saundena

Many things went wrong in this game. Some issues were self inflicted, some weren't- but once the bad stuff started rolling downhill the issues compounded which is what you saw during the 1st half. I think if this game was in Buffalo and we didn't have a huge time zone disadvantage we would have won an ugly game (much like the Chiefs did vs the Jets)- so I don't think we need to blow up the team. That said, Dorsey needs to find rhythm and flow to his calls, and so a better job of removing the things that don't work. Our TE's are collectively underwhelming- Knox especially. We need to find better balance with our RBs. Cook didn't seem to have it today, so why not lean on the other guys? Unfortunate circumstances compounded by injuries and self inflicted wounds were too much fo us to overcome. If we can get healthy I still think we are a formidable team.... so hopefully, by some maricle we don't lose Jones and Milano for the entire season.

No, his track record speaks for itself. There are things he needs to work on, but we were in the dark ages before he got here. Our defense is (was) much better since getting rid of Frasier. If (insert name of successful HC) didn't have (insert name of top notch QB), said coach would also mimic Belichick sans TB. We have a very good HC and QB. We just need some good news on the injury front (and stop stop having them)

Yes when we beat one of the worst teams, all of our injury problems will suddenly vanish

Geez what's your problem. I never said I wasn't going to continue supporting my team. I'm simply saying that is very gut wrenching for me as a fan to watch as our season stands on the brink- a result of an awful degree of bad injury luck that nobody can do anything about.

Luck is the single most important factor for any team. If the Chiefs are unlucky last year and Mahomes got injured, they don't win (or make it to) the Superbowl.

Amen But I do think Dorsey's seat should be getting warm. Josh and Diggs totally bail him out

I don't consider myself to be a chicken little but I do feel strongly that there are things we could have done to help ourselves. For instance, the team should have arrived much earlier in the week. Whoever decided on a Friday arriveal (McD?)- it was a failure. I'm also not a big Dorsey fan. No rhythm or flow to the play calling whatsoever and he seems to double down on things that don't work A lot of problems were beyond our control (scheduling, Injuries, etc.). Still, it doesn't change the fact that the sky indeed seems to be falling. White, and now Jones and Milano will make it much harder for us to win the division (Jones and Milano were so important last week VS Miami) let alone make a deep playoff push. Winning a SUPERBOWL takes luck and that is something we just don't seem to have the last two years. It seems like the wheels came off this season before it even got rolling I don't know how this year will end up, but I know the path to winning the Superbowl just got harder simply to to the awful luck we seem to have. So for me, the sky is falling and I don't event have to point to the errors and issues we caused ourselves. We simply don't have luck and that is enough to keep us from the Lombardi once again.

Miami scares me. They looked very sharp against the Chargers. They just have so much talent in offense. Obviously if Tua or Tyreek go down they will be in trouble, but I don't want to be the guy wishing for an injury. Josh needs to pull his head out of his @$$ and take what defenses give him- if he does that we'll score on most of our drives. Stop trying to put up numbers like Tua. Not gonna happen with our OC and receivers

I would have gone with on track to winning a championship, but McBeane's refusal to hold Frasier responsible for his 4th defensive meltdown in the playoffs leads me to believe they lack either the stomach or awareness to make the changes that need to be made. This team has gone as far as it can defensively under Frasier and I hope OBD see that before it's too late

The Bengal Bludgeoning of Buffalo

What makes you say that?

No heart on either side of the ball. Completely unprepared for this game

Well this jinxed it

I listen to Joe Marino too (love his podcast) and I was surprised to hear that JA's INT % basically remained the same. I think it's just as important to consider fumbles (total and lost) because Josh definitely seems to be fumbling more than last year.

Mahomes > Allen Unfortunately

Yup. And I feel sorta bad about it but man, what a story it would be. Would be a good movie, 30 for 30, etc. Academically speaking, I could see Harvard Business School doing a leadership / organizational case study on centered on the Pegula's, the front office and McD of course. It's been a very challenging year for Buffalo, both on and off the field as you rightly pointed out (you left off Kim's health issues BTW), and if we FINALLY win the Superbowl (and even if we don't), the team performed at such a high level for the entire year and is a model of stability, consistency when times are rough. Bet there are a lot of good teachings and learning points that can be distilled from the 2022 Buffalo Bills season.

If KC wins, they will automatically get the top spot but virtue of having the most wins

Assuming the Bills Bengals game is cancelled and also assuming the Bills and Chiefs win their Week 18 games, one could easily make the claim that Bills should get the #1 seed since have a head to head advantage over the Chiefs and simply weren't able to play the 18 games due to the tragic events. What's more is if the Bengals and Bills win in week 18 and the Chiefs lose, all three teams would have 4 losses, but Buffalo and Cincy would BOTH have head to head tiebreaker advantage over KC! There would literally be a 3 way claim for the number 1 seed!

Ah ok gotcha! No worries

No. If we lost / lose / forfeit to the Bengals, we could still end up with the number one seed if both the Chiefs and Bengals lose next week and we win. I don't think you can fairly use win percentages in such a small sample size of games, letting the other 30 teams play 17 games and the Bills and Bengals 16. Assuming the Chiefs and Bills all win next week, the Chiefs would have a higher win percentage than Buffalo 14-3 versus our assumed 13-3. I suppose the league could also consider our head to head victory over the Chiefs since we didn't get a chance to play 17 games. In light of what happened, I think the simplest thing to do would be a coin flip to determine the "winner" of tonight's game (since it was likely to be a close game anyway) solely for playoff seeding. In other words, the Bills and Bengals final regular season record will be based on 16 games, but playoff seeding will be based on the results of the coin flip. All that said. Prayers to Hamlin. We have a tough team and they are family to each other. Don't underestimate prayer and positive thoughts. We will come out of this stronger, sometimes it just hard to see the forest through the trees.

Cincy isn't overrated. Second longest win streak in the NFL and also beat the Chiefs. They are a very good team. Well have our hands full, hopefully we walk away with a win!

Thanks everyone. I decided to start with Pat Kirwan's "Take Your Eye Off the Ball" book which incidentally is free for Kindle owners until tomorrow (or was for me). Appreciate all your suggestion and will also look at some of the other suggestions and we videos like Cover 1, too!

Crap. How did you know!!!!!

I've been watching the game for almost 30 years but admittedly, I'm not a very strong X's and O's fella. I know the basics of course and understand at a high level the chess match that is Offense versus Defens; but always find myself watching the ball versus diagnosing and recognizing what is happening before and after the snap. I think having a better understanding of these things and increasing my ability to recognize them in real time will enhance my enjoyment of the game. Do anybody have recommendations for a really good football X's and O's book that really goes into the details on thing like blocking schemes, coverage packages, how players' talent and physical traits impact personnel groupings and substitutions, etc? Thanks!