Magox

Yes, I think there is a 2 in 3 chance the Bills win. In order for Bengals to win, a few things would need to happen. - Great defensive game plan, forces Josh to dither and not find down the field options causing a lot of 3 and outs - Turnovers that leads to at least 14+ points for the Bengals - Bills give up over 400 yards and multiple long TD drives

Sure, you can make a case for them to win but that is the prevailing thought. The Bills are clearly the better team, almost all advanced stats, the record and the fact that we have Josh Allen and they don't dictate that we should win, hence the oddsmakers making this a 5.5 spread.

The Bills are the better team, why? Josh Allen. Josh Allen's B game is better than most high end QB's A game, maybe not stat wise but in terms of converting critical plays. He makes throws and extends drives on third down that other QB's simply can't do on a consistent basis. It's crazy to hear some Bills fans criticize his play, it's nuts. If the Bills play their A game they beat any team in the league, period! If they play their normal run-of-the mill B game which they've played lots of B and C games its still good enough to beat 90% of the teams in the league. What separates Josh from the other QB's in this league aside from his arm and ability to run the ball is his sheer will to put the game on his shoulders when its on the line and will the team to victory. I think we'll win and my hopes are that the Bills begin kicking it into another drive from here on out. They showed signs of it last game but between the unforced errors on the drops, fumble for TD, miscommunication on int's it led to an uncomfortably close victory. Scrap out a few mistakes and the Bills win that game by 30.

If John Brown would have ran straight ahead on that route, he would have ran past the DB, the ball would have been a little underthrown, Brown would have been in better position to slow down and time his jump for what would have been a contested catch.

I don't think we can, it is a liability. I was hoping that Oliver, Phillips and the other interior guys could make up the slack but so far that hasn't been the case. Hopefully they can get some pressure but I think in order to generate more pressure the Bills will have to continue with their increased blitzes that we have been seeing over the past few weeks. The blitzes can't be vanilla or Burrow will slice them.

The Dolphins had a few moments with Cover 0 and 1 but overall Josh abused them. If it wasn't for the drops, he would have had 400 yards and 4 - 5 TD's. Also, the Dolphins have better corners than the Cincinnati, I don't expect them to do that as well. I suspect they'll rush 3-4 and 5 throughout most of the game and play the 2 high shell as you noted. Josh should run the ball a good bit, 7 - 10 called runs. Also, the fact that Josh was so effective pushing the ball down the field I think sets up the Bills really well on how teams will defend him, I do think they will attempt to guard the deeper stuff and I do believe that Josh will be passing the ball with more of the intermediate stuff. In regards to getting pressure against Cincinnati, I don't see us rushing 4 and getting lots of pressure, I do think we will continue the recent trend of higher blitzes.

They did, the Dolphins were very effective in getting pressure with their edge rushers causing Allen to step into the pocket and when he tried to take off the tackles did a great job collapsing the running lane for Josh. That's a blue print to limit Josh's running ability, but in order to do that the edge rushers have to be able to force Josh to step up in the pocket.

Exactly! They do have the highest margin of error and it’s almost all due to Josh Allen. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue saying it, there is no QB in this league that can compare to Josh in pushing the ball down the field as effectively he. He is the difference maker.

I agree with what Trapasso is saying which I was making a similar point in another thread. The Bills had almost completely abandoned the deep pass throughout their win streak and suddenly emerged with lots of success in the New England game. I’ve been clamoring for it to re-emerge in the playoffs and am very happy to see they went after it in a bigly way against the Dolphins. Could and should he have taken some shallower options against them, perhaps yes but I definitely don’t want to see it scaled back in any sort of a meaningful way provided we have 1 v 1 matchups with no safety help. There is no QB in this league that compares with Josh in his ability to push the ball down the field with the velocity and strength he does and he’s accurate as well. If the Bills are going to win the Super Bowl then they are going to have to let Josh be who he is which is a down the field passer who can kill you with both his legs and arm. I expect a lot of Josh runs from here on out.

Yes, Boogie seemed to be applying good pressure yesterday. I noticed him a on a few occasions behind the backfield getting some pressure.

I don’t know what game people were watching but the Bills had 4 sacks, 11 QB hits, gave up 42 yards rushing, 235 total yards, 2 INT’s and gave up 1st downs at only a 25% clip on third downs. The Dolphins only had one drive of over 38 yards. The Bills were stout defensively against the Dolphins.

Absolutely not. It was that constant deep threat and the effectiveness of those deep plays that was torching the Dolphins. The Dolphins were on cover 0 and 1 and were blitzing like hell and Josh was making them pay. He is the best down the field thrower in the league and the reintroduction to that the past 2 games is exactly what this team, Josh Allen and Gabe Davis needs to make teams pay. The Josh Brown int was a miscommunication between the two. The only real costly mistake that was on Josh that game was the fumble, that one was on him. Also, the dropped passes were huge. The drop by Knox I think sort of took the sails out of the offense and what they were doing....And then the drop by Shakir was huge, it was 17-9 at that time, very real chance if he catches that, that the Bills go into half either 24-9 or 20-9. Much different looking game.

