st pete gogolak

In a nod to New Orleans foodies, I guess you now have to call their stadium "Commander's Palace".

I agree with almost all the comments above but I guess I'm not making myself clear. Even if we bring back the same personnel (we won't), can we mix it up more on D so we're not giving opposing offenses the same look every game. As far as I can tell, we played 4-2-5, rush four, blitz occasionally, play zone with two high safeties. I didn't see much 4-3-4, even against run heavy teams. Can't recall seeing any 3-2-6 ala what Bengals played in second half against KC. Did we play any man-to-man? My point is that we just can't trot same defense out every game, especially against elite QB's. Hopefully, we'll get some new personnel so that we can effectively throw some different looks at teams next year. Somewhat off topic, if you're a DC and you're playing Josh next year, are you thinking of playing the 3-2-6 with a spy similar to what Bengals played? Of course, the way to attack that D is to hammer with the run, preferably with a power back. We definitely need to run the ball better next year, especially out of the gate.

Kudos to the Bengals DC for the second half game plan against KC. Playing a lot of 3 man fronts with a spy and man to man in the back was pretty brilliant. Would our 2021 D even been capable of pulling that off? All I saw all year long was 4 man front, some blitzes (we were middle of the pack on blitzing I believe) and two high safety zone, fairly soft zone at that. Even in the first NE game, when NE is bringing in an extra OL and obviously emphasizing the run, we're playing our usual 4-2-5. Should we try to add some flexibility in 2022? If we retain Frazier, could we? One thought is that if we are retaining Edmunds, draft a run-stopping MLB in the middle rounds and play a 4-3 against run heavy teams with Edmunds outside. Experiment with some 3 man fronts in the pre-season. Something, anything, that would give our opponents something to think about.

Peyton Mannintg.

So nothing between Marchibroda in 1991 and Pettine in 2014 (other than Wade which doesn't count) and then nothing until the other day? That's kind of sad.

I agree with all of that but I still think it was a quirky outcome where being seeded #4 was preferable to being seeded #3.

I thought it was odd when Bengals announced Burrow would sit out last game of season against Browns. Third seed was on the line and chance for additional home game(s) down the road. I guess they knew what the were doing. Raiders, Titans and Chiefs after epic battle with Bills so much better than Pats and Chiefs. Well played.

Instead of specific reason, how about a general reason? What's the record for teams following an OT win in the playoffs? I forget exactly but it is horrendous, something like 1 - 11. Generally, it's hard to win an OT game in the playoffs and come back next week to win. Bengals v. Bills in AFCCG would have been anything but a cakewalk. It would have been a dogfight. On top of that, who's going to cover Chase?

Not that it's saying much, but if Knox sticks around for another two or three years, he'll be the best TE in Bills history.

I started the thread in response to many, many posters whining about our window closing because of Josh's contract. I was curious what people thought about big second contracts to QB's in general, not specific to Josh. I agree. If you have a top 5 (top 10?) QB, you pay him and it is up to the GM to draft well and look for bargain FA's.

Honestly, this has nothing to do with Allen, certainly not a cheap shot. My personal opinion, when you have an upper echelon QB (Mahones, Allen, Herbert, Burrow, Rogers) you pay them and it's up to your GM to work the cap to make the team Super Bowl competitive. It's when you have a tweener (Prescott, L. Jackson) that it becomes difficult. You don't give big money to a Kirk Cousins or Mayfield. I can see the Browns letting Mayfield play out fifth year option on prove it basis.

Last year they were destroyed by a team in the AFCCG that was then destroyed in the Super Bowl. We were arguably the 3rd or 4th best team in the league. If the Chiefs destroy the Bengals and then win the Super Bowl, we're arguably the second best team in the league. Bingo! We didn't take a step backwards, we took a step forwards!

This is a semi-serious thread BUT so many posters in numerous threads have lamented the fact that the Bills' Super Bowl window will close rapidly once Allen's new contact kicks in, it had me wondering if there is any analytics behind that assumption. I know NE was successful for a long time because Brady was willing to be grossly underpaid. Seattle hasn't done all that much after paying Wilson. On the other hand, GB has posted great regular season records (but have choked in the playoffs) with Rogers being paid a ton. When a QB plays like Mahones or Allen, you really don't have an option other than to pay them, do you? Can you imagine KC or BUFF putting Mahones or Allen on the trade block? Inconceivable. In the AFC, in a couple of years, KC, BUFF, LA, CIN and maybe BALT will ALL be operating with QB's making big bucks. Does that mean some team without those QB's will be in the Super Bowl? Just curious what people think about the topic.

LOL. Saying they went from 13 - 3 to 11 - 6 is "fact based". Saying they "took a step backwards" is your opinion. Last year they got destroyed by the Chiefs in the AFCCG. This year they battled the Chiefs toe to toe and had a 95% chance of winning the game with 13 seconds left. I guess that based on that they took a "step forward".

NewEra, c'mon. I get what you're saying but even in a gut-wrenching loss (and this was the gut-wrenchingnest), I enjoy coming to Two Bills Drive. 99% of the time you can tell by the title of the topic if you want to read it. Read what interests you and ignore the rest.

