All_Pro_Bills

The Bills need an elite pass rusher, a replacement for Lorax at OLB preferably with size and speed, and maybe a little more help at CB and even a more physical presence at safety in run game support. As for missed tackles there is room for improvement. Some of it is putting yourself in the right position not over-pursuing or being in the wrong gap and maybe technique. But sometimes its just a mismatch or a bad angle. You put any 190 lb corner in the open field against a guy like Derrick Henry or one of the elite TE's in the game coming at you at full speed and I'll bet 9 out of 10 times you're going to get run over or faked out regardless of the quality of your technique or tackling skills.

Better yet the officiating crew should pay the fine.

The line blocking call and execution on this play is more painful to watch than getting a root canal without anesthetic. I thought I was ready to move on from this game on Monday morning after cooling off for a couple days but I'm seeing and reading more and more about specific plays where the ref's either didn't call it consistently or just blew the call. Yesterday I watch the OBD show with Murphy and Tasker and Ross Tucker was on and he was also of the opinion the call on Ford was complete BS. I think that's the consensus of the entire world except the officiating crew here. Then they showed the 2 pt conversion play Watson ran and you see the Texans RB coming back and towards his own end zone to cut off Edmunds right before he get a hand on the QB. No call but they make the call in OT in the playoffs. Two plays before the Ford call on the Allen sweep to the right where 3 Bills missed blocks the defender launches himself into the air and hits the QB helmet to helmet but no call. Would have been Bills ball 1st and 10 on the 27. And on the 2nd half kickoff two back up officials in black jackets come sprinting out on the field? That seemed odd. Yeah that would have been a cheap 7 in that the returner has no intent to return the kick but since when does intent come into play? The rule to give yourself up in the end zone is to take a knee or go to the ground. The distinction is process. Defenders intercepting the ball in the end zone do this too. They don't end the play by tossing the ball to the official. No guessing required. Maybe on the grounding call Allen should have told the officials his intent was to escape the defenders and throw the ball to a wide open receiver down the field. "Well sure Josh, we understand, you didn't do it with intent so no intentional grounding here then". That crew just makes me sick. I hope the Pegula's quietly push for these clowns to never, ever, officiate another NFL game. And for good measure I hope the Chiefs beat them tomorrow 63-3

I'll throw a couple more out there. Left guard, I'd keep Feliciano at RG OLB with size and speed to cover and blitz. Upgrade for Poyer at safety as his run support is a little weak.

You can over-analyze the refs all you want and it won't matter. In another game with another crew that wouldn't have been called. I'm not asking the officials to be perfect just consistent from game to game and week to week. The call on Ford was weak, especially in a playoff game during overtime. Heck, on the play they ended up face-to-face and the defender was completely aware of Ford's presence on the play so where's the "blind" on blindside? I could be wrong but I suspect you can watch every play of every game from this season and watch every game next year and never see an offensive lineman get called for that again. But did that call hurt the Bills? Yes, it did. Did it cost them the game? Well maybe but to me I can't say for sure given other plays they left on the field or didn't make.

Exactly. They know how to work the system to the max. The players they lose are signed for big money contracts and with a couple exceptions don't make much of an impact on their new teams. And they sign low price/one year free agent deals or sign late round drafted or rookie free agent players, like Hogan, to offer sheets their old team likely won't match. The losses outweigh the gains. My opinion of the compensatory draft pick system is that its anti-competitive and unless I'm wrong is unique to football.

On the play Allen was tackled at around the 50 and there was 1:04 on the clock so there was no need for any type of desperation play at that point. And Knox's path to the end zone about 55 yards away was not clear as there we 3 or 4 defenders up-field closing on the play. If you watch the play over Josh fakes a lateral over initially then tosses the ball while being brought to the ground. In that situation it was a foolish and unnecessary risk. Knox's reaction to the ball bouncing on the turf was heads up thinking. That said there were a lot of takeaways for Allen in this game and it will be a learning experience going into next season. His hero ball skills can be a good thing but he needs to dial it back a bit and pick his spots. In that situation the risk was clearly higher than the reward.

Yes the clock ran out but on 3rd and 18 they should have made the stop. And again in OT they had Watson dead to rights and let him get away. The call I hated was the blindside block call on Ford with the Bills driving into FG range. That call was weak at best and calling it in playoff OT is terrible.

With the Bills in the playoffs and looking to be headed in the right direction it feels strange but good to not have any worries or concerns about all the off season coaching firing and hiring. Lots of threads about other teams in turmoil like the Giants and Browns. As Bills fans not too much to worry about. Happy New Year to all and to a victory on Saturday!