Cincinnati definitely has a good team but people are way overestimating who they are what they've done. Also, it's kind of crazy that people are down on Josh. It's absurd. I'd like to make just a few points. - Josh Allen's int's were not solely his fault. The one to John Brown at the time of the interception seemed like a bonehead throw but it was clearly a miscommunication, John broke to the outside rather up the field and hence the int. The other int. was a good defense play that led to a fortuitous bounce for the Dolphins. Without doubt the fumble for TD was on Josh, but if he hadn't of had those dropped passes the game and those two int's that weren't his fault he would have had a juggernaut of a game. He was actually very accurate on his passes and no one in the league compares to Josh at being able to push the ball down the field the way he does. He is a UNICORN. - The Bengals continuously seem to be playing one good half of football down the stretch. This has been happening for quite some time now and doesn't seem to be rectifying. - The Bengals were outplayed and outgained by the Ravens at home with Tyler Huntley and no receiving corps. Huntley led them to over 360 yards and the Bengals didn't even reach 235 yards for the game. - The reason why the Bills are favorites over the Bengals is because the Bills are a better team. The Bills have Josh Allen and the oddsmakers believe Josh is the difference. The Bengals have not been showing over the past few weeks that explosiveness and dominating the game in terms of outgaining their opponents, whereas the Bills consistently outgain who they play and they usually do it by a lot of yards. If the Bills can avoid what happened this week against the Dolphins with giving the opponent great field position throughout the game and not turn the ball over so much, the Bills should win every game they play from here on out. Yep, this is by far the biggest key for the Bills. Yes, getting pressure is important but turning it over is an even bigger one.

There is no way that the doctor and team cleared him to practice just to raise his spirits. That's just not how it works. You already know that Micah Hyde and the doctors are in constant contact, Micah said as much that he can call him anytime and that the doctor will pick up the phone. You know that Micah and his doctor have had discussions if he is "healed" as he said and that if there is any additional permanent risk to his neck, you know they've discussed the chances of him being able to suit up and play, what hurdles does he need to pass and what sort of setbacks would he have to avoid? These same discussions have taken place with the doctors and the team as well. They wouldn't just let him practice just for Micah's mental well being, if there is any possibility that he could suit up before the Superbowl is the only circumstance that they would allow him to practice. Since we aren't in those conversations we don't know what sort of hurdles he has to pass and setbacks he has to avoid, but my hunch is that as upbeat as Micah sounds just judging him off his demeanor, I think there is a real chance he plays unless he has one of those setbacks. Hopefully, assuming we win this Miami game he is not ruled out during the week next week for the Bengals/Ravens show down.

Both of them could potentially be huge additions to this team. Crowder could help us at a position that has been weak for us this year from the slot and Hyde would be OMFG huge. He would most likely be able to step right in without missing a beat. The defense would instantaneously be upgraded in a big way. The loss of Hyde has been a blow to this secondary this year and having him there isn't just because for a moral boost but his experience and play would take this defense to a higher level.

I never thought there was a good chance of Tua playing. Miami was already getting criticized with how some perceived how they handled Tua's concussions and now under this current climate post Damar Hamlin where player safety is at the forefront of the NFL more so now than I can ever remember. Couple that with contrast in how McD was praised with how he handled this situation, I just couldn't see the NFL, Miami medical personnel and even McDaniels possibly risking Tua to come back out. The NFL and Miami and McDaniels would have been crucified if they had allowed him to play and if he'd received another concussion. The social pressure was too strong and he most likely wasn't ready to come back and play anyhow.

On those two first half drives that New England scored they did easily move the ball down field, but it wasn’t because the defenders were getting “beat” but because of missed assignments, defenders getting pulled in on play action and offensive schemes that were designed well against our defensive schemes on those particular plays. Defenders getting beat is when they are beaten by a step or two and the catches are either contested or at the very least the defender is in the vicinity of the play. Those two drives the receivers were wide open, defenders were 3-5 yards away. That was very uncharacteristic of this defense and they’l have to start games off better. Aside from those two drives the defense played very well and were very opportunistic which is what they will need to be in the playoffs.

It won't be the league, it would have to come from social pressure. If there is no real talk from sports writers, talking heads and tons of twitter talk then that could pave the path for him seeing the field (provided he passes the medical tests). If there is lots of talk about it, then I don't see how they start him.

This may be hugely underrated. You are right, it is something that for the most part disappeared during our winning streak but it was something that we do so well, a part of our game that strikes fear in the heart of our opponents. The game where dismantled KC over a year ago, we weren't methodically driving the ball down the field, we just killed them with big plays. We absolutely need to get back to that and methinks that it will be reemerging again throughout the playoffs.

@Chaos What's lame is that you didn't know this information that is readily available for anyone willing to do just a few seconds of research. Luckily for you, you can find it in this thread.

Google is your friend

Their defense is worse than ours.

The Bills haven’t been playing their best football but we’ve won 7 games in a row to end the season. I don’t care how you slice it or dice it that is very difficult to do especially for a team that has dealt with so much adversity. We find ways to win games even if isn’t pretty. That’s the mark of a good team. In regards to Tua, if he were to play and get injured it would be a horrible look especially since they’ve already been criticized for how they have handled Tua’s concussions and to boot in this climate with Damar and the potential contrast in how McD handled our situation. I don’t know, I think it makes it a very difficult decision to play him. Even if he does the Bills are clearly the better team and should slice up their defense.

Conceptually, I like this idea. It is clear that Tre is very exploitable on the deeper patterns and it is a potential serious liability. He's been excellent so far on the short to intermediate stuff and safety's typically aren't required to have that explosiveness that CB's need to have. Despite his extreme familiarity with the system, does he know enough to immediately step in at the safety spot? I love the idea on paper, the question is it feasible/realistic that he could step right in and do the job at a higher level than Marlowe or Jaquan?

I think that is what I’m saying lol