If Dorsey leaves to be OC for Daniel Jones instead of Josh Allen, then I am glad he didn't get the OC job here because I would question his sanity, let alone his football wisdom.

I guess now I'm wondering exactly what we are talking about with a squib kick. Some one above said it would take 4 - 6 seconds off the clock. That wouldn't be right. Again, got to believe instructions were to fair catch a ball in the air or immediately call yourself down with a squib. The later takes - what? - one or two seconds off the clock? And where on the field does the squib go? Between the 20 and 30? Say the 25 and you take two seconds off the clock. Butker kicks the field goal with one second on the clock. The kickoff didn't help but the unbelievably bad defense was the true culprit. Poyer, Hyde and Milano picked a bad time to have a bad game. Edmunds was useless. I won't be sorry to see him go.

I'll admit I wasn't aware of the "intentional foul to kill the clock" scenario until after the game. That doesn't mean you can't manipulate the situation to your advantage. Have two DB's in Hill and Kelce's face and be aggressive with them. If a hold is called on one or both so be it. Can you imagine the guts the head ref would have to have to call that intentional and give them 15 yards and no time on the clock? I don't know about no rushing anyone but of course, rush two or three max. The two plays are absolutely mind-blowing in how badly botched they were. There's Hill with a two man escort in front of him and not a Bill within 10 - 15 yards of him. Where are the safeties on the Kelce catch? I am 100% convinced that the previous Hill touchdown scared them so ####less that the defense was designed not to give up a game winning TD. Stupid, stupid stupid.

I'm sorry, I have a tough time getting over it as well. After Norwood missed the kick in Super Bowl XXV, I thought a team with Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith and on and on, is just too talented not to win a Super Bowl. Then Joe Gibbs puts together a one-year wonder powerhouse, the Vikings gift the Cowboys a dynasty and there you are. No rings. Minnesota hasn't been back to the Super Bowl since the 70's. Chances just don't come around as often as you think. This year, we were pretty injury free but one injury to our star corner may have cost us a Super Bowl appearance. I just can't get over the last 13 seconds and how stupendously stupid our defensive thinking was. Hypothetically, what if we went for two after the last Davis TD and made it to lead by four. At that point of course you kick it into the end zone to avoid the possibility of a return. Even if KC ran the same two plays, they would have been at our 32 with a shot at the end zone. That's mind-boggling. That also assumes that they wouldn't have tried for more yardage on their two plays and that our DB's wouldn't have been playing any deeper than the 40 yards they were playing! If my memory is correct, that's about where Bledsoe was when he launched the Hail Mary pass interference call that beat us in Foxboro.

This is rich. Remember way back to, I don't know, 2020? Extremely tough schedule, playing NFC West and AFC West. Played Mahones (L), Goff (W), Wilson (W), Murray (L), Carr (W), Herbert (W), Jackson (W), Rivers (W), Tannehill (L) and Roethlisberger (W). Record 15 - 4. This "beating up on rookies and third-stringers" is a false narrative.

I think Burrow is a terrific quarterback but you can't put him up there with Mahones and Allen. He has zero escapability. I understand his OL stinks but nine sacks! I can't see Mahones or Allen taking nine sacks if they were behind a high school offensive line.

OK, engaged in a bit of nerdness and looked at all of our kickoffs during the regular season. Excluding touchbacks, kicks returned from the end zone and one onsides kick, there were 31 kickoffs fielded between the 1 and the 19 yard lines. Excluding kickoffs fielded between the 1 and the 5 (because of the chance kick returner would let it go and hope it made it into the endzone), there were 13 kickoffs fielded between the 7 and the 19. Average yard line ball caught - 9.5 yard line. Average start line - 23 (not counting two penalties called on the return team). Worst result for ball caught was the 19. Worst starting field position 32. I'm convinced Reid would have instructed Pringle to fair catch a short kickoff. If he does anything other than a fair catch, and doesn't get any farther than 30 - 35, there's maybe 7 seconds left and KC has ONE play to move 30ish yards to get into field goal position. If he calls fair catch, say between the 10 and 15, no time runs off the clock but that's an extra 10 or 15 yards KC has to cover in the 13 seconds. That's 45 or 50 yards in two plays in order to try a 57 yard field goal. Of course, Pringle could have busted a return and taken to the house. That would have been a total outlier given our special team play this season. Of course, given what our defense did, could Mahones covered 50 yards in two plays? Sure. He covered 45 in two to get the FG. But there is no question that kicking it into the end zone was the wrong call.

Hell, you don't have to go back to the Patriots game. Chiefs did it to us in the FIRST HALF OF THIS GAME! Got the ball with 37 seconds left in the first half and three timeouts and comfortably moved down the field until Mahones threw two incompletions and Butker doinked a 50 yard FG off the upright. Maybe a squib or a pooch at the end of the first half was in order!

Milano gave up the 25 yarder to Kelce? That must be news to Levi Wallace. Oh, and agree that Edmunds was useless and atrocious in the game.

Congratulations! You're the first person to put Addison and Mack in the same sentence!