we can’t trust him to be at his best when the team needs it most, then he deserves criticism.
It’s okay to love all of the great things he does AND to point out when he comes up short.
It doesn’t have to be one or the other.
He needs to be more reliable in the post season.
Period.
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)!
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On 1/28/2025 at 1:42 PM, Mango said:
We’ve had MD’s on this board scratch their head at the NFL clearing athletes to play.
Soccer and hockey have guys miss entire years of games, but there isn’t one player in the NFL who has gotten hit in the head and missed 16+ games. That doesn’t seem strange to you?
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...
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3 hours ago, Special K said:
Knowing what we know now about Belichick with Spygate and all, I am sure while he was DC of the Giants he illegally taped the Bills practices for Super Bowl 25......no way he could slow down that powerful Offense without a little help.
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.
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21 hours ago, HappyDays said:
The more I reflect and read about the game the more I come to this conclusion. The dead giveaway is that all of their TD drives were easy with barely any resistance, while ours relied on multiple 4th down conversions, James Cook making a miraculous individual play at the goalline, etc. We were threading needles and biting our nails while they were casually waltzing downfield. Just a massive coaching gap on both sides of the ball. I don't know how we are going to suddenly bridge that gap while Allen is still in his prime. It's demoralizing to think about.
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.
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12 hours ago, Simon said:
It's wildly off target when it's 15 yards from where it's supposed to be, regardless of the end result.
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.
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6 hours ago, Casey D said:
Could not agree more. I just thought it was nice to have our situation as Bills fans recognized. But wallowing in pity is not an option.
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.😄
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20 minutes ago, letsgoteam said:
Thanks for the detailed response.
If it sounds like two people, it might be my own internal battle with how I should proceed following the Bills.
As far as my daughter, I think maybe what is my concern is her developing the same type of feelings I have when it comes to the Bills (like overly caring/bothered by the outcomes of their games).
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.
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On 1/27/2025 at 12:09 AM, letsgoteam said:
Honest question. I would love for her to care about the Bills and actually have someone to enjoy games with (actually it's just to suffer with if we are being honest).
My wife hates football and I'll be honest, it bothers me that she could care less about the Bills.
I feel that I am just being selfish. I definitely don't want to force her into it. If she does on her own, then it's ok. However I think her life would be better off if she doesn't.
This season was the first time I didn't subscribe to NFL Sunday ticket. I'm trying to move on with life and the Bills have consumed so much of my life.
I did not watch any other NFL games this season other then the Bills. I believe my goal is stop watching the Bills as well.
I guess my real question is I don't want to force myself on her deciding if she is going to like the Bills or not. Any advice would be appreciated.
I wish I didn't care and I honestly don't want my daughter to go through life like I have.
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.
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3 minutes ago, Casey D said:
Different kind of suffering. Their suffering is more like our drought suffering. Bills have unique and exquisitely painful ways(plural) of suffering IMO.
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.
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No one understands suffering better than the fans of the Buffalo Bills? Come on. Browns and Lions do.
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19 hours ago, Billsfan4588 said:
Daily, multiple times per day, this message board is where I would get my Bills addiction fix. Just prior to the Bengals playoff slaughter, my son was born. I actually accidentally fell asleep 5 minutes before the kick off of that game and woke up to the game pretty much out of hand already (thanks newborn sleepless nights). You knew something was off, that was not the effort you expect from a home team in the playoffs.
Follow that up a year later with the Diggs rumors swirling. Eventually leading to the firing of Ken Dorsey, the birth of a new more efficient offense, and the phasing out of Diggs. We all remember how that season ended.
This preseason reminded much of the one where McDermott, and eventually Beane had initally arrived. I remember getting off my flight on my way to a resort in the Dominican Republic, turning my phone off airplane mode, and seeing that Sammy Watkins had been traded. This preseason, for a different reason, was another necessary cleansing. It brought a new energy, and shifted accountability to other players.
The team got a little younger, but leaders like Josh and Bernard matured. Change isn't always fun, in fact it rarely ever is, but it's necessary in order to grow. McDermott, to his credit, has fought against many of his own previous conceptions of how to handle certain situations. Going for it more often on 4th, not being afraid to blitz to end a game, playing a different base defense for portions of the game vs the Ravens. It's slow and frustrating but strides are being made.