Yeah, Edelman layed on the turf motionless then all of a sudden got up when he realized the fake injury scam wasn't going to work. But regardless of their consistent behavior of pushing the limits of sportsmanship and crossing the line on the rule book I rest easy now knowing their reign of terror is coming to an end. Brady will be pushing 43 and the deterioration of his skills will accelerate sharply from here. It might be wise to consider retirement. I seriously doubt the Patriots will reach or win the Super Bowl this year as they'll likely have to beat either/and the Chiefs and the Ravens. Two teams that look very strong and are hitting their stride going into the playoffs. And in the SB a host of NFC teams like SF and NO that looks vastly superior. Plus in 2020 after another off-season of building, upgrading the roster, and filling holes the Bills will be an even greater threat. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the holidays and the Bills playoff appearance. In 2020 NE will be history.

Are the Ref's biased toward NE when they play the Bills (and almost everyone else)? It sure looks that way much of the time. My beef is they are just so inconsistent from crew to crew, week to week, and game to game. Early on they called defensive PI on Tre and I thought there was contact but nothing too blatant. And I said okay, if that's the standard definition of defensive PI in this game then they better be consistent and call it both ways. They did not. Several times Bills receivers were held up, tugged, or contacted while the ball was in the air that was far more contact then the earlier call but nothing was called.

After sleeping on it overnight and thinking it over I've got to agree. Winning this game would have made a statement and provided an emotional charge to the team and the fans but in the grand scheme of things winning this game was probably just as important as winning the first pre-season game back in August. Unless half the the Patriots team is missing I don't believe for one second that Miami has any chance of going into Foxboro next Sunday and pulling off the upset. Win or lose the most likely scenario is they're locked into the 5 spot. To make it to the Super Bowl the Bills need to beat 3 of the 4 division champs starting with Houston and New England might be one of them. The Bills played a pretty vanilla game on both sides of the ball. Was it done with any purpose? Who knows for sure but why show them anything new? Right now it looks like the Patriots are just a little bit better than the Bills. In both games the Bills had red-zone chances late to change the outcome of the game but failed. Maybe its they have a slightly better RB group, maybe its because of Brady's experience vs. Allen's experience? Maybe its something else but the Bills have closed the gap and expectations should be they move past the Patriots next season and take the division. Anything less would be a let down. The Jets game means nothing to the standings right now. I'd rest some guys. Play Allen about 1/4 and give him the rest of the day off. Rest some veterans like Lorax and Gore. Sit out other key guys that might be dinged up. The idea is to prepare for beating Houston. The way I look at it, it's been the goal since winning in Pittsburgh. I think that's the mindset of the coaching staff too. Win the wild card game and see how things fall. Let's just get these last two regular season game over with. Whatever the outcome in the wild card game the future finally looks bright. I think they've got 10 draft choices and around $90M in cap space to resign some key players and free agents that can provide upgrades at certain positions. On defense I see the need for one player at all 3 levels and the offense could use some physical receivers, a power running back, and more upgrades to the offensive line. Maybe a new punter on ST? As a team that is a up and comer I suspect Buffalo won't be a place impact free agents avoid or dismiss any longer. Happy holidays..

On HQ they've been down on the Bills from week one so its no surprise. Sometimes I watch the show because of Papi. The old guy is a riot and makes the show entertaining. As he's taking a break I haven't seen it for maybe a month. On the other end of the spectrum I was listening to WFAN in NYC on Tuesday and they were taking about Josh Allen. To summarize, they said statistically he doesn't look great but he's got that 4th qtr mentality that when the game is on the line he plays his best. He's a winner. He has the "it" factor. So Winston throws for 400 yards, some TD's, plus some INT's and his team loses almost every week. And if you look at the weekly stats teams passing for the most yards are losers most weeks. This criticism of Josh reminded me of Buddy Ryan years ago saying that Chris Carter wasn't a very good WR because all he does is score Touchdowns. All JA seems to do is win.

Sports Illustrated predicted the Bills would be 6-10 and by the way.. the Ravens would be 7-9.

For this weekend I'd like to see the league order and execute an electronic sweep of their stadium to ensure there are no "bugs" in the visitor's locker room, the coaches booth, or any intercepting of signals between the sidelines and the QB's helmet. I also want to see if Brady has his comm link turned off during the play as required by league rules. Then get to the bottom of it, confirm who is giving the orders to cheat and who knows. Then fine them and suspend them for life. In the past I heard players say they have '"fans" at the visitor's hotel pulling fire alarms to wake the team up all night long. For the Chiefs game I heard from various outlets that the ground crew in Providence "forgot" to unload all the teams uniforms and equipment and the plane had to be recalled from Newark to get the rest of the equipment before game time. Many of the players had to scramble and rush to get dressed for the game and a lot of pre-game activity was disrupted. More BS..