Last night was rough, Josh starting out slow (probably jittery and too hyped up). What felt like every single crucial call going in the Chiefs favor. And in the end, with ~3 minutes left, down 3. We had the ball, we had a chance. So what happened? Easy answer is "execution" or just "coaching". In honesty, it was both, though I'm more on the "coaching" side. Whether Chiefs are on offense or on defense, in those end of game situations, need to have it first down or need to stop them 4th downs, they had a unique play ready to go in every situation thatvwas run to perfection. The most frustrating part of the final offensive play of the year for the Bills wasn't just the outcome, but rather, that they never even had a chance. During the commercial break, as I sat next to my brothers and a friend in my man cave, I said, "the Chiefs are going to blitz. And it's going to be a blitz different from any they ran tonight. And there will be a free runner directly at Josh who gets there so fast , he won't have a lane to run to, or time for anyone to really get open. Unfortunately, I have no idea where that blitz will come from." Fast forward to the play. Initially I wanted to blame Joe Brady for not have a blitz counter scripted in the play, but after watching replays seeing that he in fact did have Shakir in position, but that couldn't be taken advantage of from the direction the blitz came, and how fast they got there. I can't blame Joe Brady for being out witted by a DC with multiple superbowls who has 3 times the NFL experience Brady has.
I was honestly exhausted when the game was over, pained mostly by how much Josh was showing it on his face, because as simple and silly as it sounds, he really cares. I was numbed to it and bummed that we got the ugliest SB match up imaginable. But, where do we go from here? It's obvious the coaching has to improve, but I believe it's mostly on Brady to grow this offseason, through no fault of his own, he's only 35 years old, and with a defensive head coach , who does have to lean on? If he does take a step forward, we're that more dangerous. Nothing is more frustrating than watching Josh have to complete td passes to wrs with 0.5 yds of separation named Mack Hollins (GOAT!) while Mahomes simply needs to flick 3 yd tosses to wide open RBs in the flat to further solidify his legacy. I hope to one day see Kincaid catch a slant wide open and take off to the endzone so many times as we've seen his draft class mate Sam Laporta do.
A couple of days ago, my 2 year old son had whats known as a febrile seizure or "fever seizure", unfortunately my wife and I had no idea what it was or that it's apparently very common. But one second he's eating dinner, the next he's limp, choking on air, eyes rolled in the back of his head and having a seizure on our kitchen floor for about 6 minutes until the ambulance arrives. He's doing great now, but it leads to my next point. As annoying as it sounds, I think we're right there, but there's another person who needs to grow and have a shift in his philosophy, and that's Brandon Beane. Sure, his draft picks haven't all been hits, but he's still fielded a pretty solid team. But after thinking my son was going to die, the old cliche of not waiting for tomorrow pops into my head. Do you really want to keep being conscious of the future for the sake of being decent for a prolonged period of time, or do you just want to win that 1 damn super bowl! My newest fear is dying and never seeing this team just reach the superbowl (I'm currently 34, only started watching football seriously in 2009 when I became a freshman at UB and had to be a Bills fan, my first draft comment ever was "who the hell is EJ Manuel??). I think it's time to sell out, be 49ers, be the Eagles, you can even be the 1 and done Rams, but just get it done, just once so your fan base can say they really went for it one time before they die.
The last person who needs to grow is me. The Chiefs are back to back champions, they went 15-1 with their starters this year, they did not take a singular game this season for granted. The Bills lost last night as one of the final 4 teams of professional millionaires all gunning for the same goal. I need to appreciate every one of their victories more often instead of always just appreciating the macro.
Sorry for my novel, but I had to cram a years worth of posts here! Until next year, I really think this might be the season where Beane finally does something against how he's fundamentally run the team and go for some big splashes (Garret, Crosby, bring Khalil Mack back home, why not 2 of the 3?) Yes I remember the Von Miller signing, but I'm thinking more extreme, you have Josh Allen, you can attract all kinds of talent, let's hear other fan bases say "how in the hell does that fit in their cap space!" For once.
Let's go Buffalo!
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!
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2 hours ago, BananaB said:
If he’s not over ruling Brady, it was pretty obvious they weren’t winning the battle in those situations, isn’t that a bad decision as well. He’s the HC, he either wanted it or he let it continue. All comes down to his decisions.
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.
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29 minutes ago, colin said:
marv levy is the best coach the bills have ever had by most accounts.
he's the only coach to get his team to 4 consecutive super bowls. he is in the hall of fame, and he was loved by the fans and the players alike.
marv levy should have been fired after the first super bowl loss. the arguments made to keep him were the same as the arguments made now to keep mcd. it could be so much worse, we might fall apart, oh no, we can't change anything because we should be paralyzed by fear!
jim johnson, multiple champion in the NCAA and NFL, was giving a presentation that i saw on tv. he was talking about their scouting of the bills for their super bowl games. he said buffalo was a reckless sloppy team. a very talented team, but they didn't take care of the football, they ran too many of the same plays, they could be baited into passing the ball when they should be running it. their defense can be attacked, and they don't have adjustments to change that up.
marv levy was a better coach than mcd is. hanging on to marv kept the bills winning the afc with that insane roster with multiple hall of famers. a team who's back up qb engineered the greatest comeback in nfl history (they were deep as well as talented). but not changing out marv freaking levy cost the bills an actual shot at a championship.
mcd has hit his ceiling over and over again. he can get, with huge investment, a number 1 defense, division championships (in a very very weak afc east) and a home playoff win, some times 2 home playoff wins.
he's never had a road playoff win, his defense has always produced historically bad outcomes vs good qbs in his losses, and while high scoring, his offenses always make mental errors in key moments.
his special teams are awful. gave up a fake punt to denver, allowed a huge runback vs kc, insane fake punt attempt w a terrible athlete vs kc at home.
we can win this trash division and a home playoff game vs a low seeded team with any real coach, that's about the floor. but we cannot win a chip with these terrible coaches. they need to change.
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.
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20 minutes ago, BananaB said:
I t believe McD is making that call in key situations. In his interviews saying he wanted the best play and it worked all season, it’s definitely him. Even after the Rams game it was pretty clear it was his choice to run instead of pass.
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?
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11 minutes ago, Willyville Guy said:
I think you're onto something with overall perception issues. Day and Chip Kelly have a longstanding working relationship; it's possible that Knowles felt like he was on the outside of the core brain trust. I also wonder if Knowles perceives a better path to a major HC job at PSU with Franklin always on the hot seat and Day fresh off a natty. Pure speculation but it wouldn't surprise me.
I didn't know that about Day and Kelly, thanks, yeah totally could play into it. I look at Knowles' age vs Day and quite honestly I feel the offense somewhat underperformed especially and until after the Michigan debacle so given everything here I could see Knowles feeling he was unfairly singled out.
Good point about Franklin, next year will be telling, a lot of guys coming back to make a run at it. I also think Allar is too much like Christian Hackenberg between the ears, so I fear that will sabotage things. Franklin's not a bad recruiter and seems to foster a family atmosphere but has always felt like a slimy used car salesman from the sticks. Obviously his lousy decision making in big games too, but unfortunately he seems to stay in the good graces of his superiors.
Knowles may be angling, just not sure he's HC material at this point. Oh well, it'll all make for good social cannon fodder drama in the B1G!
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30 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:
So you think that replacing McDermott, and probably Beane too, will only result in upward improvement? You think 12-13 win seasons are the Bills floor? Based on what exactly?
Oh, and nice job @BananaB creating things in your head to hate McDermott for.
No, why would anyone be that naive? Do you believe replacing him or them will only result in a downgrading of our capabilities?
My point is that Josh is mid career and what we have been doing has only gotten us to a certain level. I believe the current FO needs to tweak their approach a bit to help overcome this wall. But, if they won't, we are approaching a point where different leadership may be required to give a different result.
You don't have to even like basketball to look at what's happening to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Their first year, experienced coach was targeted and brought in to get them to the next level with the same talent and even now it's obvious how much more formidable they are compared to the last several years. Their fired coach got hired right away to lead the floundering Detroit Pistons and he's having success also. For whatever reason though, he hit his ceiling with the Cavs and a tough but correct decision was made.
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26 minutes ago, klos63 said:
Don't his coordinators call the plays, come up with the game plan?
I know the buck stops with him, but Brady had a crap game. Wasn't prepared for the blitz, wouldn't change the qb sneaks, took Cook out in critical situations...
They do, and certainly I'm not privy to the inner workings of a coaching staff. I have to believe McDermott is a guiding hand with the game plans where he gives parameters and reviews them. I also expect at critical points in games he will weigh in if he feels strongly about a situation.
I believe this because Brady and Babich are most likely not going to be here long term and I expect our head coach to pass along the hard earned playoff wisdom and set the tone and address any details he feels important in the game plan. That makes the most sense and as you mention, he is ultimately responsible.
Superbowl Game Thread - Chiefs vs Eagles
in The Stadium Wall
Posted
There is a draft coming up in a few months, let's also not forget about free agency.